9/11 - Five Years Later

[b i o n i c]

ive posted this before... this is not about politics

i want everyone to share their own stories, no matter where they were.

you can watch 9/11 coverage as it happened that day at http://www.cnn.com all day today

i wonder if someone will record the stream

- - - - - -




I was driving into Chelsea that morning. It was so nice out. I had the top down - - it was a beautiful day (just look at the pic... there were no clouds in the sky. I was flying down the highway listening to a tape of the Beastie Boys in Philly, it was on loud enough on my speakers that I could hear it in the wind. As I'm getting on the elevated part of the 95South Bruckner Expressway I remember looking and seeing the smoke. I had gotten into the habit of traveling with a disposable camera, so with one hand on the wheel scrambled to find it. At first I thought that maybe it was just a fire at the WTC. I don't think anyone from my vantage point (http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a99/BionicOne/e7446d7b_edited.jpg) could imagine what that day was becoming. The first plane had just hit.

I snapped a couple of pics then popped the tape out of the deck to hear Howard Stern on the radio. I didn't think of putting the news on, I was in disbelief. Howard was talking about a plane crashing into the tower. Of course I thought it was a joke and was waiting for a hint as to the punch line. Howard’s joking started becoming more and more serious. As I drove on, over the Willis Avenue Bridge traffic started to back up. The sirens started - the faces I saw in the traffic around me started to take on a look a panic.

As I got to the FDR Drive somewhere in between 125th and 70th Street traffic had come to a standstill. Everyone was trying to move to the right side of the rode... making room for the ENDLESSSSSSSS stream of emergency vehicles caravanning downtown in the left lane. I could not believe police car after police car after fire truck after police motorcycle. Seemingly out of nowhere. I couldn't believe we had this many forces that could respond so quickly. In my rearview mirror the stream of police and fire response was endless.

Eventually after sitting there for what must've been 15-20 minutes, a few cops on motorcycles started waving people off the highway. We were in between exits, but i remember a cop waving me to go over the median/sidewalk... probably the second or third time I'd used the four-wheel-drive. He waved us to go up a street that usually went in the opposite direction and to ignore all the signs. A New York City cop telling you to break the rules. My heart really started racing.

It took me about 5-10 minutes to get to work from the Upper East Side to Chelsea. I had stopped listening to the radio so by the time I switched to 1010WINS the second plane had hit. By this time I was on Fifth Avenue right looking downtown with the Flatiron building on the left and the Towers in the distance on the right. I snapped some more pics. People were leaving their buildings. Smoke filled the cavern of Fifth Avenue in the distance. The towers were still there. The sadness on the faces of all those strangers matched my incredulousness... all of a sudden I felt like I knew them all.

I finally got to work. I parked half on the sidewalk right in front of the building where I worked. When I got upstairs it was just the kids, me, my supervisor who's about two years older than me and most of the interns. I worked at a film production company so there were lots of them. One of them was a girl who I was dating. She was a Brazilian/Egyptian Jew, jet black hair, freckles and ice blue eyes. She had recently finished a documentary about discrimination faced by Muslims in the US. It was an excellent piece of work that had taken her a very long time to complete. She was on the couch against the wall in a near fetal position crying. I just wanted to hug her.

Most of us lived outside of Manhattan but by that time there was no way out. The radio said that bridges and tunnels had been shut down. The trains and subways were a no go. We didn't have a TV antennae and the phones were jammed so a group of us went down to the street to get some coffee and see if we could find a television somewhere. There was a bagel shop on 21st and 5th Ave where people were crowded around televisions, eyes wide open in disbelief. That was the first time we'd seen what had happened. The stations kept playing the images of impacts over and over. People cried out. I walked outside and there were people in the streets, all looking downtown. There were people praying. There were people on sitting on the curbs with their heads in hand, staring at the ground in hypnotic silence. There were groups crowded around cars with the news blaring. All types of people, many of which would never interact with each other in everyday life, we were all together.

