The morning of 9/11

9/6/03 | Scab4faa

[scab4faa]

As September 11 approaches, I thought it would be nice for all of us to reflect on that morning that has been burned into our memories for the rest of our lives and share with everyone what we were doing and our feelings when we first saw or heard about the tragedy that was befalling our nation. please bump and keep this thread going for all of us to share our memories and NEVER FORGET....

[scab4faa]

On September 11, I awoke around 8am and turned on the TV like I did every morning to watch the news to see what the weather was going to be like for that day. As usual the news would go on in the background as I got dressed with little getting my attention. I had seen the picture of the North tower burning but didn’t think much about it. I heard that maybe a small plane had crashed into it but as usual, preliminary reports can be filled with very little truth. So I dismissed it and went on with my morning routine thinking that the firefighters at the towers would be in for a long day putting that fire out. When I heard “Oh my god there’s another plane!” from the news reporter and looked up at the screen just in time to see this

My mouth fell open as I watched for the next 5 hours barely breathing, only taking my eyes off the screen long enough to wipe the tears away that kept sliding down my face. I will never forget watching those images and wishing that it was some movie I was watching and not real life. We must NEVER FORGET and always remember what happened that day and the sorrow and anger we felt that brought our nation together. God bless America and God bless our troops.

[annyokie]

I knew nothing. Hubby and I were out packing the wheel-bearings on the pick-up. We came in to hear his daughter's message "What a thing to wake up to" and turned on the TV.

We spent the rest of the morning turning off TV's at the neighbors' and calming people down.

[WSGilcrest]

Check out this thread:



********************************************************

*** PLANE CRASH - WORLD TRADE CENTER ***
CNN BREAKING

*******************************************************

I was stuck at work all day listening to the reports on the radio in my tractor. The thing that struck me the most was the eerie quiet for the next several days after all the airlines were grounded.

[risk]

For some very odd reason, I had awakened early. I was working on a project, and so I turned on a portable FM stereo (Sony Walkman) and started listening to music while I tapped away at my computer.

In flipping from one channel to the other, I noticed a common discussion going on: something about aircraft, evidently another hijacking. Hadn't we heard something from the mideast recently, something about bin Laden. I flipped again. WTC. Burning. All planes being asked to land. I knew something important was happening. Then it happened: the first tower collapsed.

The next thing I noticed was an erie silence. I live near an airport, but nothing was coming or going. More discussion. More concerns about other hijackings. The second tower collapses, flight 93 goes down, and the Pentagon is struck.

I didn't have a TV at the time, so I wasn't seeing any of this. I'm not sure that it mattered, because at work, everyone was playing streaming video reports from all over the world.

It would take me months to understand everything as I do today.

Questions remain in my mind:

why haven't we crushed our enemies in northern Pakistan? Why have dozens of bombs exploded in Israel, let alone an additional two after 9/11? Why are hundreds of illegal aliens crossing into America every day, still? Why have we not eliminated Iran's nuclear program? Why have we not eliminated North Korea's nuclear program? Why has Pakistan not agreed to disarm, preferring that to a sound neutron bombing? Why is CAIR still intact? AIM? Why is Saudi Arabia still sending terrorists into Iraq? Why is Saudi money still pouring into the "hate America, hate Israel" propaganda machine that is its religious and educational establishment? Why is Kosovo still a breeding ground for crimes against Europe and beyond? Why are Filipino terrorists capturing and torturing Christians, MILF relatively unscathed? Why are bombs detonating in Bali, killing Australians? Why haven't we united with Russia against the Chechen rebels?

People, where is the outrage?

[risk]

Illegals: I don't know about hundreds per day. But per month?

[lavrenti]

Here's the thumbnail sketch.

I worked then five blocks north. I had to come in late because a collegue had a diva moment and demanded to take my slot so she could move in to her new place.

Dropped my daughter off at school.

Heard a roar overhead and the sound of metal plates run over by a truck.

Looked at smoke down the street. Walked several blocks to investigate.

Saw the first hit and go down. Picked up my daughter. We watched the second go down.

Walked home, cutting across the masses moving north from downtown.

