Excerpt:
Ten years ago, I flew into New York on the first Qantas plane after the September 11 terrorist attacks, as the smoke was still billowing from the gaping hole in the ground and the city was still breathing in the ashes of the 3000 dead.
Looking back now it seems almost innocent to have been as shocked as we were.
At Union Square, a few blocks north of Ground Zero late one night a few days after the attacks, I sat and listened to New Yorkers arguing among themselves about how America should respond.
Passionate and courteous, they were formulating the debate we have been having ever since - do you appease the hatemongers, shower them with largesse, apologise for past perceived misdeeds, change your way of life in order not to cause future offence? Or do you strike back at the terrorists and those who support them?