Article

2005-09-11

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Posted by Steve White 2005-09-11 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11147 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Does anyone remember the sparkly perfect wweather that day? It was a beautiful early fall morning in DC, crystal blue sky, no wind, simply fabulous, and not a care in the world, until 8:48 am. I was home, just having left a bad job situation. (For the record, August '01 was a great time to be looking for work, September '01 sucked.) I don't remember how my attention was called to the teevee, except that once I turned it on, I was glued. The early parts of the reports were honest and emotional; Peter Jennings was anchoring when the Towers fell and he was gracious and respectful. Only later did the snide digs at the Administration begin...

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2005-09-11 00:08|| 2005-09-11 00:08|| Front Page Top

#2 I was driving into Queens NY from Long Island when I first heard the reports on the radio. It was a crystal clear blue sky and when I realized I wasn't having a "War of the Worlds" moment I glanced toward the direction of NYC and noticed the smoke on the horizon.

Although I didn't know it at the time, my brother was already on his way into the city from the NYFD Queens base. He and his squad of fire marshals got to within 100 feet of the north tower on the way to the ill-fated command post when the tower started to collapse. He lived only because they ran back to the shadow of the NY Telephone building where they were shielded from the falling steel.

He spoke afterwards of the blast of hot air, the sudden zero visibility, the suffocating dust and the sound. The metal raining down reminded him of the biggest bells you could imagine clanging all around you in a bell tower. We were blessed that he survived.

Many of our friends and neighbors did not.
God rest their souls.

Posted by DanNY 2005-09-11 00:21|| 2005-09-11 00:21|| Front Page Top

#3 I wasn't doing anything special, but my sister in law was walking to work in New York. When she asked what the commotion was about, she was told that the plane crashed into the tower. She told me how she looked up and thought how could a plane crash with the sky so clear out.

Posted by Jan 2005-09-11 00:24|| 2005-09-11 00:24|| Front Page Top

#4 I had been at work about an hour, a co-worker mentioned that a plane hit the World Trade Center, I thought it was a small plane. I brought up the CNN website, it was blank except for some headlines and one picture. I remember coming home and seeing the long lines at one of the gas stations and I also remember all the planes at the airport and how quiet it was without the air traffic. I will never forget that day.

Posted by djh_usmc 2005-09-11 00:31|| 2005-09-11 00:31|| Front Page Top

#5 I was getting gas early in the morning on my way to work at HP near Sacramento. I heard the news on the gas station radio, and could not believe it. I started asking other people getting gas if it was for real, and they nodded with a look in their eyes I will never forget. I went on into work and no one was at their desk ... thousands were in the cafeteria with their eyes on the wide screen TV showing the news.

Posted by Beau 2005-09-11 00:35|| 2005-09-11 00:35|| Front Page Top

#6 I was living in Sydney, Australia. I was about to go to bed, but I was playing Tetris for a bit while watching Star Trek ("Return of the Archons"). A crawl came across the bottom of the screen: "...terrorist attacks in the United States..." Since I'd just got the cable installed a few weeks before, I didn't know how often they did those crawls (never, as it turned out), so I was prepared to be unimpressed at the "terrorist attack". But I turned on the news anyway. Holy Howling Hell.

If I hadn't got the cable installed, I'd have been watching a videotape, and wouldn't have known about the attacks until the next morning, probably. No, that's right: my parents called. I didn't know for sure who was calling, but I answered the phone with, "I see it."

I called my boyfriend, who was on a business trip to Hawaii. It was about four A.M. there. "Turn on the TV," I told him. "Turn on CNN. The world is crumbling."

The next morning I bought the Sydney Morning Herald. The letters column -- just hours after the incident, remember -- was full of letters along the lines of "they deserved it". That I will never forget.

Posted by Angie Schultz 2005-09-11 00:37|| http://darkblogules.blogspot.com]">[http://darkblogules.blogspot.com] 2005-09-11 00:37|| Front Page Top

#7 I had been up all night and just gotten to sleep when I heard a pounding at my front door. Still half asleep I opened the front door and a friend of mine said "the assholes just flew two jets into the Twin Towers" [they hadn't collapsed yet].

Disbeliving for a second, I came to and asked..again? they hit them again?

Posted by Red Dog 2005-09-11 00:41|| 2005-09-11 00:41|| Front Page Top

#8 I was driving to work on 267, the road that connects I-66 with the toll road to Dulles airport near Washington, DC. It was a perfect day. I had the top down on my convertible and actually had the heater on just a bit as the morning was a a little cool at 70mph. I learned that a plane - then another - hit the towers from Robin Quivers, Howard Stern's sidekick. Believe it or not, I yelled F*** bin Laden at the top of my lungs because I knew 2 planes was not a coincidence and that this was al Queda.

I called my wife, who was still home, and told her to turn on the TV. She was working on wall street for the first WTC bombing and had seen the IRA in action in London so she decided to go to work, which was near the Whitehouse, from our apartment 3 blocks from the US Capitol.

By the time I got to work, we had just heard the Pentagon had been struck and CNN was spreading rumors about bombs near the capitol and whitehouse. It was a few hours before I got in touch with my wife and knew she was ok. Phones really did not work, expecially cell phones, as the network was saturated. I recall that AOL IM worked great.

Many of us knew people in the Pentagon and a lot of my company was ex-military, so they had a lot of people there. We also had several former colleagues who had been laid off and gone back to Morgan Stanley for training that day in the WTC. We spent much of the day assuming they were dead. Thankfully, they were saved by Rick Rescorla.

Travel was reportedly restricted so I spent most of the day at my office. We went to the Red Cross to give blood but they actually do not collect it at their offices.

Driving home was surreal. There were almost no cars on the road. I drove on the beltway to 295 North because I figured driving down Constitution Ave would be restricted. There were almost no other cars at 5pm, which is normally rush hour. I saw the burning Pentagon to my left and a lot of military aircraft.

After that, my neighborhood was full of trailers used in the anthrax decontamination of the Senate and there were national guardsmen on every corner. It was clear we were at war. Now, I am concerned people are beginning to forget.

Posted by JAB 2005-09-11 00:41|| 2005-09-11 00:41|| Front Page Top

#9 I remember being at work and hearing there was an "attack" at the World Trade Center. I figured it was a shooting and the police would bring things under control. A little later someone said it sounded "serious". A bunch of us dragged out an old TV set and rigged up an antenna. We turned on the set and a few minutes later the first tower came down. We were all speechless. My thoughts at the time were "Oh my God! This is horrible! Those poor people". Followed shortly by "I don't know who did this - but the bastards are going to pay!". Four years later and I know who they are, and I want payback, but beyond that, I want victory.

Posted by AJackson 2005-09-11 00:57|| 2005-09-11 00:57|| Front Page Top

#10 Here in Portugal was slighty before lunch time for some reason in small graphics firm i was (only one room) we had the TV on. The TV said a plane strucked
My 2 co worker friends said that was an attack right on, i said that was probably a mistake in auto pilot (i didnt saw at that time the images of the pilot directing the plane to the building. Then another struck at that time the attack was more evident. Then i saw the video of plane changing trajectory and any doubts were out. I was really surprised that the towers fell.

Posted by Hupomoque Spoluter7949 2005-09-11 01:08|| 2005-09-11 01:08|| Front Page Top

#11 Dressing for work and flipped on the tube right after first tower was hit. Remember the confusion as cable newscasters first thought it was an errand aircraft like one that had hit the Empire State Building several decades prior.

Being glued to the coverage, seeing a second aircraft rapidly approaching the other tower in real time, everyone immediately realized that it was a terrorist attack.

Then, jumping in my car to a business appointment and hearing about the Pentagon and later Flight 93.

This was the longest day since losing my brother to terrorists in 1995.

Posted by Captain America 2005-09-11 01:08|| 2005-09-11 01:08|| Front Page Top

#12 It was a beautiful autumn afternoon in Kaiserslautern German, when the first reports started trickling in over the television, then thru official Intel channels. We immediatly stood up the team, had the outer security forces secure the command building, and went into a FPCON Delta posture with our Principles. As we were in the Arms Room drawing out our weapons, commo, and ammo, the armorer broke into tears. The team and I had practiced all the procedures many times, so implimenting the Threatcon Delta mission went well. After the Towers fell, the whole thing sank in, and I knew that I wouldn't be in safe, quiet Germany for very much longer...

Posted by Bodyguard">Bodyguard 2005-09-11 01:10|| 2005-09-11 01:10|| Front Page Top

#13 wuz in san jose. woke up to em nyoos offn me radio alarm clok. thawt em mornin dj's (lamont an tonelli) were jus screwin arownd.

Posted by muck4doo 2005-09-11 01:17|| http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/]">[http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/] 2005-09-11 01:17|| Front Page Top

#14 I was watching CNN 9pm in the evening in Singapore when the story broke. I listened to the anchor blather on how the WTC must be causing navigational problems in the aircraft before yelling "Shut up you f***ing idiot".