Then proceeded to work four months at my office, at night, with the smell of rotting flesh and burnt electrical wiring in the air.

Since then, I suffer fools lightly.

[annyokie]

How horrible for you! I cried and cried as I watched the Firemen go in to die.

I'm glad you are safe. Bless.

[Samurai_Jack]

Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
And the slow parade of fears without crying
Now I want to understand
I have done all that I could
To see the evil and the good without hiding
You must help me if you can

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what is wrong
Was I unwise to leave them open for so long

'Cause I have wandered through this world
And as each moment has unfurled
I've been waiting to awaken from these dreams
People go just where there will
I never noticed them until I got this feeling
That it's later than it seems

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what you see
I hear their cries
Just say if it's too late for me
Doctor, my eyes
Cannot see the sky
Is this the prize for having learned how not to cry

~ Jackson Browne

[annyokie]

Well, finally a song post that is apropos.

[tob2]

Woke up late that morning and thought my nightmare was being aired on every channel I get on TV. The only dream I had the summer of 2001 was of burning buildings, collapsing buildings, and people falling from the sky! I could barely tear myself from the TV, wondering about my friends who worked in the World Trade Center. They got out safely. Since that morning, my child-like sense of safety, security, immunity from tradegy for the USA has been challenged. My love for my country has increased a thousand-fold. NEVER FORGET!

[Fester Chugabrew]

That whole day weather-wise was very much like yesterday here. Crystal clear, and cool. Not a jet trail in the sky. Today's weather is similar. Definitely brings back memories of 9/11/01.

I recently purchased some homemade video of NYC before the towers fell to view this week, and a couple commemorative DVDs. Will take Thursday off from work. Can no longer treat that day with a "business as usual" attitude.

I could not believe, when 9/11 was happening, that people were calling me up to place orders for trailer parts as if nothing were happening. It was strange, and more than a bit bothersome.

[Tax-chick]

I was getting my kids ready for preschool. A friend called to ask a question, and as we were trying to talk (with 5 kids each!) she said, "Do you have the TV on? Someone just crashed a plane into the World Trade Center!" I said, "Shoot, can't those idiots even see a 200-story building?" - picturing a drunk in a Cessna!

Then I had to go, and didn't learn anything else (I don't ever have TV or radio news on around the children) until I got to the church to drop off the kids, and people were talking. My comment was, "Mind your audience, please," since we were surrounded by 2-4 year-olds.

Then I got to the bank, and it was full of people drinking coffee, eating popcorn, and watching CNN. We were in and out quickly! After that, we went home and I kept the news off, only made a quick look at the CNN website. Later my husband came home; they'd evacuated the building he worked in because it was the tallest "skyscraper" in Tulsa.

We were stunned. We all prayed, but did not watch or listen to the news, because we felt, and still feel, that it was not an appropriate focus for young children.

[Jim Noble]

why haven't we crushed our enemies in northern Pakistan?

Good question. Very, very good question.

I think the answer is that the occupation and reorganization of Pakistan requires military development that the administration is not prepared to undertake.

Bush could have had anything he asked for when he addressed Congress on 9/16/01. He chose not to ask for much.

He could have asked the American people for anything, as well, and we would have answered the call.

Now, our force options are such that they require (or soon will require) cooperation from a world that sadly, does not exist.

I posted in October 2001 that we should form a military alliance with India to undo partition, crush Pakistan, and wipe our enemies from the face of the earth.

We chose Musharreff instead.

I don't believe he can deliver what we require. It isn't about Bin Laden. The spirit of the NWFP tribes who breed terrorist destroyers of modernity must be crushed, and we will not do it.

[areafiftyone]

Actually I was on Free Republic at the time (at work). My bosses wife called and told me to look out the window. There was smoke everywhere and all you heard were sirens. I started posting on Free Republic while everyone was rivited to the windows. After the towers collasped we were evacuated from the bulding and finally after a few hours I made my way to Grand Central thru the hordes of people and smoke. I was living in Westchester at the time. When the trains finally started running I was able to get home. When I arrived in Westchester there were police sharpshooters standing at the station watching people get off the train.

