Witnesses to Terror Understanding the Meanings and Consequences of Terrorism

Witnesses of terrorism, spread throughout the world, watched the 9/11 terrorist attacks in real-time. Images were instantly beamed to audiences both near and far from where passenger airplanes were hijacked and flown into some of the United States' most recognizable locations. These images were captured, recorded and have been replayed incessantly in the first decade of the twenty-first century. It is a decade that quickly became defined for many as a time of terror. This book argues that to understand the meanings and consequences of terrorism, we must understand terrorism's witnesses. Witnesses are unique, and what they witness is subsequently received and understood in unique, subjective ways. But the question of whose witnessing counts, and which stories are the most legitimate, is of vital importance for understanding the meanings and consequences of contemporary terrorism. Witnesses are never distinct from the things that they witness, and witnessing is never merely watching.