Posted by phil_b 2005-09-11 01:29|| 2005-09-11 01:29|| Front Page Top

#15 It was about 5AM here in Alaska. My wife and I were sleeping. She had left the radio on that evening. I heard the news break that the first tower was hit. That got my attention. Then there was a live feed. A woman newscaster was talking about how she saw the first plane hit. She was extremely animated and describing the events, then suddenly the second plane hit. My wife asked what was happening. I said without hesitation, "We are under attack. Hijacked planes hit the twin towers in New York." Then came the Pentagon hit, followed by Flight 93 in PA. The flights were all grounded. I was going to head down to a village with my plane. Nobody was flying. At work the sky was empty. 2 interceptors scrambled. A jetliner coming in from the North Pacific list com. Transponder set wrong. It was eery at work. We knew that this was a major event in our history.

Never the same after that. And they are still gunning for us. We have a two front war on our hands: external and internal. We have a tough road ahead.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2005-09-11 01:52|| 2005-09-11 01:52|| Front Page Top

#16 I was tel-commuting from home that day.

Finished a meeting to Oz and wandered downstairs for a coffee. The wife was in the kitchen about to leave and I glanced at the TV - Saw the first video of the plane hitting. Told the wife it was an islamic terror attack. She told me to quit being racist. Then we saw the second plane hit. She said she was sorry. Told everybody at work and didn't go in until the next day. A bunch of friends put together some portable CDMA basestations to locate cellphones and were rushed by the company to NYNY. They found lots of cellphones but no people. I had noticed strange cellular traffic patterns (mid-east) in the prior weeks but we discussed it and thought maybe the Pals were getting ready to do something to Israel. Nobody thought we were the target or that the strangeness was important.
We had lots of muslims at work and TVs everywhere so the tension was really visible. Then most were either deported or lost their VISAs followed by massive layoffs of US citizens.
Some of these big companies still don't get it.

Oh well,

Posted by 3dc 2005-09-11 02:58|| 2005-09-11 02:58|| Front Page Top

#17 I was walking my dog on the Jersey side of the Hudson. I turned around and there was all this smoke coming from the WTC. As I was watching I saw a huge fireball, and I thought it was a "secondary" explosion. I did not realize it was the 2nd plane hitting the second tower, as the 1st tower obstructed my view of the 2nd tower. As I walked into my building someone mentioned 2 planes hitting the 2 towers. At that monent I knew it was Al-Qaida. An associate called and asked if I had any theories about who could have done it. I told him only and only Al-Qaida.

Posted by Glereper Craviter7929 2005-09-11 03:19|| 2005-09-11 03:19|| Front Page Top

#18 sum pre 9-11 pics of those byootiful buildins:

hudson view

view frum jersee city

eestern dawn

frum em ferry

pics curtesee me frend wil frum mrr.

Posted by muck4doo 2005-09-11 04:18|| http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/]">[http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/] 2005-09-11 04:18|| Front Page Top

#19 Nothing noteworthy here; the tube is always set to turn on in the morning to wake me up for work. I managed to see the second jet strike the south tower live.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2005-09-11 04:19|| 2005-09-11 04:19|| Front Page Top

#20 wun last wun frum her. grate top down pic:

heer

Posted by muck4doo 2005-09-11 04:20|| http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/]">[http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/] 2005-09-11 04:20|| Front Page Top

#21 I was in the Sierras, trout fishing in the Grey Eagle area...Sardine Lakes. An elderly lady came upon us and said that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers. By the time we got back to our cabin, both planes had struck. I went into Grey Eagle and winessed the carnage on TV at a local tavern. The place was full...and silent. The next day, we couldn't help but notice that the skies were empty. I listened to the radio. We were pretty much cut off. My brother in law was Air Force at the time....at the ..Mini Pentagon. He eventually got a message to us....very short...that things the situation was in hand. My parents left this morning for the annual trip to the lakes. I haven't been back since.

Posted by Rex Mundi 2005-09-11 04:23|| 2005-09-11 04:23|| Front Page Top

#22 yeah rex. umthin ima remeber alot is em san jose skyes empty of planes for sevral nites.

im lived by em airport.

was veree eerie...

Posted by muck4doo 2005-09-11 04:36|| http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/]">[http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/] 2005-09-11 04:36|| Front Page Top

#23 I was at work, someone came into our office and said that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Centre, and it was being shown live. I thought it was a small plane, and as I had lost my Dad just a few weeks previous, I wasn't too focussed on other peoples problems.

Then the second plane hit - we saw it live on TV and it was obvious what was going on then.

We left early that day and some of us went to the pub - all the TVs were showing the hits and the Pentagon. The atmosphere in the pub was very subdued - people drinking and glued to the TV. I said to a friend "They'll use nukes for this", they looked incredulous, but I was just voicing what everyone was thinking.

The next few days were horrific, the magnitude of what had happened, coupled with my own fragility of losing my dad, hit me very hard. I spent a lot of time on LGF and was literally crying my eyes out when I saw the photos of the jumpers and read the stories of survivors.

I've learnt a lot about our enemies (both foreign and domestic) and am totally convinced that we are at war.

Posted by Tony (UK) 2005-09-11 04:47|| 2005-09-11 04:47|| Front Page Top

#24 Coming back from a customers site in my car and heard it on the radio. When the 2nd plane hit I stopped everything and went round my folks house and sat there mostly in silence and disbelief watching the TV. All I can remember is my dad who has now passed away saying "bastards" over and over. Shistos UK

Posted by Shistos Shistadogloo 2005-09-11 05:01|| 2005-09-11 05:01|| Front Page Top

#25 I was wrestling with the collective will (and losing) of 27 8th graders while filling in for the regular computer lab teacher. The 2nd strike caused a collective mass oh shit which I should have kicked butt about, except I was the loudest.

Posted by Shipman 2005-09-11 07:05|| 2005-09-11 07:05|| Front Page Top

#26 Learned about the attack through the Nasdaq website.
Commented it to a coworker, told him that this was too big for America letting this unpunished and would go to war. He was incredulous. I told him: "You don't know Americans, they are not Europeans who live in America, they are made from anothzer stuff". I think I was thinking in Admiral Yamamoto who has warned the Japanese leaders Americans were not soft and decadent but tough and determined when stirred.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2005-09-11 07:18|| 2005-09-11 07:18|| Front Page Top

#27 I was working at home, Fox News on in the other room, and heard a change in the tone of voice of the commentator. A plane crash into a building? I walked in, saw a tall building smoking, stood and listened to the ongoing confusion. Moments later I saw a plane arc into the second tower, and knew that both crashes had been deliberate acts. Then the towers collapsed in on themselves, the clouds of dust looking like a slo-mo blast wave. I didn't make the connection for almost another hour that I had lost three friends in Tower 1, and that the thing I was working on at home this morning was now dead as well. I kept working on it anyway.

Posted by Whiskey Mike 2005-09-11 07:30|| 2005-09-11 07:30|| Front Page Top

#28 I was at work in a meeting when one of the secretaries walked in and told us she'd heard on the radio about the first plane hitting WTC Tower 1. A few minutes later she came back in to tell us about the second plane. Then the boss sent someone across the street to buy a TV, and we watched as the towers collapsed. People were pretty quiet. I remember thinking, "Well, I wonder if we're going to start taking these bastards seriously now-- and get it through our thick heads that when they scream 'Death to America' they really MEAN it."

My son (in the National Guard) called early that afternoon to tell me they'd already been warned by the Army: Don't know where, don't know when, but you're going to war. So get ready.

Posted by Dave D.">Dave D. 2005-09-11 07:36|| 2005-09-11 07:36|| Front Page Top

#29 8:45AM Wondered what happened

9:03AM Realized what happened

9:04AM Resolved to NEVER forget and NEVER forgive.

Posted by Hyper">Hyper 2005-09-11 07:59|| 2005-09-11 07:59|| Front Page Top

#30 I was at home. We'd moved to NY a year prior and I was doing some consulting from home, with a 1 yr job waiting when I finished.

For some reason I turned on the AM TV ... I think for the weather ... and saw the film of the first plane hitting. Then they broke to show the 2nd hit.

Our daughter was working in the city, about a mile from the WTC. As she went into the building, she saw smoke and fire down the street. By the time she got to the 34th floor where she worked, the 2nd plane had hit.

It took me an hour to reach my husband by phone, since all the switches were overloaded. We were unable to get through to our daughter until late the next day, but at one point she managed to reach her grandparents on the west coast.

She walked north to the Queens bridge and half way down to Brooklyn before she could catch a train the rest of the way to the apartment she shared.

It took us nearly 2 days to learn that friends in the Pentagon wing that was hit survived okay.

A few weeks later I went to work for the Army.

Posted by rkb 2005-09-11 08:13|| 2005-09-11 08:13|| Front Page Top

#31 I was living in Al Khobar, about 20km NE of Dhahran, SA. I had just come home from work at Aramco's Core Area and sat down to watch CNN - which was the "best" of the news offerings on the Orbitz satellite service. My housekeeper, a nice Ethiopian woman name Mimi, and I used to regularly watch the news together when I got home - on those days she came - and she would practice her English with me.