[LizardQueen]

I was getting ready for work and had the news on as I always do. They had just announced that a small plane had hit one of the WTC towers as I was getting ready to leave the house. I thought it was sad, but didn't realize that it wasn't just a Cessna putting a ding in the side of the building.

I drove to work with the radio on - they were still saying small plane. Got to work and no one was paying attention to the news so I mentioned it and we tried to get to CNNs web site - couldn't. Then we put the radio on, and I fired up this web site and realized the magnitude of what was happening.

I spent a frenzied 20 minutes trying to get ahold of my family on Long Island - they go into the city a lot and I didn't know where they were supposed to be that day. All the circuits were busy. I ended up getting my sister in Ohio who had been on the phone with my folks when it happened so I knew that at least they were alright.

The guy in back of me had the radio on, and I clearly remember that when he stood up to announce that the first tower had gone down I thought he was making a cruel joke and got mad at him for "being such a sick bastard". I ended up having to apologize to him once we figured out it was real. The whole thing had such a "War of the Worlds" feel to it at first that none of us believed it.

We then spend the rest of the day monitoring the news - not much work got done. They put a TV in the cafeteria and we watched the news in there for awhile. I kept having to leave to go cry in the bathroom where no one could see me.

Our boss was also in the air that day, and once we realized that planes were continuing to drop from the sky we got really worried. Luckily he wasn't on any of them but got grounded in Myrtle Beach, SC and drove all the way back to VT in a Geo Tracker with a canvas roof - it was the only 1-way rental the renta agency had.

Once I knew my family was safe, I then started calling my husbands family (all in NJ, work in the city) and friends in Boston (who fly a lot). Fortunately all were ok, though one of hubby's cousins was on the news footage being chased down a lower Manhattan street by the dust cloud from the collapse of one of the towers.

Unfortunately, I ended up finding out that one of my parents neighbors, a fireman, was killed in the Tower 2 (I was friends with his brother in high school) as was my 10th grade science lab partner who worked at Marsh & McClennan and was trapped and couldn't get out.

I still react with rage and tears thinking of it. Mostly rage - I want to kill the sons of bitches that did this.

LQ

[Ol' Sox]

I had broken a small bone in my wrist the night before while playing with my sons and was at my doctor's getting it x-rayed and immobilized. The nurse came into the room and said that a plane had hit the WTC. I thought of the incident when a bomber lost in the fog and mentioned it to the doc. Just as I was leaving, someone hollered out that a second plane had hit. I sped to work and spent the morning making video of CNN available over the IP network to our employees and reading Free Republic.

A little after noon, we dismissed everyone - we're only 50 miles from the city and literally everyone at work knew someone that worked at the WTC. I went home and got my wife, and we went to the beach where we could make out the funeral pyre coming from the fire. It turned out that I knew one man from my church who died there, another from church who escaped from the 45th floor of Tower 2, and the mother of one of my son's classmates was killed.

[SSN558]

I was at work and passed a designer in the hallway. He said, "Is the United States at war or what ?" Soon we were all glued to the radio as the day passed.

Later that night at school a girl in my presentation group wanted to turn the presentation into something else related to the attacks. The group was emotionally distressed. I told them, "we have to do the presentation as planned, and get it done." "The United States is going to war and it won't be for awhile." "When the President of the United States flys to Barksdale Air Force Base it is not for a peace talk."

[shhrubbery!]

What I remember is that it was a beautiful, crystal clear day.

I was finishing up the morning chores while listening to 'Curtis and Kuby' on New York City's WABC radio, when Curtis announced that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

Like Bibi Netanyahu, I'd been expecting something like this for years (Netanyahu had predicted a mushroom cloud rising over the WTC).

Still, coming as it did on that brilliant late summmer day, it was a shock.

It reminded me of how we must be prepared for death at the most unexpected moments.

[contessa machiaveli]

september 11th was a NY morning exactly like today. the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky and hints of autumn in the air. i woke up turned howard stern on and prepared to edit some articles. a few moments later howard mentioned a plane went into the WTC (didn't think much, there are helicopters galore around lower manhattan. i decided to turn on the TV and saw the 2nd plane hit. i spent the next 5 hours listening to howard's show and staring in horror at the TV. we all know the rest.
2 days later the air(i'm 40 miles east of the city) had an odd burning odor. i didn't realize it contained the smell of the remains of 3000 humans, some of whom were from my town.
since that morning, i see the world with anger and cynicism and will never be the same.

