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Outlook: I was blamed for the 9/11 attacks

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Virginia Buckingham stands behind microphones at a press conference after her resignation in 2001

14/12/2021 GMT

I was blamed for the 9/11 attacks

BBC World Service - Outlook, I was blamed for the 9/11 attacks

Virginia Buckingham ran the Boston airport from which two of the hijacked planes took off

Virginia Buckingham opens up about her decades of guilt after two planes from the Boston airport she ran were hijacked and flown into New York’s twin towers.

On 11th September 2001, Virginia Buckingham was head of Boston’s Logan Airport when two planes were hijacked after taking off from Logan and flown into New York’s World Trade Center. She immediately rushed into work to shut down the airport and help families try to find their relatives. But within days, the media and politicians began questioning her leadership and some news articles even suggested that she was to blame for the 9/11 attacks. She felt pressured to resign and was later diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The feelings of guilt continued to haunt Virginia for nearly two decades and it was only through an ongoing friendship with the mother of a woman who was killed on one of the flights and through taking part in a leadership scheme where she started to write her memoir, that Virginia finally began to recognise that she wasn’t to blame for what happened that day. Her book is called On My Watch. 

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

Presenter: Emily Webb
Producer: Andrea Rangecroft

(Photo: Virginia Buckingham holds a press conference after her resignation as head of Boston’s Logan Airport in 2001. Credit: MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)

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