I turned to go back into the shop when the people started screaming. I looked at the TV and one of the buildings was starting to fall... I turned right back around and ran to the middle of Fifth Avenue to see it with my own eyes. I will never forget the sight of that monstrosity collapsing and the screams of people behind me. In silence I could not believe what I was seeing. I was witnessing a nightmare right there in the broad daylight. In my disbelief I felt a surreal calm. I had just seen something that I had never in my wildest dreams thought I'd see. At that point, what more could happen?

People cried and screamed. Some people ran. For the most part people stayed where they were. I went back and got my mates from the bagel shop and we went back to the office to figure out what we were going to do. Somehow someone got the internet working and put the internet radio on. The second tower was coming down. The girls in my office cried in huddles, the guys just looked at each other trying to remain level or at least act it. The radio said that there were ferries taking people out of Manhattan. We shut everything down, grabbed our stuff, shut off the lights and locked the door behind us. A bunch of us jumped into my Jeep. I dropped some people off near the Brooklyn Bridge... we hugged each other then the rest of us drove off. I drove the rest of my friends to the Ferry off the West Side highway. They all got off, scared with an air of relief that home was just a few minutes away. I gave my girl a kiss and a hug. I'll never forget the look on her face. And off we were.

As I drove away, up North on the West Side Highway, the streets were completely clear with the exception of some groups of emergency vehicles coming down the opposite way in groups - I had the road to myself. It was like something out of a movie. Imagine driving in New York City on a bright sunny day... with the roads to yourself. Even the toll booths were vacant.

As I drove up, there was a guy with his thumb in the air, hoping to hitch a ride to where ever he was going. He looked old and kind of creepy so I kind of slowed down to get a better look at him when he ran to my car and just hopped right in. He sighed a "Thanks dude!" as he got in and put on his seat belt. Ooooo-k... I asked him where he was going and it turned out he lived three blocks away from my house. He told me that he had just gotten out of rehearsal and that he played the Pharoah in Aida. At first I kind of rolled my eyes but the more I looked at him and the more I heard the timbre of his voice (and later his house) the more I believed him. What was usually a 45 minute ride to the Westchester suburbs this time of day was only about 10 minutes with no other cars on the road, no tolls and no speed limit. I dropped off the Pharoah and got home to my mom's screams of joy and my dad staring at the tv.

That night a big group of my friends got together and went to the park to regroup.... as we around drinking some beers we all stared at the dark silent sky, off into NYC in the distance. We talked about what this day would become. What would they call it? What would the calendars say? Twin Towers Down Day? Impact America Memorial? We talked about how our generation had it too good for too long. Ones past had Pearl Harbor, The Assassination of JFK, Vietnam, but we had lived without a defining moment our whole lives. We all knew that nothing would ever be the same again. It took something like that to make me realize that I love my country more than I'd ever imagined. The silence in the air would last for days, five years later it still doesn’t make sense.

[Tzar]

one thing i relate 9/11 to is the movie AI. they go forward into the future by 3000 years or something and the earth has freezed over.. but the ruins of the twin towers are still there. maybe it was just weird because i saw AI after 9/11 and the futurism of AI seemed pretty full-on real.

[icy manipulator]

i was in grade 11 on a school camp at a place called Fraser Island. we were fairly isolated so wasn't until we got back to the mainland until we heard about it. that was 2 days after it happened. a couple of guys were very lucky it happened because on the day it happened they started a fire that got way out of control and could've potentially caused a bush fire. i'd say coz of what happened in new york they got away with only being suspended instead of expelled

[b i o n i c]

good for you. people in the mood to be cunts would be better off ignoring this thread

[YoungRemy]

thanks for sharing your story, bionic...