[Cincinnatus]

For a link to some good 9/11 and Ground Zero personal accounts, go to http://home.nycap.rr.com/rgoing/

[risk]

The spirit of the NWFP tribes who breed terrorist destroyers of modernity must be crushed, and we will not do it.

In 2002, I was willing to stand with our leaders and support State. In the month of 9/11, 2003, too much time has gone by without another real front opening in this war. What was the disease that racked our polity under Clinton? Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil? It is time to uncover our eyes. America's deep, unquenchable thirst for revenge, and our demand for total victory over the enemies of the west will not be assuaged until we have done our best to make it happen.

[rabidralph]

I had been unemployed since May and I was searching for jobs and sending out resumes by e-mail. I checked into FR occasionally to read the latest headlines. My regular routine would have me sign off at 9 to await phone call responses to my job applications. I signed off a little before 9 and puttered around the house, with the TV off (I hate morning news shows). Around 10:40, my cousin in Atlanta called me and asked me if I'd been watching. Watching what, I asked. I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV and saw the replay of everything, including the Pentagon on the split screen! I couldn't believe what my cousin was telling me and what I was seeing on TV. I hung up the phone and just stared. My NJ cousins were safe: one was on her way to work and turned back, the other was trapped in the city with her husband and had to spend the night in Manhattan. My uncle is a financial consultant and an aunt is a venture capitalist. They lost dozens of friends up there. My mother's sister-in-law worked as an Army accountant and she was lost at the Pentagon.

[CGVet58]

I found this on the internet shortly after 9/11:

Two Thousand One, Nine Eleven --

Two thousand one, nine eleven
Three thousand plus arrive in heaven
As they pass through the gate,
Thousands more appear in wait

A bearded man with stovepipe hat
Steps forward saying,
Let's sit, let's chat"

They settle down in seats of clouds
A man named Martin shouts out proud
"I have a dream!" and once he did
The Newcomer said, "Your dream still lives."

Groups of soldiers in blue and gray
Others in khaki, and green then say
"We're from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine"
The Newcomer said, "You died not in vain."

From a man on sticks one could hear
"The only thing we have to fear.
The Newcomer said, "We know the rest,
trust us sir, we've passed that test."

"Courage doesn't hide in caves
You can't bury freedom, in a grave,"
The Newcomers had heard this voice before
A distinct Yankee twang from Hyannisport shores

A silence fell within the mist
Somehow the Newcomer knew that this
Meant time had come for her to say
What was in the hearts
of the five thousand plus that day

"Back on Earth, we wrote reports,
Watched our children play in sports
Worked our gardens, sang our songs
Went to church and clipped coupons

We smiled, we laughed, we cried, we fought
Unlike you, great we're not

The tall man in the stovepipe hat
Stood and said, "don’t talk like that!
Look at your country, look and see
You died for freedom, just like me"

Then, before them all appeared a scene
of rubbled streets and twisted beams
Death, destruction, smoke and dust
And people working just 'cause they must

Hauling ash, lifting stones,
Knee deep in hell
But not alone

"Look! Blackman, Whiteman, Brownman, Yellowman
Side by side helping their fellow man!"
So said Martin, as he watched the scene
"Even from nightmares, can be born a dream."

Down below three firemen raised
The colors high into ashen haze
The soldiers above had seen it before
On Iwo Jima back in '44

The man on sticks studied everything closely
Then shared his perceptions on what he saw mostly
"I see pain, I see tears,
I see sorrow - but I don't see fear."

"You left behind husbands and wives
Daughters and sons and so many lives
are suffering now because of this wrong
But look very closely. You're not really gone.

All of those people, even those who've never met you
All of their lives, they'll never forget you
Don't you see what has happened?
Don't you see what you've done?
You've brought them together, together as one.