CNN picked up coverage a few minutes after the first plane hit - I didn't see the private video of that plane actually hitting the North Tower until a day or two later. We sat there looking at the screen - and then each other, stunned. At that point, everything was speculation and mindless blather - but they kept the cameras on it.

Then the second plane hit and Mimi gave out a little shriek. When that second plane came into view, well, it was clear that 95% of the blather had been wasted air - we were being attacked. Mimi's eyes were as big as silver dollars, but she was no quiet little mouse and we spent a couple of hours talking about what it meant - and what the US would do - and to whom.

Funny thing is, looking back, she got it far far better than our own Moonbats. I'll always remember that afternoon (in SA) and Mimi's endless questions and complete shock - no jaded fool, she believed in an eye for an eye and wanted to know who we would obliterate for this attack. She was the first of us to call it cowardice to kill randomly like that. Yep, she got it. She'd make a fine American. I'd trade the DLC & DNC for just one Mimi.

That shoe hasn't yet hit the floor.

Posted by .com 2005-09-11 08:58|| 2005-09-11 08:58|| Front Page Top

#32 I was out in the plant investigating some problems we were having in a build process when someone went by our team yelling "a plane just flew into a building in New York". Yea, I thought, little planes get into trouble. People were pulling TV sets (hockey.fans@work.com)out of lockers and plugging in to watch. I went back to work. I noticed people working but nobody was talking.

When I got back to the office, it was empty. Everyone was in the cafeteria watching CNN. The wife called and filled me in. I sat at my desk alone. Did not want to talk to anyone.

The memory of those days was a blur now, but one line from Ground Zero is etched in memory: "We can't hear you!". I have been a George Bush fan ever since. Everything the MSM and the LLL have thrown at him since then is measured in his resonse to that firefighter.

God Bless America.

Posted by john">john 2005-09-11 09:17|| 2005-09-11 09:17|| Front Page Top

#33
I live in South Hackensack, New Jersey. My daughter works as a model, and she was the lead model in a fashion show scheduled to take place late that afternoon in the Fashion Week shows in central Manhattan. She had arranged for the agency to get tickets for me and my wife. We had never seen our daughter participate in a fashion show, so this was going to be a great occasion.

In addition, a TV crew had selected my daughter as a typical model and intended to follow her around all day and do a mini-documentary of her activities. This film would be shown on a local cable channel that devoted heavy coverage to Fashion Week.

My wife had been excused from work for that day so that she could attend the show, but I had to do a part-time job I did a couple times a week at a weekly Polish-American newspaper. I typed and formatted articles for the printer, and this job could not be postponed for a day. I figured, though, that I could finish by noon.

I was working in the newspaper office with the editor, and we were listening to a radio. The newspaper is a family business, and the adjacent room is a living room with a television. The editor and I heard on the radio that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center.

I assumed it was some small private airplane that held only a couple occupants. However, a man being interviewed on the radio said it was a big airliner. I told the editor that this goes to show how "eyewitnesses" can often be very wrong.

The editor's mother turned on the TV in the other room and then came in occasionaly to tell us what the TV was showing. The editor and I never went to watch the TV; we only kept listening to the radio. Soon the other airline hit the other tower and then that another airline had hit the Pentagon, and then we all realized this was a terrorist attack.

The editor's parents, who both are quite anti-Semitic, now came into the room and yakked a lot about how, finally, this event would turn the US public against Israel, because our support of Israel brought this attack on us, blah, blah, blah. I argued with them, as I always did.

A while later the mother came in and said that one of the towers had fallen down. Then a while later she said the other tower had fallen down.

Still hurrying because I wanted to rush home and go with my wife to see my daughter's fashion show, I still did not take any time to go look at the television, continuing only to listen to the radio. I imagined that the towers had toppled over sidewise.

As soon as I finished work, I rushed home. I was surprised to see that my daughter was still home, watching TV with my wife. My daughter said that all the fashion shows had been canceled and that all travel into Manhattan had been stopped. The biggest day in my daughter's life had been ruined.

Now I watched the events on TV for the first time. I was so surprised to see how the two towers had collapsed straight down, not over sidewise as I had imagined.

The 9/11 attack was a terrible blow to the fashion industry, since it happened in the middle of Fashion Week. A huge amount of the industry's investment, planning and effort went right down the drain.

A couple months later the dress designer who featured my daughter presented her own show individually. A lot of designers did this, because they still wanted to show their work, even though the show was now not a part of a huge festival. The designer still gave tickets to my wife and me, and we went and saw my daughter star in the show, and we had a great time. We still regretted, though, that we had not been able to attend the show during Fashion Week.
.

Posted by Mike Sylwester 2005-09-11 09:19|| 2005-09-11 09:19|| Front Page Top

#34 I was working, nice day, with the radio on; heard about a small crash in the WTC around 3 PM IIRC; story was kept on air and we all slowly realized something big was happening. When the towers collapsed, with the 10s of thousands feared dead, general reaction was that WWII had just started, and everybody was convinced muslim terrorists were to blame.

When I went home, I plugged to tv, and was mesmerized by the news, couldn't believe it, there was a sinking feeling I clearly remember (as a matter of fact, I remember pretty much everything, up to small details like the title of the Simpsons episode I was originally going to watch this evening).
After that day, I gradually became disgusted by the french MSM reaction to that horror, like the Guignols (an influential puppet show on a leftist channel, don't laugh) who couldn't help but indulge themselves in vulgar anti-americanism just right after the attacks, what a shame. Now internet, with foreign media and special interest websites (jewish, anti-islam, and non-idiotarian), is my main source of info, I've really divorced from the french media. My worldview has completly changed.

My regards and sincere salute to the american people, and especially to thoses who serve, either at home, firefighters, EMT or cops, and abroad.

Posted by anonymous5089 2005-09-11 09:20|| 2005-09-11 09:20|| Front Page Top

#35 I was at JPME in Norfolk. We were running a planning session and the news came on with the first plane. As I watched I wondered how an accident like this could happen, the second plane came into view and someone in the class said "Oh god we're under attack!" I went home to wait for the call to leave school and get back to the unit. I was told to hold for a few days and while sitting on the beach that afternoon watching the subs and ships leaving Norfolk, I lived on Willoughby spit, I knew that right now the firemen and police were doing their very best and shortly we would be doing ours.

Posted by 49 pan 2005-09-11 09:31|| 2005-09-11 09:31|| Front Page Top

#36 I was on a commercial airliner, taxiing away from the gate in Philadelphia. A guy near me took a cell phone call and all-of-a-sudden bolted up and announced that the WTC had been hit by a commercial airliner. We were stunned for a few seconds. I had a strong urge to get off the plane, but I was afraid to act on it since we had just started backing away. I was still undecided on what to do when the plane stopped and the pilot announced that for some unknown reason all taxiing planes had been ordered back to their gates. I was leaving baggage claim to go home when I learned that multiple planes were involved and both towers had fallen. I couldn't even walk for a few minutes.

Posted by Darrell 2005-09-11 10:01|| 2005-09-11 10:01|| Front Page Top

#37 I got up at the usual time and for some reason, decided to actually look at the news on the computer. I saw a picture of the burning building and the headline (no story) about a plane crash. I thought "How in the world did that happen?" and figured it was a commuter plane or something. I then took Coco and Cami for their morning walk. A neighbor asked if I'd heard about the attack. "Attack? What attack?"
"The World Trade Center."
"That was just a crash."
"No. A second plane hit the other tower. A big 747[sic]."
"Really? Why would they...?"
I stopped the walk and headed back home and did a quick refresh. I saw the two burning buildings and got angry. Then a new headline showed up mentioning the Pentagon. I thought "That's it. We are going to bomb the hell out of Iran."
Normally, I would never listen to the news when driving in to work. It was always so stupid and trivial. Shark attacks, idiots still talking about the election 9 months later ... who cares? This time was different.
I got in to work and there was a huge line at the gate. The guards were checking everyones badge very carefully and checking the back seat and having you open the trunk. Normally, they did that for 1 car in 20. That morning, it was every car.
I was the first one in our area, so started to work. Bill came in a little later. I looked at him. "You heard?"
"Yeah. I think I'm going to the factory for a while. I want to touch the units before they go to the shipping dock." (We make missiles.)
Others came in later, saying that both of the buildings had collapsed and people had jumped off to their deaths. I asked "couldn't they have used helicopters or something to take them off?" not realizing the extent of the smoke and fire.

We got some eMails on the classified side that gave us some updates on who did it. I was surprised how quickly they figured out the group and where the terrorists came from.

Later, the VP for the plant site came on and told about the Raytheon people killed. The Boston-LA flight had several people, including one of her close friends. Her voice broke as she spoke.

I had to run an errand and drove past Davis-Monthan AFB. The through lanes on Golf links were a little crowded because a lane was closed. The turn lanes into the base were backed up a mile. As I waited at the light, I saw a Humvee come up to the gate, several men get out, and pull out a machine gun. I saw F-16s flying overhead.

I can remember thinking "Well, this is terrible, but at least we're going to be united now. This isn't Bosnia or Haiti. We were attacked and are at war."

I was wrong. There are many who want to drag down our leadership no matter the cost. There are others who are actual traitors. They want us to lose.