I was in living in East Harlem at the time of 9/11/01... my roommate was crashing at his girlfriends' and I had a friend who had just moved to the city about six days prior to that tuesday... we woke up at around 9:00 AM to my roommate leaving a message on my answering machine...

it was along the lines of "dude, get a load of this moron who just flew his plane into the WTC..."

things turned hectic from that moment on... my roomies girl was supposed to be in lower Manhattan for jury duty, so he was frantic for a couple of hours trying to locate her (she was safe, stuck on a subway below City Hall)... we stayed uptown all day , watching the news unfold on the internet.... (the communications tower on the WTC had made it diffucult to get good basic cable reception and we didnt have CNN at the time)

the only way I could explain it was literally watching the news unfold moment by moment, and each moment was more hellish than the last... each new tidbit of info had a numbing effect- first building hit, second building hit, pentagon hit, first building down, crash in pennsylvania, second building down... could this day get any worse?

a couple of hooligans were reported to be shooting b.b. guns in our neighborhood, as there was no police presence whatsoever, but as Bionic explained it was an otherwise silent, eery day to be out on the streets of new york city... no subways, no cel phone reception, everyone was trying to get a hold of their loved ones... my friend was scared... his mother wanted him to move home immediately...

and the worst part if you ask me was the smell... for up to three whole days you could smell the toxic air all over the city...

I found out later that a coworker had lost his brother on the plane that went down in PA...

[abcdefz]

I'm just going to copy and paste what I had posted before:


...I heard about the WTC on an Aint It Cool talkback. I was reading along and somebody said that a plane had flown into the tower and I thought, "That's a pretty sick joke," and then other people started chiming in and then posts started saying a second plane had hit and at that point I think was when I jumped over to CNN.com and saw it was the real thing. They had video up that I kept replaying.

Then I ran across the street and downstairs to tell the preschool teachers what was happening, and they had a TV set turned on facing one of the walls so the kids couldn't see, but a couple of children did come over and started asking questions and we stood there trying to explain that people did bad things, and this was very bad...

[Kid Presentable]

It seems more poignant on the 5th anniversary than any other I've experienced. I wonder if the world would move on ever? I doubt that New York would be able.

[monkey]

this is so difficult for me. i didnt think it would or it should, but right now, im so incredibly shaken and upset and i wish all the news and evreything would shut up and pretend it's a normal day. this is too hard to deal with.

i was on w.4th and mercer st walking down towards the mall @ the wtc. i was meeting my friend there at 9am, i was late cause i had to talk to my professor and she was overslept, so neither of us made it there. i was walking with a friend when we look up and there's a tower on fire. we started talking to people on the street.. people stopped to talk to each other. a man in a van stopped, opened his doors and blasted his radio. he said "they're terrorists. palestinians, i bet. they're attacking us."
jon, my friend, started laughing and said "that aint terrorist, that's a bad plane driver. someone shouldve told him to lay off the bottle." we laughed nervously. then the second ball of fire appeared in the other tower.
the theories we came up with were ridiculous. "maybe the fire jumped?" "fires dont jump between high rise buildings!" "what the fuck happened?" "another plane..."
it stopped being a joke.
i had just started taking my first journalism class and my first photo class, and i went with the instict to go and find out what was going on in person. we continued to walk downtown while we start calling up people. make sure we know where our friends are. we're all a bunch of relative newbies to the area, we're a bunch a students just freaking out because we all know someone who works down there. my friend lenny starts flipping out. he cant reach his mother.
the first tower falls.
the trains stop running, we hear. and then we learn there's no way out of the city.
we decide that the best way to reach most people is though internet, so we go towards the first nyu computer lab we can find and we start emailing. i email my mom, tell her im ok and that i'll try to figure out a way home soon. i email a bunch of other friends, telling them to call me. i make alternate sleeping arrangements, in case i cant make it back to LI.
the second tower falls.
i meet up with another set of friends, we all account for the ones that we dont meet, and we walk. we start out by going to st vincents. eugene, another friend, volunteers there and he figures theyre gonna need blood and volunteers that know the shit around there, so we go to help. sixth avenue is EMPTY. looking downtown is looking into a road that ends in smoke. all you see is people walking. there are no cars. it's just about the most surreal experience of my life. the most beautiful day, shiny day. and the typically congested roads are complete desolate.
at st vincents we get the lovely news that... they have hundreds of blood donors that have rushed down, but not one victim in need of it. they're actually flipping out because no one seems to be coming in. few people came in at the beginning, but now, it's nothing. they tell us to come back later.
so we walk more. i dont recall what time it was when we all decide to go home, walk it. im the only one from long island, the rest of my friends were brooklynites and queensfolks. so i figure ill walk as far as i can get with them and then try to figure out how to make it from there.
so we walk, up to 59th st. to walk across the bridge. and we werent the only ones. so many people walking across the bridge. people helping each other.
all throughout, i took pictures. i had my brand new camera, and a shitload of b&w film i just bought, and i just recorded my trip.
it sounds ridiculous, but the walk across the bridge was just about the most beautiful moment of my life. i cant explain why.
around 5pm, i made it to flushing. i called my parents, seeing if they could pick me up, but they said they had closed off the roads. no one was allowed into city limits. and the cars that were on those rods werent moving anyway. in flushing, i found a bus that was going to my neighborhood. i took the bus, and about an hour and a half later, i was dropped off about a mile from my house, right next to a church. and for the first time in about 4 or 5 years, i went inside and prayed. i was so scared.