With that the man in the stovepipe hat said
"Take my hand," and from there he led
three thousand plus heroes, Newcomers to heaven
On this day, two thousand one, nine eleven.

CGVet58
Juan Rosario

[SamAdams76]

Well I still remember the morning of 9/11 (before everything started). It was a perfect late summer day. Deep blue skies, low humidity and warm temperatures. I remember driving to work that morning listening to the local sports talk station ragging on the Patriots (they had lost their season opener).

Normally at work I spent my first hour planning out my day, tying up loose ends from the day before, returning phone calls and e-mail (with a little FR surfing in between). But on this particular morning, a technician was at the office that had his review due. So on the spur of the moment, I took him into my office and started giving him his performance review.

About an hour into it, the technician's cell phone rang. To my annoyment, he took the call. It was his wife telling him about the first plane. He told me that a "small" plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York. At the time, I assumed it was nothing earthshattering. Sort of like what happened to the Empire State Building in 1945 when that small bomber crashed into it. I figured I could get on Free Republic after the review and see what was going on. Surely somebody would have a thread going about it.

So I began to wrap up the review. In the corner of my eye, I started noticing co-workers scurrying around through the window of my office. Sort of unusual as I work in a very laid-back place. Somebody was pulling the TV that we use for training videos out into the middle of the office. Strange, I thought. I glanced at my phone which was set up to go straight to voice mail. It was lit up like a Christmas tree. Just about every light was blinking. "Going to be a busy day," I thought to myself. As it usually is the week after Labor Day.

As I ended the review and had the technician going over it and signing it, I decided to check out Free Republic while I was waiting. My browser homepage was set to the Drudge Report so when I fired up the browser, I found that I couldn't get through to it. So Drudge is down, I thought, certainly wasn't the first time. I clicked over to Free Republic and it too wouldn't come up. I then tried FoxNews.com and a few other sites. Again, nothing was coming up. At that time, my personal cellphone went off, meaning it was a family member. I picked it up and it was my sister. "Are you watching the TV?" she said. She then gave me the quick and dirty.

"Holy crap!" I said. Only it wasn't holy crap that came out of my mouth. From that moment on, the rest of the morning was a blur. I manage the Boston area for my company and I have field techncians all over the place in downtown Boston. As soon as I heard that the Pentagon was hit, my next thought was to get every technician out of downtown Boston. All I needed was to have a plane slam into a Boston skyscraper with one of my techs in there. I started Nextel-ling everybody saying "Get the hell out, now!" Half of them were already on their way out of the city however. By 11AM, the city of Boston was essentially shutting down. There was the eeriest traffic jam leaving the city. By noon, it looked like a lazy Sunday afternoon in the city.

That afternoon was really odd. Zero calls came into my office from customers. All the workers went home and there was dead silence in the office. It was like everything just shut down. I left early that afternoon and looking up in the sky and seeing no airplanes whatsoever in one of the busiest air traffic corridors in the world, I knew then that things would never quite be the same again.

[Guenevere]

Thank-you for starting this thread.
Seems the regular programming on TV will be 'same as usual' on that day.

It's a day I will never forget.

My husband was in LA on a work assignment for his company, and I was with him, as it was a long assignment.

We were at an extended stay hotel very close to the LA airport....Very close!

We didn't turn on the TV that morning....(it was 6:00AM on the west coast)...but I fired up the laptop as I usually do in the AM and go directly to Free Republic.

The first thing I saw was ...'All airports grounded'....

I mentioned it to my husband, and he thought I was joking.

We then turned on the TV.....and saw what was happening!

We watched in stunned silence for the longest time, but when we realized the tower was falling with all those people inside, we turned off the TV, sat down, and prayed and prayed for them.....

We didn't know what would happen next, and we feared the unknown.

And in our strategic location, we felt very vulnerable.

My husband's company closed down for the day......and there was eerie quiet, as no planes were arriving or leaving.....and we were definitely on the flight path.

They took extra precautions at our hotel, closing off parts of it with heavy doors, and activating security measures.

When our shock wore off, I called my parents and both my grown children called me from differnt parts of the country.

My daughter, a school teacher, called for reassurance, as she didn't know what to tell the children.