Posted by Jackal">Jackal 2005-09-11 10:09|| home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html]">[home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2005-09-11 10:09|| Front Page Top

#38 Yes. And it's time we called them on it openly.

Posted by Omerens Omaigum2983 2005-09-11 10:21|| 2005-09-11 10:21|| Front Page Top

#39 It was about 6:15am(Az time)I'd just gotten out of bed,was working on my first cup of coffee,and awakened my son for school.Then walked into the living room and turned on CNN(couldn't get Fox at the time)saw the first tower burnning and hearing that an air liner had crashed into the tower.The phone rings and it's my ex,she asked"Do you have the news on".My answer"Yes",thats when the 2nd jet slammed into the 2nd tower,my next words"This ain't no accident".The veiw of plane 2 hitting the Tower is seared into my memory forever.

Never Forget
Never Forgive

Posted by raptor 2005-09-11 10:26|| 2005-09-11 10:26|| Front Page Top

#40 I was working at a client site, in London. Got an email with a picture of the burning tower after the first crash, from a colleague working across the river in NJ.

I couldn't understand how a plane could fly straight into a tower like that. It just doesn't happen. What could have gone wrong? (my specialty was risk mgmt)

I emailed my brother. Look at that horrible accident. Watched the news online. A colleague was IM'ing with a friend of hers in the second tower. BUT THEN we saw the second plane crash. All I could think was THIS IS WAR. This. Is. War. Another World War. And I wished I were younger so I could serve again. We switched a TV set on. Watching the towers fall broke my heart. It still does. We all went out to a pub, watched tv, smoked, swore eternal vigilance, until closing time. I went home feeling that many people were just not aware of the scope of what had happened. Not just the tragedy. The significance. The meaning of this attack on the symbol of freedom, prosperity, the pursuit of happiness. How much toil and blood was ahead of us.

A bit later I discovered Rantburg and LGF, and found that I was not alone and that the Internet would be crucial in keeping us focused on our enemies, both foreign and domestic.

Last year, my wife and I moved to the US. 9/11 changed everything. There is one land of the free and home of the brave, and I don't want to live anywhere else. This is the land I love, and this is the land I will defend in every way I can.

Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2005-09-11 10:47|| http://radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentEvents/]">[http://radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentEvents/] 2005-09-11 10:47|| Front Page Top

#41 I had just gotten to work, at the Mercantile Building, in San Antonio--- first in at 8:30, opening up the office, clearing the phone messages... I had been listening to the classical music station during the commute, and my radio at the office was tuned to it, too, so I managed to miss all the initial reports. The first I heard of it was when the first appointment of the morning called to cancel; the woman was almost hysterical. She was crying on the phone, telling me that an airplane had struck the WTC, everything was on fire and people were jumping from the windows. I switched over to the the NPR station, just in time to hear the studio announcer insisting that no, it was just the one tower that had collapsed, and the on-scene reporter repeating very calmly, that the other tower had fallen too, that both of them were down.
A horrible, endless day, it seemed to go on for a week. I went to the Whole Foods grocery store on my lunch break; there were radios tuned to news stations at the checkout stands, and everyone there was walking around like zombies, straining their ears to hear the news.
On my way home, I spotted a pickup truck at 410 and Broadway, zipping around a corner with a flagpole mounted at the back of the cab, and a huge American flag flying in the breeze. It was the first one I spotted (aside from the usual ones at federal buildings and such) and seeing it was oddly comforting.

Posted by Sgt. Mom">Sgt. Mom 2005-09-11 11:30|| www.sgtstryker.com]">[www.sgtstryker.com] 2005-09-11 11:30|| Front Page Top

#42 I had a late schedule that day and was still at home, puttering around, when my daughter called me from Chicago.
She is an architect and had just arrived at her office in the Sears Tower. It was just her second day on the job there. She told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I stayed on the phone with her and turned on the TV, to catch the loathesome media beast Bryant Gumbel blathering about incompetent pilots.
I saw the second plane hit. My daughter said, "Er, daddy, this is not an accident."
I said, no, it isn't, and told her that I thought she should get out of the building as quickly as she could.
About that time, her boss came in and said that they were all leaving. She called back on her cell-phone from the street. She was watching on a portable tv someone had set up. She said, "Dad, those buildings are going to come down."
I thought she meant they were too badly damaged to repair and would have to be demolished.
She said, "No, they are going to collapse and it won't take long." She explained about the monocoque construction, with all the strength in the walls.
I was shocked. I would take her word for anything, especially in her professional field, but it just didn't seem possible.
I told her to get out of the Loop and back to her home in Waukegan as soon as she safely could.
She was on the phone with her husband when the first tower collapsed so I didn't get to talk to her right away.
She had been at the WTC just a few weeks earlier and had almost taken a job there.
I felt a strange chill, the fluttering wings of some unspeakable and unseen horror. I knew that for thousands of parents, the chill had not passed but would forever be embedded in their hearts, the leaden weight of loss and despair.

I swore justice for this obscene atrocity and we will have it if it takes 5 years, or 50, or 100. The wheat is being separated from the chaff now, with the decadent and the weak-willed, the callous, the foolish, and the slavish adherents of the media culture falling away or, in many cases, actively opposing this struggle for survival. They condemn themselves and their progeny to extinction, and that will be the final outcome.

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2005-09-11 11:55|| http://www.nuclearspace.com]">[http://www.nuclearspace.com] 2005-09-11 11:55|| Front Page Top

#43 I've moved this out of raptor's comment above to a comment of my own, to make clear it's my personal opinion and not necessarily those of the Management.

Mike S. serves a useful function here. He reminds us what idiocy we're up against in the long fight to defend western civilization from barbarism.

He also reminds us of the need to defend it against inanity and shallow self-absorbtion as well.

As the parent of a young woman asked to model when she was younger, I'm sure Mike is proud of his daughter as well.

But I agree with those who find his focus on THAT as the main content of 9/11 to be .... inappropriate. unfortunate. and a bunch of other words that come to mind ....

Posted by lotp 2005-09-11 11:56|| 2005-09-11 11:56|| Front Page Top

#44 I'm not pissed at Monkey
Spits pride in his child,a parent should be proud.His priorites and lack of a sense of right and wrong,and Patriatisam I call into ???

Posted by raptor 2005-09-11 12:26|| 2005-09-11 12:26|| Front Page Top

#45 I was attending an Opto-Electronics trade show in Kwangju, South Korea. The entire show basically shut down - everyone gathered in front of two huge LDC screens, and just watched the events in New York in stunned silence - played over and over again. There were not many westerners at the show - I'm not sure how I was identified as an American, but countless Koreans came up to me and told me how sorry they were for my country/people. I didn't know what to say. Then - on my way out of Korea the following day, via first a domestic and then an international flight, I noted that Korea has basically shifted to war footing - a transition at which they are pretty good at executing - there were entire companies of troops deployed INSIDE each airport terminal.

In the aftermath of 9-11, I hvae two overiding memories. One was an interview I saw on cable - I think it was the BBC - interviewing the US Air Force Colonel who was the airspace control officer for the northeastern USA that fateful morning. The lead-in showed a brief clip of some Washington press conference, in which the MSM parasites were grilling the Secretary of Defense, extracting from him the admission that the White House had approved having the air force shoot down civilian airliners that appeared to be undr the control of hijackers. OK, that was simply a practical decision. Then they shifted back to the interview with the airpsace controller. What emerged was the fact that on the morning of 9-11-01, there were no US Air Force aircraft in the Northeastern USA that were armed with munitions to shoot down an airplane. It was a peacetime morning - and it was not policy to have armed aircraft around to shoot down invaders. But - that airspace controller was given the order to identify all large civilian aircraft presently airborne, and then vector the most readily available military aircraft to intercept those flights, shadow them, and - on order - take them down. I had not been paying too close attention, but I was now rivetted to hear that bthis Colonel had done as ordered - and basically contacted military aircraft that were in flight - fighters, tankers, trainers, active duty, Reserve, National Guard - WHATEVER - and given them what must have been almost unbelievable orders - considering that they were just making routine flights - telling them to assume a specific heading, and move at maximum speed to intercept a civilian airliner - and to then take up a position above the "target" - and - on order - to basically commit suicide by crashing their aircraft into the civilan airliner - to take it to the ground. I was stunned - this had never come up in the analysis I had seen previously. The BBC piece addressed how the aircraft commanders had responded - and the basic story was that they had - reluctantly - done as ordered. Amazing.

The other memory that has stuck with me is one from 2003 that is still available on-line - at http://members.accessus.net/~tmcdonld/lighthse/Texas.htm - and every time I look at this, I cannot help but spill tears. This is as it should be, in time of war. But - I fear that this happens to little these days.

We are now engaged in World War III - which started at either the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, or in 1979 at the US Embassy in Tehran - and which will last into the 22nd Century. It is a battle of annihilation, between radical Islam, and all other human beings (including non-radical Muslims). 'May the best culture win. Amen.

