As it Happened: Real-Time 9-11 Coverage on Free Republic

Free Republic ^ | September 11, 2001 | FReepers

[Starrgaizr]

At 7:52am EDT, under the innocuous title "World Trade Center," Oldeconomybuyer posted the first thread, writing: CNBC reports a plane has hit the World Trade Center in NY. No details...

At 8:04-8:05am EDT on September 11, 2001, the following comments, among many others, appeared on several threads:

Holy Cow!! Another plane just hit!! / Another plane just flew into the building! / OMG!!!! Huge explosion out the side!!! / A SECOND PLANE JUST NOW FLEW INTO THE SECOND TOWER!!! / 2 ND EXPLOSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOW / Another plane flew into the second tower. / TERRORISTS!!!! / O' the humanities! What the Hell! Another plane. I'm dreaming or what? / Dear God! They just hit the other tower. / Jesus, another one just flew into it. / A SECOND plane just flew into the tower. This IS DELIBERATE! / Second explosion. Just heard it in Brooklyn. IN the OTHER Tower. That seemed like a BOMB!!!! / I just saw a second plane hit the other tower-- looks like an attack. / Oh my goodness! / Just saw the second plane hit the other tower / Second impact on the other building !!!!! / This is unbelievable!!!!! / Most definitely terrorism / Oh MY Gosh! Another Plane just flew into the 2nd tower! / ANOTHER PLANE CRASHES !!!! UNBELIEVABLE !!!! / HOLY CRAP Another plane just slammed into the tower!!!!!!!! / SECOND PLANE FLIES INTO OTHER TOWER! /

At 8:08am EDT HalfIrish wrote: It takes a lot of cash to smash two jets, don't you think? Can you say Osama bin-Laden?

At 8:09am EDT, on another thread, Catspaw wrote: Osama bin Ladin.

The morning just got worse. At 8:44-8:45:

Fire in the Pentagon WWIII / Explosion in Pentagon, too!!! / WHITE HOUSE BEING EVACUATED !

We all know how things ended.

At 8:51: ALL AIRPORTS IN NATION SHUT DOWN BY FAA !

At 9:02-03: I just saw from my window. TOP OF THE World Trade Center just collapsed!! OH MY GOD! PEOPLE ARE CRYING HERE! / OH MY GOD...THE WHOLE BUILDING JUST COLLAPSED! oh sweet Jesus...look with kindness and mercy upon our dead / Does this mean that we're going to war? No, we are AT war!

Then: Second Tower just went!!! HELP US! / What parts of the Pentagon has been hit? My brother is there.

For all of the gut-wrenching real-time coverage on Free Republic, follow this link to the Remembrance Archive: Free Republic Threads From 9-11-01

NEVER FORGET. STAY ANGRY.

[blam]

"Another plane flew into the second tower. TERRORISTS!!!! "

That's my comment. I watched the second plane fly into tower two. (I still cringe thinking about it)

[Ms. AntiFeminazi]

Thank you for the ping Starrgaizr. I know many Texans have loved ones now serving overseas and here to help secure our freedom from future attacks. We lost some Freepers and their loved ones that day too.

pinging TX freepers.

[jdontom]

I had just stopped a Honda Civic and was approaching the drivers side when the lady turned to me and said...A plane just flew into the Capital...I immediately radioed for conformation of what she had told me, and was told that a plane had just hit the WTC, I was only about five miles from the state capital and remembered looking in that direction..Like everyone else here, that was one very long day....

[Jalapeno]

My number one and probably singular news source for the next 36 hours or so was Free Republic. It brought all the news together, from the on the scene reports to the world reports. Freepers did an outstanding job that day.

I still remember darkness finally falling and getting the little kid to bed, then crawling into my office and reading over threads I had followed all day. As I did that, I heard the repeated sounds of fighter jets continually flying over head, and knew one thing for sure..the world had changed.

[Starrgaizr]

Lets pray for the families of the victims, our brave troops and our president.

In response to a question yesterday, I spent some time looking up what I could find online from December 7, 1942 and 1943. Certainly no "quagmire" talk. Rather, warships were deliberately launched and entered ports -- like Pearl Harbor -- on 12/7/43. The President was in Malta and drew attention to the anniversary. Perhaps a few Republicans were grousing about his conduct of the war and why it was taking so long to invade France, but I haven't seen much evidence of it in my history books about the war. I doubt that there was a deliberate effort to undermine confidence in the war effort for crass political gain.

[azGOPgal]

Amen

[L.N. Smithee]

One of many chilling things in my mind about the attacks was that the second previous Saturday night/Sunday morning, Saturday Night Live was not seen on the West Coast because of a power outage at NBC headquarters in NYC. I authored a thread about it based on a wire report, and in some of the responses, some people -- doubtless sore over the victory of Hillary -- made crude comments about New York, suggesting that if there was a citywide blackout, it might go up in flames -- but that the country would be better off without it.

Needless to say, that set off a mini-flame war. But a few days later, people understood the difference between snide remarks and possibility of New York City disappearing, and nobody questions the value of it any longer.

[Nam Vet]

I just want to thank you for opening the thread.