We prayed a lot!.....and cried.

[LizardQueen]

Dammit, now I'm crying again.

LQ

[BabsC]

Along the southern border it is hundreds pre day. Ask the ranchers whose water tanks are damaged, their land trashed and their homes broken into. Where have you been?

[randita]

Was anyone else out of the country when it happened?

Hubby and I were on a canoeing trip in Ontario. Did not have access to TV or phone, but heard a sketchy report via their local radio. Got to phone ASAP and called our son, who filled us in. Thought shocked, we still didn't grasp the real scenario until we found a store whose owner let us watch CNN on his satellite TV. Wanted to come home immediately, but border was closed (we had driven there). We had a real sense of helplessness being out of touch with our family, our country and information. We were so glad to get back on U.S. soil and were angry as h*** at the cowardly Muslims (also their supporters and financiers) who did such a despicable act.

Those who cheered the result made me seethe with rage.

[DianaN]

I was awake early that dreadful morning and watched the entire thing on CNN. It's obvious that many leftists and Democrats have already forgotten. Our enemies are winning the information warfare conducted by our government with many of our leftist 'friends'believing every disinformation story published on the web. You can hear these idiots on C-Span every morning with comments such as "The President lied", "It's all about oil", "Haliburton, Dick Cheney...", "The planes were piloted by remote control", "The Jews did it", "They're taking all our civil rights away", "We have to cut off aid to Israel, "We must leave Iraq", etc. ad nauseum. Many of these idiots don't even know that some of the highjackers were pilots. A pox on these treasonous anti-patriots.

[WhiteGuy]

why haven't we crushed our enemies in northern Pakistan? Why have dozens of bombs exploded in Israel, let alone an additional two after 9/11? Why are hundreds of illegal aliens crossing into America every day, still? Why have we not eliminated Iran's nuclear program? Why have we not eliminated North Korea's nuclear program? Why has Pakistan not agreed to disarm, preferring that to a sound neutron bombing? Why is CAIR still intact? AIM? Why is Saudi Arabia still sending terrorists into Iraq? Why is Saudi money still pouring into the "hate America, hate Israel" propaganda machine that is its religious and educational establishment? Why is Kosovo still a breeding ground for crimes against Europe and beyond? Why are Filipino terrorists capturing and torturing Christians, MILF relatively unscathed? Why are bombs detonating in Bali, killing Australians? Why haven't we united with Russia against the Chechen rebels?

---

Because the objectives of this President's war have nothing to do with your list.

[Jim Noble]

America's deep, unquenchable thirst for revenge, and our demand for total victory over the enemies of the west will not be assuaged until we have done our best to make it happen

I don't think Bush and Rove agree with you.

IMO, a leader who took on our thirst for revenge as his cause would be unbeatable.

Bush has not done so, for what must seem to him to be good reasons.

[Steve0113]

Since that morning, my child-like sense of safety, security, immunity from tradegy for the USA has been challenged.

That happened to a lot of people. A good friend of mine, for example, never used to pay attention to the news, and didn't care or understand what was going on in the world. Before 9/11, she was blissful in her little cocoon, with the attitude of "Can't we all just get along?"

Now she has Fox News on every day, and she wants nothing more than to see every jihadist killed.

My love for my country has increased a thousand-fold.

Likewise.

NEVER FORGET!

Amen.

[DianaN]

Correction: I meant to say ...the disinformation campaign AGAINST our government.

[truthkeeper]

I'll never forget it.

I had some pre-dawn work to drop off at the office (L.A. time) and got in my car for the drive home a couple of minutes after the first plane hit. Bill Handel, radio host at KFI was having a discussion with the on-scene reporter about the event when the second plane hit. He and I immediately had the same thought, which he spoke aloud, on air, in a deadly calm voice: "Ladies and Gentlemen, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK."

When I got home I rushed in to the television, which my son already had on. My kids and I watched spellbound for a couple of hours. I told them our country was at war and that many bad things would happen, but that we needed to be prepared to fight and die for our freedom and our country.