Posted by Lone Ranger 2005-09-11 12:35|| 2005-09-11 12:35|| Front Page Top

#46 Pompeii Italy.
And a Little Italian boy listen to a radio and they saying "boom America..boom"...
We were living in Switzerland at the time and on vacation in Naples.
After getting back to Naples from the day in Pompeii we spent the rest of the day sprinting around town looking for a TV to watch what was happening.

3 days later when we returned to Switzerland we were greeted with crap like this "You know you the USA kind of deserved this....." Not just from the Swiss, but Germans, Belgians French pretty much everybody on the continent of death except for the Italians and the English.

I am pretty bitter about Western Europe and our so called allies..

Posted by Long Hair Republican">Long Hair Republican 2005-09-11 12:43|| 2005-09-11 12:43|| Front Page Top

#47 This photo montage says it all!

Posted by 3dc 2005-09-11 12:50|| 2005-09-11 12:50|| Front Page Top

#48 Mike's just another failed careerist. His superiors didn't understand his nuance.

Posted by CNN 2005-09-11 13:03|| 2005-09-11 13:03|| Front Page Top

#49 I'd just returned home from taking my daughter to school, and come downstairs to get on the Internet - a normal morning practice. I heard about the first jet, turned on the television, and woke my wife. We watched mezmerized until the second jet hit and the reports of an aircraft crashing into the Pentagon. About that time my daughter called from school, saying she wanted to come home. The entire school had shut down.

We live in Colorado Springs, and about a quarter of the town is either active, reserve, or retired military. The entire town was almost eerily quiet that afternoon. Later that evening I emailed the Pentagon, volunteering to return to active duty immediately. My disability rating stopped me. I still want to do something to make those responsible for 9/11 pay, including those that were actively involved, and equally to those who were passively involved: that agreed we "deserved it", that aided and supported those behind this atrocity, and even those that just plain refuse to accept that we're at war.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2005-09-11 13:34|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2005-09-11 13:34|| Front Page Top

#50 I remember perfectly the sparkly perfect weather that morning. I was having my home painted; I was on line when I read that a plane had hit a building in NY. (on Drudge, I think.) I went downstairs and turned on the TV news for updates and learned it had not been a private aircraft (as I had thought/hoped) just as the second plane hit. I remember going outside, half in shock, into the perfectly beautiful sparkly perfect weather and telling the workers "we're at war." I had them knock off, and we all came inside to watch the live video. After news of the pentagon hit I sent them all home to be with their families. I was in an evil, foul mood that afternoon and was, god help me, fully ready (for the first time in my life, including over 20 years in the US Military) to actually use nuclear weapons. A bunch.

Posted by Dave 2005-09-11 14:01|| 2005-09-11 14:01|| Front Page Top

#51 Same here, but I am too old and fat to fight. The only thing I can do is to keep searching for ways I can help. That is all I can do.

Posted by badanov 2005-09-11 14:05|| http://www.freefirezone.org]">[http://www.freefirezone.org] 2005-09-11 14:05|| Front Page Top

#52 In Switzerland: "You know you the USA kind of deserved this....." LHR

In France...âthe Guignols...indulge themselves in vulgar anti-americanism just right after the attacksâ...Anonymous 5089

In country after country, lust for American blood was spoken aloud. One might even argue that that is a major reason the war on terror is only gruelingly inching forward today. People are torn between which of 2 outcomes is more attractive-stopping terrorist acts or seeing America sullied or ruined.

Lone Ranger, I agree with you-this is WWIII. Does the rest of the world know it?

On 9/11/01, I was two months into a new job in NYC. I was in a taxi on the way to LaGuardia airport when the plane hit. The radio announcer said something like âit looks like a giant run going down the side of the towerâ. I wondered aloud what the person on the radio was saying-it sounded like a grotesque comedy scene. The taxi driver put me straight.

Posted by jules 2 2005-09-11 14:18|| 2005-09-11 14:18|| Front Page Top

#53 The day was as beautiful in Germany as it was in New York. I was working in the garden and came in for a coffee break. By sheer coincidence I turned on CNN and the first picture I saw was a tower of the WTC in smoke. It was 2.46pm local time. I had about 20 minutes left to believe that this was an accident. When the second plane hit I looked at my wife and she just nodded. We knew what it meant.

15 minutes after news about the Pentagon had broken I got a call from an old friend working in NATO headquarters. âYou are watching?â âYes.â âWhatâs your take?â âWar, what else. And a war unlike any other.â I canât talk about the rest of the conversation but I know those guys got ready for more.

When the towers had crumbled we went into the garden to fly the Star Spangled Banner. It used to be flown on two days a year at least before. Now itâs three days.

Night broke, we just took it down.

Posted by True German Ally 2005-09-11 14:27|| 2005-09-11 14:27|| Front Page Top

#54 I've removed Raptor's two comments. I understand he's angry, and I agree with lotp. This is a memorial open thread, however, and I'm not going to have the usual infighting in it. Put it in another thread and I'll let it go. AoS.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2005-09-11 15:00|| 2005-09-11 15:00|| Front Page Top

#55 Then you're confused -- it's not an open thread.

I object to deleting an honest and obviously truthful post. Anger is not "wrong", nor is indignation generated by an asinine mocking "it's all about meeee!" asstard post. Raptor was spot-on.

Pfeh.

Gonna delete this, too?

Posted by .com 2005-09-11 15:16|| 2005-09-11 15:16|| Front Page Top

#56 Thank you, TGA.

This is indeed a war unlike any other. It will last a long time and will be fought in ways that are not very satisfying, for it does not primarily involve armies battling it out openly.

We all must choose where we stand in this frustrating, long and critically important fight. I choose to stand for the value and worth of my culture, my country and my civilization and to fight for them as I am able.

Posted by rkb 2005-09-11 15:37|| 2005-09-11 15:37|| Front Page Top

#57 I was at an Aging Aircraft Symposium in Orlando. The NAVAIR exhibit had a large screen TV which they tuned to CNN. When the second plane hit, there was no doubt that we were at war with someone. The Navy guys immediately went to the Hilton management and told them that they were securing the building. The doors were secured by uniformed military officers until the situation could be sorted out. There was a sense of sadness mixed with terrible anger. If clear targets could have been identified, the consensus was to nuke the bastards, to eradicate them and everyone associated with them from the earth. Mixed with that was thankfullness that George Bush was the Commander in Chief rather than Al Gore.

Posted by RWV 2005-09-11 15:39|| 2005-09-11 15:39|| Front Page Top

#58 I was working from home that morning exchanging emails to finalize itineraries and class syllabi with a colleague in England. In 2 days I was to fly to several Euro counties and India for customer meetings and classes. I turned on MSNBC before the market opening. In a few minutes, news came of a plane hitting a WTC tower. My English colleague had neither radio nor TV in the office so I was sending him play-by-play details. Then the second 2nd 767 came into view and slammed into the other tower a few seconds later. All on live TV. At that moment I told my colleague the US was at war.

I watched on live TV the towers burn and then to my horror collapse, all the while describing to my English colleague what was going on. I wrote about the Pentagon attack, the Pennsylvania Flight 93 crash, and reports of missing airplanes (including a 747 full of people that thankfully turned out to be false). When the towers collapse, I expected 10-20,000 dead because of where the planes hit and I did not think 50,000 could evacuate in that time. Thankfully, later it came out that the towers were not full that early in the morning and if there was any good news, it was the number of dead came down from 10,000 to 6,000 to the final 3,000.

Watching and describing what was happening gave me a burning hatred of the people who did this and the societies that produce and feat them. That evening I saw the celebrations in the muslim world, the ululating women, the men passing out candy. Far as I am concerned, they are dead to me.

All flights were cancelled, which was just as well. After reading the filth coming out of Europe only a few days after Sept. 11, I am sure I would have been arrested if anyone even hinted at some of that crap. I used to travel to Europe several times a year, but haven't been back since. I also have not spent a dime on anything made on the Western European continent. It became apparent the alliance was a one way street, dependent on the US spending blood and treasure for the comfort of the continent. From my view, the alliance is dead.

The next day at work, my colleagues and I discussed what should happen. I recommended invading Saudi Arabia. Even though the identities of the terrorists were not known, it was apparent from previous attacks muslim, and specifically Saudi, ideology was the driver. By taking and clearing the Arabian Peninsula, it will hurt and embarrass the muslims as never before, turn our greatest strategic vulnerability (oil) into a strength, provide an extremely defensible peninsular base to act as a meat grinder to any muslims who wanted to fight, and provide a base to strike out at the rest of the muslims. My colleagues were not at that place, nor did it seem, the public or political elite. Even now, I see no sign that our leaders are turning away from the Kumbaya School of Warfare. It wonât this generation, esp. our leaders, that have the will to win.

Though democratization is going better than I expected, primarily through the hard work of our troops, I donât believe it will survive the subversion, assassinations and takeover when out troops leave. Instead Afghanistan and Iraq will fall to dictatorship or theocracy, in accordance with islamâs winner take all philosophy.

Never forgive. Never forget. Victory.

