A student in Manila holds a red rose and a homemade American flag at a peace
rally outside the U.S. Embassy
The planes hit, the towers burned and in an instant they were gone, reduced to a steel and concrete graveyard. From the wreckage, a cloud of smoke and ash rose ever higher and farther until it erased a vista once anchored by the fallen Twin Towers. Three weeks later, the physical cloud has dissipated, but a metaphoric one remains, and not only in New York City. This cloud hangs heavy across the world, where nonstop diplomacy, ultimatums and the rhetoric of war have redefined priorities, created societal and religious fissures and forced nations to choose sides unequivocally....