Shortly afterward, as I was driving them to school, the first tower collapsed while the radio reported it live. Tears were streaming down my face. My kids were shocked. I will never forget the looks on their faces as their beautiful innocence dissolved before my very eyes. At that moment, I knew that they knew what this was really all about.

God bless America.

[woofie]

I sat down here in front of the computer ...clicked on Drudge, saw the picture ,went to FR ...then got off and went to the tv...as I remember it right before the second plane hit

[Corin Stormhands]

I was at the office, checking FR for headlines of the day. I knew before anyone else in the building.

May we never forget.

[risk]

Because the objectives of this President's war have nothing to do with your list.

I don't know if that's true, maybe he fears what we all know is going to happen if he goes beyond rolling tanks into Baghdad. But I can't be silent anymore, waiting, hoping that he lives up to the example that our grandparents and parents gave us during WWII. The only thing to fear is fear itself.

[BabsC]

I'll never forget. I usually get to work between 6:30 and 7:00 am so I'd been busy for a while. The company I was contracting at had a wall sized TV in the lobby. I was leaving a status meeting and walking through the lobby where a crowd had gathered around the TV. I saw the smoke and the WTC and asked if it had been bombed again. That was when I was told a large plane had hit it. Right then the second plane hit. Seeing it on a TV that was 4, 60 inch monitors on a wall was surreal. We turned on every TV in the 8 floor building and put two in the cafeteria. No more work got done. Everyone was crying and very very angry.

Ok, I'm crying again. I am still so angry.

I read this the other day:

The goal of democracy, according to Al Ayyeri, is to “make Muslims love this world, forget the next world, and abandon Jihad.” If established in any Muslim country for a reasonably long time, democracy could lead to economic prosperity which, in turn, would make Muslims “reluctant to die in martyrdom” in defence of their faith.

If this is true Islam, it has to go.

[Tijeras_Slim]

On TV I saw the first tower on fire, and not realizing the scale, thought a twin engine private plane or small commuter had hit it. Then the second plane hit and it was obvious we were being attacked.

The first tower came down as I was driving to work. I listened on the radio. To this day I consider it a mercy I didn't see it happen live.

There was a TV at work, but I mostly stayed on FR.

[SerpentDove]

[Master Zinja]

I live in the western states, and was up early as usual, reading FR and other sites, surfing around that morning. For some reason, I shut off my internet connection at 5:45am - 3 minutes before the first plane hit - and decided to shut off the radio and relax a little.

Understand at the time that: 1) I managed (still do) a news/talk radio station and 2) I didn't have cable or an antenna, so no television in the house except for videos.

When the attacks happened, everyone at the radio station was too busy to call me & let me know what had happened, and my family and friends assumed, since I worked for the station, I already knew what was going on & shouldn't be bothered.

I remember getting ready for work as usual, then relaxing with my wife watching, of all things, a taped episode of Andy Griffith (we're both fans) and commenting about how much simpler life had been 40 years ago, not knowing what was going on 3000 miles away.

Finally, I went to work as usual around 8am (11am ET) and turned on the radio in the car. Within a minute, I had my cell phone on, screaming at the announcer on duty, "What the hell is going on?" and trying to get to work as fast as I could - about 20 minutes away. Once I got there, it was controlled chaos.

One person who worked there stopped me and asked, "What do you think of all this?" (This person was a liberal.) I stopped, faced them and said, "If we figure out what country or countries perpetrated this, they and their people should be wiped off the face of the earth," and walked away. That was all the time I had for personal comment all day.

The first still picture I saw (the second plane about to hit the WTC) was at noon (3pm ET) on Drudge. The first video I saw was late that night at my mother's house, which had cable, and I finally realized the devastation that had been caused.

For what has happened since, 80% of me thinks we're moving (albeit slowly) in the right direction, but 20% thinks this war should have been over on September 12th, with several Middle East cities wiped out and a message to the various governments: Do this again, and we'll get really rough.

[Agnes Heep]

I work as a networking specialist at a military installation on the east coast. I was feeling pretty good that morning; had slept well the previous night, and the day was turning out to be pretty good, with everything going right and bright blue skies overhead. At one point about mid-morning I tried to bring up Fox News to catch the headlines, but my browser kept spinning its wheels. I was thinking that my WAN circuit had gone down and was just in the process of checking it out when a young airman stuck his head inside the door and excitedly told me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

Three days later I was working in a huge morgue facility, running cables and setting up computers in the midst of hundreds of charred, dismembered bodies. It was an experience to remember.