Posted by ed 2005-09-11 16:32|| 2005-09-11 16:32|| Front Page Top

#59 I was working early 6AM (PST) in San Diego, went doen to the deliin the basement level of our 25 story bldg. The owners are Indian Tamils. Watched the first crash and we four people watching were discussing what stupidity it took to crash a jet into a skyscraper...when the 2nd hit, we knew.... Everyone else showed up at work at 8AM PST....they finally closed all San Diego high rises and sent everyone home at 10AM. Watched non-stop TV and blogs...

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-09-11 16:47|| 2005-09-11 16:47|| Front Page Top

#60 Steve,my answer is no.Do what you want,I meant said what.If you want to delete my words and feelings while at the same time letting Monkey Spit get away with his crap,then there is something sadly wrong.

Posted by raptor 2005-09-11 16:55|| 2005-09-11 16:55|| Front Page Top

#61 excuse my typos....

I didn't see Raptors comments other than what was saved above. His anger, I understand, his derision, I share..... unfreakingbelieveable

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-09-11 16:55|| 2005-09-11 16:55|| Front Page Top

#62 I park and ride the bus into Madison, and enjoy being out of communication with the rest of the world for a while. That day I'd not a clue what was happening until I walked in the hall and M (a nice guy and a total moonbat(*)) said "Jim must have done it!" "?" "Somebody crashed a plane into the World Trade Center." There were no TV's handy, so I turned on the radio in time to hear of the second crash. The NYT and BBC sites were frustratingly slow, but I finally saw what was happening.
I thought "Oh my God, its war," and thought about my youngest son and where he'd be in a few years, and how long the time of relative peace had been. The quiet couldn't last--peace never does; too many people don't want it. But knowing that peace has to end sometime doesn't make it easier to think of sending a child off to war.
I've thought a lot about the attack since, but this was what I thought of first.

(*)Moonbat and nice guy are not incompatible: If he were in charge of the city I'd move the next day; but he's always there to offer help and share from his farm.

Posted by James">James 2005-09-11 16:58|| http://idontknowbut.blogspot.com]">[http://idontknowbut.blogspot.com] 2005-09-11 16:58|| Front Page Top

#63 #33: 9/11 summed up as "a terrible blow to the fashion industry".
Tell us, Steve White, why you didn't edit that. I feared for New York and Washington. I feared for my neighbor who commutes to New York. I feared for what my country was going to have to do to retaliate. I feared for my children's futures. I feared for my teenage boys who might be compelled to serve in some anti-American Middle Eastern snake pit. Never in the last four years have I been concerned about the 9/11 blow to the fashion industry. Censoring Raptor was inappropriate.

Posted by Darrell 2005-09-11 17:10|| 2005-09-11 17:10|| Front Page Top

#64 To those who question my deletion of two comments: I left Mike S.'s comment in because 1) it's a remembrance and 2) it's very useful, especially to us regulars. Mike: we had you pegged before, we especially have you pegged now.

Raptor: nothing personal; this was a remembrance thread and not a place for the usual 'let's go after Mikey' comments. Put the same comments in another thread and I'll let it go. If I'm wrong in that I'll take my lumps. I've already been delivered a few in private.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2005-09-11 17:57|| 2005-09-11 17:57|| Front Page Top

#65 He's not worth going after, SW. His use on this planet is obvious, as are the worth I will give his posts/comments, and I've got a daughter who models too. She also dodged shots at Santana High School on her 16th birthday. She is as disgusted at MS's focus as I am

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-09-11 18:30|| 2005-09-11 18:30|| Front Page Top

#66 Everyone has different ways of dealing with events like this even if we don't appreciate it.

Diary of Franz Kafka, entry for August 2nd 1914:

"Germany declared war against Russia - Afternoon swimming school."

Posted by True German Ally 2005-09-11 18:47|| 2005-09-11 18:47|| Front Page Top

#67 One thing that sticks in my mind is driving from Orlando to Robins AFB a few days later and listening to the memorial services at the National Cathedral on the radio. That was the first time since the Civil War centennial in the 60's that I had heard all 5 verses of the Battle Hymn of the Republic sung in public. It summed up the mood of the nation and how we were going to respond to the attack:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,
He has loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword
His truth is marching on....

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps
His day is marching on....

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnish`d rows of steel,
"As ye deal with my contemners, So with you my grace shall deal;"
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel
Since God is marching on....

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on....

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

The word Crusade is politically incorrect, but that day the cross was raised and war declared against the evil that had attacked us.

Posted by RWV 2005-09-11 18:56|| 2005-09-11 18:56|| Front Page Top

#68 STAY THE COURSE!

Posted by bgrebel9 2005-09-11 19:01|| 2005-09-11 19:01|| Front Page Top

#69
I certainly didn't intend to offend anyone with my remembrances of September 11. I didn't read what Raptor wrote, so I don't know exactly what his objection was.

Manhattan is the center of the world's fashion industry, and the 9/11 attack occurred during the middle of Fashion Week, which is that industry's biggest convention of the year. Because of my daughter's particular participation, my wife and I were paying a lot of attention to that event, watching the local cable channel that covered it and looking forward to watching our daughter star in a fashion show (she was the lead model). We all were going to be together in central Manhattan that very afternoon at this fashion show, but it all was canceled because of the attacks.

Steve White, since you invited us all to tell about our personal experiences of that day, please explain to me here what your problem is with what I wrote.
.

Posted by Mike Sylwester 2005-09-11 19:11|| 2005-09-11 19:11|| Front Page Top

#70
Just for the record, I also had all the same thoughts as every one else about all the destruction and death and that now we were at war. I intended in my remembrance here to write how the events of that day immediately and directly affected my family in particular and the business where my daughter worked.

I'm sorry if that upset people here.
.

Posted by Mike Sylwester 2005-09-11 19:21|| 2005-09-11 19:21|| Front Page Top

#71 Mike, do you really need a detailed explanation to help you understand that 9/11 was more than a "terrible blow to the fashion industry"? Let me help you: When I was standing stumnned at the airport, I was thinking about all the people in those buildings and planes and all the people below. You would seem by your own description to be have been totally self-absorbed and oblivious to the carnage, even months later. Even now.

Posted by Darrell 2005-09-11 19:29|| 2005-09-11 19:29|| Front Page Top

#72 Mike, your comments were and are pathetic. NY is also the capital of the finance industry here. Lots of us thought of that at the time. I certainly did - my half-sister's husband is a securities lawyer and worked closely with some of the firms in the towers. I didn't learn of his safety until late that night. And we talked about the economic impact of the attacks, a little.

But somehow the fact that hundreds of people he knew well were dead among the ashes in lower Manhattan took precedence. For us, at least.

Fashion??? good lord, FASHION is what is foremost in your mind about 9/11, a day when we were attacked treacherously and thousands of people died ???

The fact that you even considered writing about the fashion industry - and only that, with quite an emphasis on how relieved you were to make it next to the runway FINALLY, after the inconvenient events of 9/11 interrupted your family's celebration, is .....

pathetic. Just pathetic.

Posted by lotp 2005-09-11 19:33|| 2005-09-11 19:33|| Front Page Top

#73 thanks RWV.

Posted by Red Dog 2005-09-11 19:50|| 2005-09-11 19:50|| Front Page Top

#74 Mike, 9/11 was the "worst day of your daughter's life" because her modeling gig was interrupted.

It was the worst day of their lives for thousands of other people because they died or lost loved ones that day.

Compare. Contrast.

Posted by Omerens Omaigum2983 2005-09-11 19:54|| 2005-09-11 19:54|| Front Page Top

#75 I back .com and Raptor on this one, Steve. I do want it to be a rememberance of 9/11, and to show the shallowness of those moonbats who still don't get it (and edit other's comments who reply to said moonbat) should be a part of this rememberance. That said, here's my personal story:

8:58 or so: co-worker came over to tell me a plane had hit the WTC in NYC. His wife had called to tell him that. I didn't think too much of it, assumed it was a small plane. I work for EPA in Atlanta Fed. Center.

9:15 or so: Co-workers talk of 2nd plane hitting other tower. We have no TV to watch so I try to get info from CNN's website. Our building is just 2 blocks from CNN's HQ, and i couldn't get anything up from their website.

10:00 or so: After hearing the Pentagon was hit, I said, that's it, I'm heading home.

On the drive home, it was eerie. Not much traffic, but to see the overhead traffic signs, that always tell you how long it takes to get to I-285 on I-85 and I-75 were now reading:

"National Emergency: Airports shut down. No flights in or out of Atlanta"

Get home, watch CNN, then find Fox News. Haven't looked back since. Fox News, Rantburg and many other websites (townhall, newsmax, Neal Boortz, etc.) are my only news sources (Rantburg being #1). Being young (28 at the time), I immediately thought, this is my WWII, and I pray my generation steps up to the plate to defend what we've been given by the previous "Greatest Generation."

Oh, and P.S.: I completely learned about moonbattery and bureaucracy the very next day (9/12/2001). Since there are many other Federal agencies in our building, there had to be a decision made that day about whether or not to send people home. That decision wasn't made until 3:30 pm or so that day (9/11). Ever since I've told people What idiots...I was home, watching live coverage before lunch. No waiting for some bureaucratic committee to make a decision for me. I've seen the difference between the individual and the groupthink/bureaucracy of the Fed. Gov't ever since. Thank GOD our military is run differently, for the most part, under this administration. Let the dogs loose and let them do their job!

