9/11

[Anne]

Anyone interested in sharing where they were on 9/11 and their reactions?

I had sent the three oldest grandchildren to school and the preschooler had just finished breakfast and was watching his morning allotment of TV. I had the local morning radio show on and they announced a small plane had hit one of the towers. I was on my way to turn on the other tv when my daughter called from work to tell me to turn on the tv that we were being attacked. I turned on CNN and pretty much the rest of the day was spent watching tv. After the towers fell the picture I remember most was of the hospital workers standing outside the er of one of the hospitals with gurneys waiting for injured and none were coming. That spoke so much to me. In the next few days what I noticed the most was the absence of airplanes overhead. We are under some flight lines going into Indy and there are always airplanes overhead 24/7.

[me]

Hubby and I had been running some errands came home and turned the TV on and that was what we seen.  We had been playing a CD in the car so had no idea what had happened.  We just sat there in disbelief at what we were watching.  It was just before the second plane hit.  We, like you, were glued to the TV most of the rest of the day. 

[Anne]

thanks for sharing me.

[The Troll]

thanks for sharing me.

  As I watched the  planes fly into the buildings it seem like a science fiction movie.  So surreal something unheard of, expect for the Jap suicide planes of World II.

  The anger that went through me when I found it was A-Qaeda Muslim killers I wanted to kill all Muslims and I do mean all.

  But after it was all over, what really burns me is.  This could have been stopped if the Airlines corporations had put armored doors on the cockpit like the FAA wanted to.   Again it's all about saving money and look what the total cost was and is costing.   

[Anne]

Thanks for sharing, Troll.

[Y]

I.

1)  I was in class at college (for those that wonder, I went back to school in my fifth decade).

2)  As I recall, I assumed it was another attack on the WTC since it had previously been the focal point of terrorists.

3)  I wanted to know a) how the authorities charged with overseeing flights and their security didn't appear to know what was going on and how many planes they'd lost track of; b) how the hijackers managed to commandeer the planes - especially since plane hijackings had become relatively commonplace since the 60's; c) why - especially after the first plane flew into the WTC - that the rest weren't forced, or shot, down before they struck the WTC again and the Pentagon (I still applaud the passengers of flight 93 who took matters into their own hands after the authorities had failed them - their concern for others a monument for their sacrifice).

II.

Now some observations about then and now (here's where I'll prolly make everyone mad).

I still lay the blame at the feet of Bush, his administration, and bureaucrats who all abdicated their primary responsibility to the nation and its citizens.

1) Bush for a) not taking the warnings he was given seriously; b) being impotent and inactive in the face of a national emergency - and that's even giving him the benefit of the doubt for the first plane flown into the WTC.

2)  Bush's administration for their inability to respond immediately to a national emergency - the primary responsibility every administration is charged with and should be prepared to meet upon taking the reins of power.

3)  The bureaucrats - from the NSA, Pentagon, CIA, on down to the FBI and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies - who were more concerned with their own personal fiefdoms and power to coordinate the information and investigations which should have nipped the plot in the bud.

III.

Today on the 10th year since the hijackings, the memorializing should not allow your emotions to shut down your brains - and that is what I think it is designed to do now just as the furor was designed to do 10 years ago.  That emotion over intellect got us involved into never-ending war, and now intends to keep us involved as long as America's collective emotions can be stirred against logic.

This country can't step away from its culpability in creating the mindset behind the 9/11 terrorists and goading them into action with the interventionist foreign policy our government has pursued in our name and with our blessing over the past century.  America can't meddle in other country's affairs and not expect at least a percentage of their populace to resent it enough to do something about if they can.  To understand it, all you have to do is consider how Americans would react if another country was contravening in our affairs - hell, we've fought wars over that very thing, why should other peoples of the world be any different?

The loss of our citizen's lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the ensuing never-ending war is grievous to America, as it should be, but no more grievous than the loss of lives experienced by other countries as a direct result of our interventionist foreign policy - no matter how we cloak it under the guise of a 'just' revenge and spreading 'freedom'.

The emotionalism of today should also not blind us to the consequences our 'just' revenge and spreading 'freedom' has visited upon our country and our fellow citizens - all the way from moving towards a more authoritarian country with the resulting loss of liberty and privacy and the economic consequences of the resulting costs of enforcement and never-ending war, to the personal costs of suspicion of our fellow citizens and the abuse suffered by those fighting that never-ending war and their families.

When is enough, enough?  When will we stop being blinded by emotion and allowing a self-centered ideology run this country to ruins, and get to keeping our nose only in our business and run this country for ALL its citizens.

Blind emotion is dangerous and an anathema to a democratic country.

[Anne]

Thank you for your input, Y.

[damfast]

I was at home. my daughter called me and told me to turn on the television. I moved to CNN and watched. It was horrible to see, but I still watched. 

[Anne]

It was impossible for me to quit watching, so much emotion and fear. I can't imagine how the people who were there felt. Thanks for your post.

[Palehorse]

I was at work. My family has spent the last 10 years in harms way over it; and within 30 minutes of the 2nd plane hitting the towers we were deployed toward the Persian Gulf. (Not many families outside of the military know that). We were turned around several hours later.

I watched some of the memorials over the weekend, until my anger forced me to turn it all off.

I won't disagree with anything Y posted. I can't for therein lies the root cause for it all!

[The Troll]

  I watch CNN about 9/11.  Then that night I dreamed about the people who jumped out of it.  I could see them falling.  Damn the crazy sonsofbitches.  Damn how I would like to kill everyone or them ragheads. 

[Henry Hawk]

 

[Palehorse]

11 years later and 2 new towers rise from that skyline today.

[Henry Hawk]

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1151859712001/flashback-911-as-it-happened

This is 18 minutes long.   I sat here and watched every second of it.  It is still something that leaves me speechless and this time I could not help but fight off a lump in my throat. 

[Locutus]

The whole Today show episode from that day is available in segments on YouTube.  You can create a playlist, and it will automatically play the whole thing for you.  It's obviously several hours long, but it opens with the regular news, just as if it were another ordinary news day.  They had no idea what was about to transpire.  To watch the whole thing start to finish is a very poignant reminder of what transpired that day. 

My nephew was 5 at the time, and had no idea why Obama announcing that bin Laden had been killed last year was so significant.  I used those segments of the Today show on YouTube to show him why.