We sleep until the alarm goes off, then groggily pull ourselves out of bed. It happens every time.

[gooleyman]

I was sitting at my desk at work when one of the Lab Operators burst through the door and yelled to all that a plane had just hit one of the twin towers. (They keep a radio on at all times in the Test Lab.) Several of us hurried into the lab to listen. Several minutes after we gathered there, the second plane hit. Then word came of the Pentagon being hit. I said to all of them right then and there that it was time to kick some a$$. I knew then that it was a terrorist act. One plane could be an accident...but two...three...no way. It had to be an attack. I immediately called home and told my wife to put in a fresh tape and start the VCR. I then went to FreeRepublic and saw the pictures of the towers standing there proudly with the gaping holes poked in their sides. I marveled to the other workers about the strength of those buildings to be able to take a hit like that and still remain standing. Later someone entered the office and said both towers had fallen. I felt total shock and disbelief. Hard to believe 'til this day.

God bless our troops and their Commander In Chief.

[mountaineer]

I had just sat down at the computer and saw the "breaking news" at FR, so I quickly turned on the TV to see the first tower burning. While I watched, the second plane hit. We had two fellows remodeling our kitchen at the time, and I called them in to see what was going on. We saw the buildings collapse. I kept saying, "All those rescue workers ..." and I think I went into a kind of shock that lasted for several days.

[annyokie]

I know how you feel, Sam. Thanks for sharing. I still feel kind of dopey for not being in the know when it happened.

It was a normal day and BAMN! None of us will ever be the same.

[Ronly Bonly Jones]

All I will say is this: I was overseas, serving with the Balkan peacekeepers, when 9/11 occurred. As a direct consequence, I didn't see my family again (aside from two short visits) for almost two years. We only reunited in late June.

This song (written in 1989!) sums up 9/11 better than anything else I've ever seen. Or heard.

Harry got up

Dressed all in black

Went down to the station

And he never came back

They found his clothing

Scattered somewhere down the track

And he won't be down on Wall Street

in the morning

He had a home

The love of a girl

But men get lost sometimes

As years unfurl

One day he crossed some line

And he was too much in this world

But I guess it doesn't matter anymore

In a New York minute

Everything can change

In a New York minute

Things can get pretty strange

In a New York minute

Everything can change

In a New York minute

Lying here in the darkness

I hear the sirens wail

Somebody going to emergency

Somebody's going to jail

If you find somebody to love in this world

You better hang on tooth and nail

The wolf is always at the door

In a New York minute

Everything can change

In a New York minute

Things can get a little strange

In a New York minute

Everything can change

In a New York minute

And in these days

When darkness falls early

And people rush home

To the ones they love

You better take a fool's advice

And take care of your own

One day they're here;

Next day they're gone

I pulled my coat around my shoulders

And took a walk down through the park

The leaves were falling around me

The groaning city in the gathering dark

On some solitary rock

A desperate lover left his mark,

"Baby, I've changed. Please come back."

What the head makes cloudy

The heart makes very clear

The days were so much brighter

In the time when she was here

But I know there's somebody somewhere

Make these dark clouds disappear

Until that day, I have to believe

I believe, I believe

In a New York minute

Everything can change

In a New York minute

You can get out of the rain

In a New York minute

Everything can change

In a New York minute

Don Henley. Smart man.

[annyokie]

Don Henley is indeed a smart man. Thanks!

[Ronly Bonly Jones]

If anyone can briefly explain to me how I can retrieve the original 9/11 threads from FR I would be much obliged. (Sorry for the off topic post. Needless to say I was in no position to read them at the time.)

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

The President should relax one evening and take a look at the "Baptism" sequence from The Godfather where Michael kills all of his enemies in a brilliantly planned series of assasinations. One day I would like to wake up and hear GWB say "Yesterday, all of America's enemies were destroyed." Oh well, I can dream, can't I?