Posted by BA 2005-09-11 20:12|| 2005-09-11 20:12|| Front Page Top

#76 Wenn ihr's nicht fÃ¼hlt, ihr werdet's nicht erjagen
(If you don't feel it you won't catch it)

(Goethe)

Posted by True German Ally 2005-09-11 20:20|| 2005-09-11 20:20|| Front Page Top

#77 ...I had just gotten home from work, and that particular morning I went online first instead of turning on the TV. The first thing I saw was an ICQ message that said "Planes are crashing all over the country." That's when I turned on CNN, just in time to see the second strike. I watched it for a few minutes, then went to the back window, which looked out at the flightline at Shaw AFB. Seventy F-16s, all just sitting there, and all I could think of was, "Where the hell is the Air Force?" They were there that night, taking off directly over the house in full burner and loaded for bear...and I remember thinking that this is what the Brits must have felt like when they watched the Spitfires and Hurricanes roar overhead to take on the Luftwaffe.

We are winning, fear not. If we fear anything, it must be the Fifth Column that would gladly sell us out for personal political gain. Sadly, I believe that before we finish the job of dealing with a homicidal Religion of Peace, we may have to fight off out own citizens.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2005-09-11 20:34|| 2005-09-11 20:34|| Front Page Top

#78
I'm sorry that here on Rantburg I bothered to share my own personal experiences, which were insignificant when compared to other people's much more significant experiences on that day.
.

Posted by Mike Sylwester 2005-09-11 20:35|| 2005-09-11 20:35|| Front Page Top

#79 Today is not the day to lay into each other. Remember and grieve for the dead.

Never forgive. Never forget. Total Victory.

Posted by ed 2005-09-11 20:38|| 2005-09-11 20:38|| Front Page Top

#80 I spent the evening of Sept 10th in the Borders bookstore in the base of the WTC north tower. We had lived three blocks north of the towers for seven years and I was in town visiting the old neighborhood. As our apartment building was directly in the shadow of the north tower, it's sheer unbelievable bigness was part of my everyday existence. Always thought "for sure they will get hit someday," and then wonder if they would fall on my building. Not a crazy thought as there was (and still is) an enormous amount of low flying jet traffic over Manhattan. Sometimes it felt and sounded like the planes would land on the roof of my building. Also after the 1993 bombings lower Manhattan felt like a big target. My husband and I joked often that we lived at Ground Zero, thinking lower Manhattan would eventually be the recipient of a nuke. Prophetic with a twist.

Morning of Sept 11, I hit the internet and the news sites are jammed. Finally see headline "terror plane hits tower" and I run to the TV. Turn on Fox, see the first tower burning, the second one hit and both fall live. Sitting on the floor of my bedroom, speechless, actually unable to believe what my eyes are seeing on TV. Burning red hot anger and the only thought screaming in my mind was that those fighter jets better be in the sky loaded and ready to completely annihilate whoever did this.

Posted by Crish Ebbiting9113">Crish Ebbiting9113 2005-09-11 20:50|| 2005-09-11 20:50|| Front Page Top

#81

These were honoured in their generations, and were the glory of the times.

Posted by Fred 2005-09-11 21:31|| 2005-09-11 21:31|| Front Page Top

#82 Mr. Wife had gone to Europe for 10 days of business meetings that Sunday. Got the trailing daughters off to their schoolbuses, and was desultorily starting the day's housework when the announcer on our local National Public Radio station said, "Oh my God, the Twin Tower's been hit. If you are listening to this, go turn on your TV NOW." So I went upstairs and turned on the television in the bedroom, where CNN was showing repeats of the first Tower being hit. I started stripping the bed (saving only Mr.Wife's pillowcase, as I always do when he travels -- he's too often walked away just before someone blew something up, and I'm afraid I don't completely trust him to come home from one of his trips), in order to be efficient, when the second Tower was hit. Then the Pentagon, then Flight 93 was crashed. I called Mr. Wife's mother to let her know we were ok (she's a worrier, and besieges Heaven with her prayers -- I figured God had other things on His mind that day), the Mr.Wife to let him know what was happening, and that he might not be able to come home as planned. Then my mother, and his mother again to say that he was safe. Then I stood in front of the television, waiting for a declaration of war -- against whom, I didn't know, but there was no question in my mind that this was WWIV.

It's amazing the little things that stick in the mind at moments like that -- I clung to that stupid, dirty pillowcase like it would protect me from the evils of the world until Mr. Wife made his way back from the other side of the world, on his original ticket, no less. I'm not surprised Mike Sylwester focussed on his daughter's debut -- for some of us it is the mundanities of normal life that enable us to get through the unimaginable.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-09-11 21:40|| 2005-09-11 21:40|| Front Page Top

#83
Re # 74 (Omerens Omaigum2983) 9/11 was the "worst day of your daughter's life" because her modeling gig was interrupted. It was the worst day of their lives for thousands of other people because they died or lost loved ones that day. Compare. Contrast.

I wrote: "The biggest day in my daughter's life had been ruined."

She was 19 years old, it was the biggest day in her life, which we her parents intended to share with her, and it was ruined.

Of course, it was a relatively insignificant disappointment for our ordinary family on a day when thousands of people were murdered. I mentioned it because I thought this thread was for the purpose of sharing personal experiences about that day.

The Rantburg Rabble views itself as morally superior, damning me as pathetic. Since I mentioned this little aspect in this thread, it proves to the Rantburg Rabble that I consider my daughter's trivial disappointment to be more important than the thousands of deaths and the imminent war.

It proves to me again that Rantburg is a place where the discussion is dominated by relentless ad hominem attacks on anyone who disagrees on just a couple issues (in my case, about the treatment of captives and about the UN). Those dissidents are hounded personally until they leave. The monitors watch this process, and they participate in it.

If the dissidents ever bite back, then they are banned. That is why Rantburg is an echo chamber, a mosque.
.

Posted by Mike Sylwester 2005-09-11 21:41|| 2005-09-11 21:41|| Front Page Top

#84 Good try.

Didn't work.

Posted by Omerens Omaigum2983 2005-09-11 21:46|| 2005-09-11 21:46|| Front Page Top

#85 MS: She was 19 years old, it was the biggest day in her life, which we her parents intended to share with her, and it was ruined.

Of course, it was a relatively insignificant disappointment for our ordinary family on a day when thousands of people were murdered. I mentioned it because I thought this thread was for the purpose of sharing personal experiences about that day.

MS is right. On a practical level, apart from people who died, lost loved ones or signed up for the military, most of us weren't really impacted by 9/11. We were angry, but emoting isn't really a practical impact. Some people were afraid to fly, but that's a phobia. I guess we can all wallow in anger about the occasion, but the practical impact on us personally was limited. MS was simply giving us a sense of how, from a day-to-day standpoint, his life was affected.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2005-09-11 21:52|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2005-09-11 21:52|| Front Page Top

#86 Everybody has his own way of seeing things. Let's leave it at that.

M.S., if on the "biggest day of your daughter's life" (she was 19 so there should be more coming for her) your wife/her mother had died and she had been bitching about that this ruined her modeling gig...

what would you have said?

Posted by True German Ally 2005-09-11 22:00|| 2005-09-11 22:00|| Front Page Top

#87 dissident? Tell TGA that what you did was being dissident (I don't wanna see the remains after)

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-09-11 22:24|| 2005-09-11 22:24|| Front Page Top

#88 Frank G, if M.S. thinks he's an American dissident...

There can't be much wrong with the United States.

Posted by True German Ally 2005-09-11 22:28|| 2005-09-11 22:28|| Front Page Top

#89 weakness of the oppo? Got it - thx. You I admire

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-09-11 22:36|| 2005-09-11 22:36|| Front Page Top

#90 Several nights later my mom told me about a 2nd cousin I had never heard of.

Seems he was a retired col. double dipping as a civilan at the Pentagon.

That morning he had a headache, took some pills and was running late to work. The plane hit the pentagon when he was about 1 mile away. It hit right where his desk was.

He was royally upset. Got on a flight to some test place to work on some new weapon to use. DIDN"T TELL HIS WIFE OR FAMILY. They thought he died! One week later when he contacted them he was almost divorced!

Posted by 3dc 2005-09-11 22:39|| 2005-09-11 22:39|| Front Page Top

#91
Thanks, Zhang Fei.

Re: #86 (TGA) M.S., if on the "biggest day of your daughter's life" (she was 19 so there should be more coming for her) your wife/her mother had died and she had been bitching about that this ruined her modeling gig... what would you have said?

I did not write that the cancellation of my daughter's show was the biggest thing that happened that day for my daughter or for my wife or for me or for anyone else.

I wrote that the day was supposed to be the biggest day of my daughter's life up to that point, and it was ruined. That's all.

If, however, TGA, my innocent remarks about my day give you an opportunity to wallow in a feeling of fake moral supermy along with the Rabble here (and I thought you were above that), then go ahead. Be a full member of the club here.
.

