Posted on 09/12/2007 7:37:17 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback
Six years ago this morning, you got up. The day before, you had watched helpless as about 3,000 of our citizens died, some of them bathed in burning jet fuel, some of them crushed under millions of tons of concrete. Some of you, like me, couldn't get Rudy Giulian's estimate of the causalties--perhaps as many as 20,000, certainly "more than we can bear"--out of your mind.
You made your way through that bright new September morning, so much like the gorgeous morning the day before. You heard the silence of the empty skies.
I'd like to know, what were you thinking that day?
How long did you think it would be until we were hit again?
Did you think we might get hit again that same day, that we had less than six hours to go?
Did you think we'd go six days?
Six weeks?
Six months?
Did any of you figure that day that we'd go six years without Al Qaida being able to mount a major attack in the United States?
Did any of you figure they wouldn't launch any attack anywhere on the planet that would even come close to the devastation of September 11th?
I agree with Charles Krauthammer, who described going six years without an attack as being like a miracle. Are we so infected with BDS here at FR that we're going to forget this? Or are we going to give credit where credit is due for an astonishing achievement?
Just brought the 6 attack-free years up in law class when my teacher was spouting on about all the anti-terrorism laws and how they’re an overreaction.
Being in the rurals of north Georgia, I wasn’t particularly worried about my own safety. I was expecting another hit that day on one of our cities, though I figured it would be the midwest; a place unexpected from the day before.
The eeriest thing, and one I’ll never forget, was the almost absolute silence of the skies. We’d hear the occasional jet, knowing it was military, it gave one comfort overshadowed with uneasiness at the same time.
200 years from now, I want their children's children's children's children to cower and cringe in fear whenever they hear the sounds of jet engines overhead because their legends tell of fire from the sky. I want them to hide in dark caves and holes in the earth, shivering with terror whenever they hear the roar of diesel engines because the tales of their ancestors talk about metal monsters crawling over the earth, spitting death and destruction. I want their mothers to be able to admonish them with "If you don't behave, the Pale Destroyers will come for you", and that will be enough to reduce them to quivering obesience. I want the annihilation to be so complete that their mythology will tell them of the day of judgment when the stern gods from across the sea .. the powerful 'Mericans .. destroyed their forefathers' wickedness.
He was a smart guy, and a moderate rather than a lib, but he didn't have an answer for that.
Comments by underSecretary Paul Wolfowitz about considering the use of tactical nuclear weapons added to the hysteria.
I thought his statements were appropriate for the time--let the world be afraid of us IMO...
I remember thinking how quiet it was. No planes in the skies and everyone just seemed numb. Even traffic seemed subdued. And the few times I saw a plane in the sky, I watched it carefully.
Honestly, I expected more attacks.
We lived in a small house in San Jose California, and could watch the approach path to San Jose International Airport out our back windows.
The silence, utter silence, of those days following was eerie and unsettling. The lack of the familiar distant drone of international travel caught us by surprise time and again, and drove home the fact that the world had changed before our very eyes.
I was thanking God that algore was not our President.
Ditto that. I remember talking to my mom on the phone and saying that very thing to her.
Yep.
We ALL thought as a nation we would get hit hard again, and probably soon. I remember them polling that question back then.
Six years? Wow.
I was in DC and the constant flyovers by the military airplanes were the ONLY comforting thing that day. I woke up wondering if NOW they would finally get these murderous, traitorous Muslims out of our country, but that didn’t happen. It still hasn’t happened. I drove over to the Pentagon and fed my rage, which I did again yesterday. The only Muslims who left our country that day were Bin Laden’s family, whom OUR GOVERNMENT flew out of the country for their own safety, our safety being a lesser concern. Insert picture of falling man here. And see my tagline.
That would be Blue Lancer.
...which I managed to get a call back on 9/13....
...only to be told, for the first time EVER in my life...
...I was too old to go back to active duty!!!!!
...still steamed about that...
I was thinking there was no better way to remember 9/11 than to buy a new handgun . Purchased a Ruger P 95 9 mm. with bill of reciept dated 9/11/07 !
I just remember sitting by the TV for days. I wasn’t sure if there would be more attacks but I was waiting for more. Just sat & prayed...
I'm sorry to say that it appears to have been accurate.
Just a slight clarification, not all of the victims were American citizens, at least 100 were British citizens, and there were many other foreign nationals who perished in the Twin Towers. That's why the WoT is not just our fight, it should be the world's fight.
I was thinking, “Thank God Bush won. Thank God for Katherine Harris (yep!) and the Supreme Court.”
And about a dozen times over that 24-hour period, I remember my wife and I saying to our kids (then 10 and 6), “Never, never forget this day. This will shape the rest of your lives.”
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