Nam Vet

[ladyinred]

Will this generation maintain its focus until the war is won?

Sadly, NO. I think we would have had the leftists not decided to use this against President Bush for their political gain. There is nothing more disgusting than that to me, and I will forever hold them responsible if anything else happens. They of course will blame the President if we are attacked again, all the while knowing they are the cause with their constant second guessing and inuendos about the reason for the war with Iraq. They are despicable.

FreeRepublic was the best place for first hand accounts of the attack, and I am so thankful we all had each other that horrible day. Amazing how fast the facts were posted here, and it was comforting somehow to be able to express how we all felt watching the unthinkable unfold before our disbelieving eyes.

[xp38]

I think one of the most extraordinary stories from 9/11 was how the air system was completely shut down and grounded. There was an article on FR about it and those at American Airlines, United and the national air traffic control deciding what to do. It is worth reading. The subsequent diversion of planes in the air at the time was another.

[L.N. Smithee]

Before the blog age, when the events unfolded, this was the only true web chronicle of the morning's tragic events. Later, the New York Times referenced the FR thread about the recent shuttle disaster as Freepers took note of the deadly re-entry.

[Starrgaizr]

They absolutely will blame the president if another attack occurs. And, I think many of us know this to be true but find it too repulsive to contemplate, so we go into denial: many leftists secretly hope another attack will occur, because they hate America and they crave failure by President Bush and American power.

[WorkingClassFilth]

The morning of 911, the department I work in at a university was having a BBQ picnic. In spite of what was going on, all of the usual suspects (leftists) were laughing and kibbitzing while eating their vegie burgers. To look out on the picnic, it was as though there wasn't a care in the world. The dissonance was unreal after I had just watched people jumping to their deaths and the WTC crumble into dust with thousands trapped inside. It wasn't until well after 1 PM that the university president decided that the news was significant enough to warrant class cancellation.

The enemies of the United States are right here, at home. They live next to us and appear in nearly every way to be normal Americans. They are leftists. They hate what America is as surely as the freaks that came from across the world to kill Americans in the WTC. They were silent for a brief time after 911 because they knew their lies and dislike for America would not be tolerated.

Today, they are back at it.

[segis]

You are right. How the airlines and the air traffic control did it was quite amazing. The article was from the WSJ and it was posted here. It was heartbreaking too - the airlines got calls from the stewardesses on board the planes.

[Marie]

We were living in Germany at the time. (army family) My husband called me early in the afternoon and asked if I was watching TV. After I made some snapping remarks along the lines of "what do you think I do all day? Sit around eating bonbons? I'm homeschooling two kids!" he calmly told me that we have been attacked. He told me that we had lost the WTC and the Pentagon, that he loved me and that he didn't know when he would be home again. I was told to pack my bags in case I needed to get out of the country with the children. I didn't see him again for three days.

About ten minutes after we hung up I looked out the window to see about a hundred of our nations finest in full battle-rattle crawling through our housing complex. EVERYONE was sent home except the soldiers. (kids out of school, spouces working at the PX, etc.) We were LOCKED DOWN faster than ou could say "Osama, your mama!"

I think I cried for a solid month.

[Brett66]

I was actually on Freerepublic when it happened. I saw a thread come up saying the WTC had been hit by an airplane and turned on Fox News to see the tower on fire.

[kingu]

On 9/11/01, I had turned on the television early that morning, for no good reason. Just woke up early, I guess. I switched the TV to CNN, I think (it was before our local cable had Fox). There was one of the buildings of the World Trade Center burning.

My daughter woke up and came into the room to let me know she was awake and getting ready for school when we both watched dumbfounded as a second plane hit Tower 1. My wife woke up then and we sat or stood in silence as the television repeatedly showed the second impact.

I almost didn't take my daughter to school that morning, but then I remembered the Columbia disaster, and how that had such an effect on myself, watching the footage repeat and repeat. I dropped her off at school, pointing to the telephone by the office, saying, "Anytime you want, I'll come get you."

It turned out she was one of the few third graders who knew what happened, why most of the teachers were acting nervous, why someone would come in and quietly whisper to the teacher then leave again.

For myself, I logged on to a server and helped to comfort friends who feared for the worst for their family and friends in the WTC and the Pentagon. And in return, they helped me, as a friend was flying back from Boston that morning.

The weekend following was, well, like any of the days immediately after. I was in a haze, yet I still had to work, and work for me meant setting up a craft booth at a Native American Powwow near Santa Ynez. When the time came to start the powwow, we were all called to the circle where the dancers would be soon, and asked to join hands.

The words that were said struck the heart, and helped to clear the haze away. At the end, he asked God to forgive each and every one of us for our desires to seek revenge against those who had committed such a crime. And he asked God to watch over our souls as we carried out that revenge, even though we knew that we were told 'Thou Shall Not Kill.'

The final words really struck home what was coming... "Lord Above, we call upon your infinate patience with us sinners, that you shall put into our hearts the ability to know when the killing should end, but most of all, we ask that you watch over and help the families of the victims, for we will be too busy looking over the bodies of the guilty."

[nutmeg]

bttt

[nutmeg]

ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for the threads!