9/11 conspiracies insult victims 25 years on

0:00Welcome back and returning to our top story this morning. Today, America marks 25 years since the deadliest terror attack in its history. On September 11, nearly 3,000 people were killed after terrorist hijacked four passenger jets. And now the New York Memorial Museum is confronting a new challenge if you can believe this. Social media conspiracy content has resulted in more people now believing that the 9-11 attacks either didn't happen or were the result of a government hoax. Let's bring in journalists who's Ann Mosston and Justin Smith now. Good morning to you both on such a sad day. Some of the conspiracies are just so out there that the towers were destroyed in a controlled demolition. Others believe the US government committed or allowed the attacks in some say that United Flight 93 was shot down rather than those brave passengers that bought that plane down to try and save people on the ground.

1:00Justin is just such an insult to the thousands of families who lost someone that they love and who are still suffering. Certainly is. And I think Marley talking to those two great New Yorkers before. And I mentioned telling them that kind of nonsense. So yesterday on radio I took a call from a person who was in Brooklyn and watched it happen. And it's still incredibly affected by what happened. Imagine telling them that it's either not real or the conspiracy theories behind it. But look as we know about conspiracy theories, they are away for stupid people to try and sound smart. They always have been and 9-11 sadly is no different. And still they persist though. I mean, Suez, we've got this entire generation now 25 years. I think it's around 100 million Americans who weren't actually born when the attacks took place. And of course, this is a generation that has grown up with a phone in their hand as well.

2:01So they are being forced fed. A lot of this misleading information. Yeah, digital disbelief writ large boy. Listen to those who lived it and the stories left behind of those who died and were killed. It was very real for me. I was standing on our Manhattan rooftop with my almost two year old son on my hip and I witnessed the towers falling and the fear and the shock. It wasn't surreal. It was extremely real to those of us who were eyewitnesses to this horror. Just how how diabolical the terrorists could think to send passenger planes full of people with lives and stories and so much to give to the world, flying into those exclamation mark towers at the tip of Manhattan to try to bring them down to harm the US a declaration of war. We actually thought we are sitting ducks here in New York City.

3:01What could come next? It was terrifying. The fear, the images, the sights, the smells, the sorrow is seared into my brain. It was New York correspondent. We had been there for four years. It was our home. It was our Mer Australian son's home. What world was he going to inherit our little boy James? We just been late August to celebrate my birthday to the windows on the world restaurant on the hundred and seventh floor magnificent monoliths that just showed almost the camber of the earth, the jewel that lay before it. You felt like you were on top of the world. And the fact that they could bring those down, it was a moment where the world tilted on its axis and everything changed. Well said, Sue. Yeah, and just remembering all those things that you have both said, those reflections, and then just to think because we are questioning people are questioning about actually what happened. It is just the ultimate insult and gaslighting.

4:02Yes, it's just... It's a bit of that Trump world as well where everything sort of gets covered in a film of crap. You know, that you twist stories around to suit yourself or again to make yourself sound smarter or to talk yourself up. And sadly, that's kind of the world we've shoved ourselves into. But we must never forget, because those stories, even though as you said, we are 100 million Americans have been born since the events of that day. We must learn the lessons of history. Those who fail to are doomed to repeat them. We are seeing world wars continue, sometimes forever wars, and we must dig into our humanity. Learn from that day, look at the vision. Please hear the stories and learn from them. It's all we have, that and how tenuous our grasp on life really is. We've only got love, each other and peace. Never forget. So, as long as we can hear that emotion in your voice right now, and for you to be standing there in Manhattan with your child on your hip and to watch that building, those buildings

5:07go down in real time. That is an insult to your memory as well. But take us back to that time for you. What was racing through your mind in the immediate aftermath there? Well, as I said, it was the most beautiful. You hear it all the time. It was the most beautiful, crystal clear, cloudless, blue sky day. And anything was possible. There was definitely New York City before, New York City after. You know, Mark had taken our son James down to his favourite playground to be on the slides and called Hippo Park. And when the first plane hit, a nanny raced in and said to Mark, a plane has just hit the World Trade Centre. He scooped James up, raced back to the apartment. I had seen the first plane going on the today show, the NBC Today Show, and was filled with horror. Where is Mark? Where is James? We all united in the apartment. But then it was a case of turning into reporter mode. I was a freelance journalist. As I said, Mark was the correspondent for John Fairfax, the Melbourne age, the Sydney Morning

6:10Herald. Very quickly, all phone communications went down and were lost. You could get patchy coverage, but we felt completely cut off. Family couldn't get through. Didn't know what was happening. All of the transport was cut down. You could not get off Manhattan, the island. So the subway stopped, the ferries, the buses, all the tunnels were blocked. We are an island. There was nowhere to get off. So what do you do? Warplane zipping overhead and a sense of absolute doom. And yes, it's in my body. It remains in my body and my brain. And we must hold on to the stories and the lessons of that room. You can get it in the pattern. That we do remember that moment in this way as well. Yes, thank you both so much for your affection this morning.