Posted by Mike Sylwester 2005-09-11 23:11|| 2005-09-11 23:11|| Front Page Top

#92
... fake moral superiority along ...
.

Posted by Mike Sylwester 2005-09-11 23:12|| 2005-09-11 23:12|| Front Page Top

#93 I was at the gym working out. The talking heads on CNN were going on about a Cessna hitting the WTC, when the live shot of the second plane came on. I could see from the size/shape of the turbofans that it was a 767 or 757 and I started blabbing to no one in particular "This is a coordinated attack. Ground all civil aviation." My first thought was that they were staged out of North Africa. It never occurred to me that they might be hijacked. I went home and finished showering and dressing in time to see the towers collapse. Then I went to work.

I put myself on the volunteer list for activation and have served one tour essentially shoveling shit in Missouri. I was scheduled for a second tour when it was cancelled due to the politics of the last election (backdoor draft and all that crap... yes the left wing moonbattery has affected some of us personally). To make a difference, I recruit kids for USMA and am an individual mobilization augmentee on a staff I would rather not reveal.

Posted by 11A5S 2005-09-11 23:20|| 2005-09-11 23:20|| Front Page Top

#94 Mike, I will not judge anyone's moral condition here. Maybe you got the Kafka reference, maybe not.

As you know this is a forum dedicated to the War on Terror, so people might think that 9/11 was a bit more important than ruined model gigs.

I will not judge the way you or your family thought on that day and what it meant to you.

It's just sounds a bit like: "Terrorists attacked Amerca and because of that my wife ruined dinner. The bastards!"

A model gig might be more important but still. If your daughter had had a bad cold on this day her gig would have been ruined as well.

I'm sorry, it just sounded a bit like the "Omygod" Valley Girl to me.

But for the dissident status you will have to try a bit harder than that.

Posted by True German Ally 2005-09-11 23:30|| 2005-09-11 23:30|| Front Page Top

#95 I had just left for my job in NYC. I live about 30 miles north of the city, and turned on the traffic report only to hear the report of the first plane hitting. They had an old man from Greenwich Village (about 1-1 1/2 miles north of the WTC) on saying he saw a DC-3 (WW II-era plane) fly low over his apartment and crash into the WTC. I immediately called my wife and told her to turn on the news. I also recalled something I had witnessed about a week earlier -- an old, DC-3 looking plane flying low down the Hudson River towards lower Manhattan -- and thought it might be a terrorist attack. A few minutes later, the WCBS-AM traffic helicopter was reporting live from the scene when the reporter -- Tom Kominsky (who later wrote up his observations of that morning) -- reacted to the second plane hitting. I immediately called my wife a second time and asked her what was going on. She hadn't turned the TV on yet as the baby was just getting up, but she rushed to the family room and turned on Fox News. I hung up and continued on my way to NYC. I then called a client/friend who worked at 7 WTC to tell him to get out but got his voicemail. (It turns out that his company ordered an immediate evacuation. He left so fast that he didn't take his wallet or car keys.) As I continued southbound, my wife called to tell me her sister was heading to work in NJ from Queens, NY and could see the smoke. Her sister was trying to decide whether to continue on her way to work. My wife tried to convince me to come home, but I pressed on. At the moment I arrived at the George Washington Bridge it was being closed -- Manhattan was being locked down. I continued south past the GWB along the Hudson River watching the smoke from the WTC. The whole time, I was looking through my open sunroof thinking "where are the G*ddamn fighter planes." When I got pretty close to the Lincoln Tunnel area (Weehawken, NJ), I pulled off the road and stood outside my car with the radio blaring. The were dozens of other cars stopped in the area, and every car and truck that passed featured a driver craning towards the NY skyline and the radio blaring the news. My wife called several more times and asked me to come home, especially when the Pentagon was struck. (She was so nervous, felt so insecure, that she locked the front door of our house after the Pentagon was hit.) I ignored her for a while, and like every other human being that is not gripped by an evil, nihilistic ideology, I was stunned when the first tower fell. I was relieved briefly when I saw the fighters streaking overhead, but was horrified a second time when the North Tower fell. It was then that I finally headed home to hug my wife and my 3-month old son.

I tried to give blood that day, but the donation center was shut down by the big crowds. I succeeded in donating the next day. I returned to work on Thursday, but nobody got any work done. Every conversation was about "where were you?" "What did you see?" "Do you know anyone who is missing?" Friday was like that, too. I listened to the National Cathedral service in my office. My firm had several dozen people scheduled for interviews that week, and all but one cancelled. I did a lunch interview with this one guy and was appalled that he even showed up. The conversation was about the attacks, of course, but I kept on thinking "How could you possibly drive from Cornell to Manhattan for an interview three days after the worst day in America's history?" I don't remember whether this clown got an offer, by I certainly negged him.

That afternoon, the skies above the city were full of fighters and Blackhawks. President Bush was visiting Ground Zero that day, and I went to the lounge to watch on TV. When he said "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon." I got chills. I thought "this is going to go down as one of the most powerful extemporaneous remarks ever by an American President" (and very impressive coming from W). I also remember joking with someone else watching that Bush was orbiting around Congressman Jerry Nadler.

I rember driving in over the GWB those first few days (actually, the first year) looking down at the skyline and seeing the hole where the WTC should have been. I also remember the smell. My office was miles north of Ground Zero, but the island of Manhattan had a sick, burnt plastic smell for weeks. Finally, I remember the panicked evacuations of Rockefeller Center and other places, the armed troops patrolling the streets and public spaces, cops running to and fro in response to the latest rumor, teh out of states firefighters and rescue workers stayiing at the two Sheraton hotels near where I worked, the fighrt planes in the sky, and the virtual lack of crime. (Actually, I thought the official return to normalcy for NYC occurred the night I was driving home at about 3 a.m. and saw the cops arrest a stark naked man on Tenth Avenue.)

It turns out that I knew 6 guys (all within a year or two of my age) who were killed. One was a NYC firefighter and childhood baseball teammate who had 1-month old twins. Another was the brother of a childhood friend (and a friend in his own right). Two others were high school classmates and soccer teammates. Another was a guy I played soccer against all through high school. The last was a guy I had some classes with in college. Beyond that, I knew of a half dozen other guys, including several firefighters and a NYC cop. Again, they were all guys around my age.

Since that day, I have felt guilty about not being an active participant in the War on Islamofascist Terrorism. I looked into joining the National Guard, but was rejected on account of my age. They have since raised the age to make me eligible, but my wife got wind of it and threatened divorce. I do what I can by keeping up on events on Rantburg, Winds of Change and other sites. I also contribute $ to Soldiers Angels and similar charities that benefit wounded soldiers or the families of dead soldiers. My church and my son's school have shipped items to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, I feel like I have not done enough. Maybe my work situation will change and I can do something to help -- maybe the CIA can use someone not inclined to get bogged down in bureaucratic CYA crapola. We used to live in DC, and my wife liked the area. In the meantime, it's praying for our troops and our political leaders and supporting military charities and milbloggers (Michael Yon is a current favorite).

Peace, and thanks for the opportunity to reflect.

Posted by Tibor 2005-09-11 23:41|| http://incompetenttibor.blogspot.com]">[http://incompetenttibor.blogspot.com] 2005-09-11 23:41|| Front Page Top

#96
Well, TGA, I didn't say that ruined modeling gigs were more important than 9/11, did I?

But, join the group. If that's what everyone else said, then join in.

If you don't like the word "dissident" then what's the right word for people who are personally hounded here for disagreeing with the Rabble on a couple of issues. Suggest a better word and I'll use it.
.

Posted by Mike Sylwester 2005-09-11 23:47|| 2005-09-11 23:47|| Front Page Top

#97 Cunt would be good.

Posted by .com 2005-09-11 23:52|| 2005-09-11 23:52|| Front Page Top

#98 LOL

Posted by 11A5S 2005-09-11 23:55|| 2005-09-11 23:55|| Front Page Top

#99 Crybaby maybe?

Posted by True German Ally 2005-09-11 23:55|| 2005-09-11 23:55|| Front Page Top

#100 Extreme lack of judgement and common sense is how I would write it up on a review.

Posted by 11A5S 2005-09-11 23:57|| 2005-09-11 23:57|| Front Page Top

#101 Btw if you call the company your discussing with "rabble", don't be so surprised.

It's a bit like walking into a truck stop yelling... you know what I mean?

And please check out Wikipedia to learn about "dissidents".

Posted by True German Ally 2005-09-11 23:58|| 2005-09-11 23:58|| Front Page Top

23:58 True German Ally
23:57 11A5S
23:55 True German Ally
23:55 11A5S
23:52 .com
23:52 Phil Fraering
23:47 Mike Sylwester
23:41 Tibor
23:36 True German Ally
23:32 Red Dog
23:30 True German Ally
23:27 Zhang Fei
23:20 11A5S
23:12 Mike Sylwester
23:11 Mike Sylwester
23:09 BH
23:04 Zhang Fei
23:03 DMFD
23:00 Zhang Fei
22:51 trailing wife
22:48 trailing wife
22:41 DMFD
22:40 Frank G
22:39 3dc