i made it home about half an hour later. my mom said i had the look of a ghost. she hugged me and i just went straight into my room and turned on the tv to msnbc. and for about 6 weeks, i didnt change the channel.

[abcdefz]

A side note:

It was a little odd on the San José-Fremont bus this morning. There's a scrolling electronic sign in each of the busses that gives the date and time, upcoming intersections now and then, and "STOP REQUESTED" when someone has pulled the cord.

So it was weird when, every time I glanced up, "September 11..." was scrolling in front of me. I'm not nearly as moved by an anniversary as I was the day it happened (or seeing no flights in the air in the San Francsico bay area each time I was on the road that day and then some), or even a commemorative piece like United 93, but, all the same... September 11.... September 11.... September 11....

[Lex Diamonds]

I remember I was with a friend and school had just finished. We were at a phone box and he called home to see if I could go around. We thought I might not be able to cuz it was his dad's birthday (who is from New York) but he called anyway. He argued with his dad who told him someone had flown a plane into the Twin Towers. At the time we were both just like "big deal, a pilot had an accident". We were just pissed off his parents wouldn't let us hang out there. Then I got home and put on the TV and it was all over every channel, and I realised that it was some serious shit.

[QueenAdrock]

I was up at 9:30, went and took a shower, and got ready for school. My best guy friend Jacob called me at 10:00, telling me that terrorists had flown planes into skyscrapers and government buildings. I told him to shut up because it was too damn early in the morning to listen to his antics (he is by nature a very goofy guy, so I had reason to think he was pulling my leg). He told me to turn on the news. I did, and saw footage of the buildings crumbling, and thinking "Wow, that's really weird." It didn't hit me that there were PEOPLE inside, I was witnessing thousands of people dying, until later. To me, it was just like watching a building implosion on TV, which I have seen before.

I remember being terrified because I live so close to DC - everyone was saying there was a 4th plane that was unaccounted for, coming to DC. I know people who work downtown, and for the government - I was terrified. They told me all planes had been grounded, so I became even more frightened when I heard planes outside my house - they were just stealth fighters ordered by DC that were flying overhead. They were the only aircraft allowed in the sky at that time.

I remember immediately calling Wayne, because his dad was flying from Colorado to DC. When I talked to him, he wasn't sure if he had taken off yet, or if they were grounded. He was afraid that they had taken off, and were a very likely target for hijackers since he was coming to the nation's capital. He later found out he was fine, and grounded. He was able to get a flight to Dulles International half a week later, one of the first flights to be allowed. Dulles is in VA, and where one of the planes that had been hijacked came out of. I remember going there, and seeing a huge American flag unfurled over the side of the building, and going inside and seeing all the somber faces.

Those days after the attack, I remember we weren't Democrats or Republicans, we were all Americans. The whole world was behind us. And in my opinion, we've shit all over the rest of the world since. To think of how politicized 9/11 is now...it just makes me sick. I'm going to go batshit insane if I hear Bush mention Iraq in one of his speeches today.

