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John Howard says Australia did the ‘right thing’ after September 11 attacks
Former prime minister John Howard, who was in Washington DC during the September 11 terror attacks, spoke to the ABC this morning about his experience 25 years ago.
I just knew that it meant a lot to the whole world, and it certainly meant that I quickly came to realize just how important our association with the Americans was because this powerful country had been attacked in an atrocious, cruel manner.
I think we did the right thing. I was unhappy with aspects of the ultimate withdrawal from Afghanistan. It did look rather chaotic at the time. … Overall, I don’t have any regrets. I think we did the right thing in going into Afghanistan.
I remember on that night watching West Wing, a number of people I have spoken to in the last few days were doing the same thing. When it finished, it cut into this extraordinary vision of smoke coming out of the North Tower. We weren’t really sure what was going on. Then astonishingly it looked as though we were witnessing a plane fly into the South Tower.
What it then heralded was obviously a huge change in terms of wars in … Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 40,000 Australians served over the coming years in those, more than 40 lost their lives. Ten Australians lost their lives that day on September 11. We very much remember them.
