ON the morning of Black Tuesday, I was a few hours away from Boston on a trans-Atlantic flight. I had an appointment with my doctor on Sept. 12. Everything was normal on the flight and the flight crew began to serve breakfast with smiles and pleasantries. We were bound for the very same airport from which two planes were hijacked that morning. We were three hours from our destination, we dawdled over our meals, no one dreaming that the flight crew would suddenly appear and remove our breakfasts.
That is, however, exactly what happened. Nor did I dream that I would be a suspect in a few hours. As the flight crew were removing our meals, crew members also began to fold back the seats and tables. Passengers protested mildly but no explanation was forthcoming. The passengers, however, began to produce their own explanations; the person next to me said, “I think the plane is being hijacked.”
Other passengers overheard my neighbor’s comments and anxiety spread. At last, the captain’s voice came over the plane’s public address system: “Please be calm and remain seated. We are not being hijacked. We have been ordered to return to our point of departure. You will be given the reasons in due course. There is no mechanical problem. The orders are clear so please remain calm.”
In fact, the pilot’s message produced many questions and caused more unease and tension. The plane returned safely to our airport of departure where we learned of the hijackings, the attacks and the fact that all airports in the US and Canada had been closed. We were all directed to the passport section where we waited 10 hours before the interrogation began. I was asked why I was traveling to Boston on this particular day. I produced my papers and told them that I had an appointment with my doctor at a Boston hospital.
The officer said, “Based on your passport, I see that you have made many recent trips to Lebanon.” I explained the reasons and was asked if I knew any Arabs in Boston. I said I knew only one who was a patient and I was planning to visit him. I gave his name and his hospital address.
In fact, all the other passengers endured the same interrogation. Passengers were arriving on other flights which had been turned back from US and Canadian airspace. The Arabs who were in transit suffered the most because they were not allowed to leave the airport since they had no valid visas. After 10 hours, we were allowed to leave the airport but without our luggage. It had been sent to the US for inspection and five days later, I got it back. I thought of the new world which had just been born, a sick world infected by terrorism.
