Reflections on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11: Peter Pollicino

Douglaston’s Peter Pollicino said the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 led to his loss of faith in the government and discouraged him from entering the world of politics.

Pollicino, who works for a coffee company, said he believed the United States government was not prepared for the attacks and that he disapproved of the nation’s response to the cataclysmic event.

He said, “It forced me to scrutinize my government. I’ve had a loss of faith and I honestly don’t believe our government has taken any responsibility for what happened. This was a critical event in American history.

On the one hand, I’d be willing to accept that this was carried out by madmen, but I don’t accept that it was an act of insanity. It was too well organized for that. It took a lot of people to make it happen.

The United States government is involved socially, economically and militarily in nearly every nation in the world. So, how did we miss this one?

Maybe it’s not a religious or a cultural thing, but that we’re not good at being friends with the rest of the world. Sept. 11 should have been a big wake up call. But people are still hitting the snooze buzzer on their alarm clocks.”

Pollicino said he had considered a run for political office prior to the attacks.

“I used to be a lot more involved with environmental and school issues,” he said. “I was even steering myself toward politics, but then it became too discouraging to enter.”

He said he had joined a Queens Democratic Club for the purpose of learning how elected officials operate.

“But the more time went by, the less I was interested,” he said. “There are some people in Congress who have tried to do good things, but they are outnumbered. There’s too much self-interest going on. I think many of them have forgotten they are servants in a democracy.”

In the coming weeks, Douglaston Patch will be looking back at 9/11 through the lens of local residents' experiences on the day of the attacks and the years that followed. If you'd like to share your story, write the editor at nathan.duke@patch.com or call 718-207-1460.