even of the 2003 war? a friend who was trying to tell them to give it a bit more time, find a bit more evidence, maybe they wouldn t have encountered this terrible debacle, and maybe they wouldn t have precipitously retreated and withdrawn, and you know, seen the rise of isis in iraq, which then took thousands more u.s. troops to combat isis, and what would have happened if they hadn t withdrawn totally and chaotically from afghanistan? but they have. and the taliban is back. and in charge. 20 years later. it s come full circle. and it is actually a 180 degree circle. certainly from what i witnessed. back to hell. so good to get the perspective. thanks for that. and please do join cnn, as we honor the victims of the 9/11 attacks, 9/11, 20 years later, starts at 8:00 a.m. eastern time. that s 1:00 in the afternoon in london. right here, on cnn.
just he said mommy, i said yes, i need a hug. this week, diane is visiting her son at college, and she and lewis invited me to watch home videos of father and son taken a few months before 9/11. mommy. mommy. right. your mom was tellings that you there are a lot of things that you do, the way you look, that remind you of your father. how does that make you feel? it makes me feel great. it makes me feel connected to someone that i basically never knew, but it s really, it s very heart warming for me. diane has never remarried. she still wears her engagement ring. are you happy today? i am. i think despite the horrible tragedy that happened to me, and to my mother, i think i ve overcome and persevered, and i am a really happy person today. are you, diane?
determination to expand what was a legitimate response to an act of war to a global war on terror. only this time, neither allies or adversaries it turns out like putin supported an expansion of this war. and on the eve of the iraq war, that would be march of 2003, i sat down with the french president, who explained why, and who in all of these years later, has been proven right and prophetic. we just feel that there is another option. another way. less dramatic way than war. on the eve of what looks like war, what do you have to say to president bush, who you call a friend? translator: i just want to tell him, that i don t share his views, that i don t approve of his initiative. what would have happened if they had taken his advice on the
college student at colorado state university, majoring in interior architecture and design. do you have any memory of your father at all? no, i don t. do you feel like you were cheated, that you have no yes for sure. diane remembers waiting until lewis was about four to try to explain what happened to his father. and i said daddy went to work and a plane hit his building and daddy died very quickly. and so that became how he understood how his dad died. when lewis was in first grade, he wrote this in class. my dad died, he was in a building, and a plane crashed into the building, and he couldn t get out. he is an angel now. but he is in my heart now. but i love him. diane says her little son s words and actions back then helped sustain her. i remember so many times,
building. the world trade center in new york was the first target. that s where most of the nearly 3,000 victims lost their lives. among them, a husband and a father who worked on the top floor. gary tuckman has a personal connection to the family and he shares their story. reporter: on the morning of september 11th, 2001, lewis and diane were excited getting ready to move into a renovated house in westchester county, new york. diane, a friend of mine for more than 35 years, says her husband did not have to go to work that day. but felt it was important to just go in briefly for a morning meeting. do you remember anything about him going to work that morning? yes, because we were so giggly and silly. reporter: lewis was a senior vice president of a fiduciary trust company, he worked on the 95th floor of the south tower of the world trade center. he called diane from the office that morning asking if the movers had arrived. and then he started to