[b i o n i c]

it also angers me that this opportunity to unite the world was shat on by this administration. but this is not about politics, im sorry

[Tzar]

i only realised about 4 minutes ago that it is the 11th of sept. right now.

[abcdefz]

I'm going to go batshit insane if I hear Bush mention Iraq in one of his speeches today.



Yeah, well. Don't listen; you KNOW it'll happen.

He wedges it into his Goober and the Ghostcahsers dissertation -- I'm sure he'll bring it up repeatedly in 9/11 speeches.

[icy manipulator]

i only realised about 4 minutes ago that it is the 11th of sept. right now.
yeah i didn't realise either until i had to date shit for work today. and no one i've spoke to today has mentioned anything about it either

[QueenAdrock]

I'm not gonna listen, but I also refuse to miss the Daily Show...so it seems like it may be an inevitability. :-/

[The Notorious LOL]

I was working at a temp firm at the time and going to tech school.


Around 8 o clock in the morning I started my shift doing some kind of filing bullshit...it was at an accounting firm, so I was organizing some folders and shit. There was a girl across from me on the phone who couldnt have been more than 3 years older than me talking about a plane crash and saying "I think its a conspiracy"....honestly I thought she was talking about Aaliyah and I didnt pay much attention. Shortly thereafter someone came up to her desk and said "another one hit the other building" and she said "oh my god, I have to call my mom, I will talk to you later". I still wasnt totally sure what was going on but they dragged out a TV cart and turned on the news.


It seemed really surreal. It was shortly after the second plane hit and it was just footage of the two towers smoldering and billowing smoke. No one really said anything. There was about 15 people standing around the TV just staring and saying nothing. No one really did any work that morning. We all just stared at the TV in shock. Someone there asked "arent you scared?" but I said I wasnt sure. It all seemed hazy and I hadnt processed it.

I remember leaving for my lunch break and there was an eerie silence in the air outside. I remember listening to the radio and at the time with very early predictions they were saying possibly 25,000-50,000 dead. Every station I turned to was just reporting news...no music, no commercials...just news.

My mom was in somewhat of a panic because my cousin Stephanie works at the Pentagon and she was scared something had happened.

When I went back to work they said we were going to be sent home early for "our safety" which I didnt complain about. I found it a little ridiculous but nontheless who wants to hang out at work. I remember going home and just staring at the TV for several hours. Later in the evening I went to get something to drink at a gas station and there was a line two blocks long to get gas. At that time there was early predictions about the price shooting up several dollars so everyone was in a mad dash to fill up.

I remember going to sleep feeling very uncomfortable.

[b-grrrlie]

Pauli you made me cry

[QueenAdrock]

Every station I turned to was just reporting news...no music, no commercials...just news.

I remember that. I was flipping through the channels to find something, ANYTHING on to cheer me up that wasn't the news...everything was down. All the channels like BET, Comedy Central, Cooking Channel, Discovery...all said "We mourn those who we lost today. We're currently off air, and will return shortly." Shortly was 3 days later. For those three days, we had nothing to watch except for news footage of the crash. Played over, and over, and over. Every pundit analysing what happened, who did it, what's going to happen now...and there was a scrolling message at the bottom of the screen of people who were missing.

When Comedy Central DID come back, the Daily Show had a show. Jon Stewart said something along the lines of "I used to have a view of the World Trade Centers from my apartment downtown. Since those are now gone, I have a new view - one of the Statue of Liberty. And folks, lemme tell you...you can't beat that." His voice was super emotional, and he was on the brink of tears. It was at that point all the stress and emotions that had been bottled up inside came out, and I just cried.

[b i o n i c]

these are all moving stories, paulis hits close. some time ago someone posted a story about being on a plane, one of the last ones in the air i think... i want to read that again

[b i o n i c]

the cnn coverage of that day (im watching/listening to it from their website now) is really interesting. Right now they're playing a press conference of the taliban denouncing the attacks at 1:03, 9/11/01. very interesting.

also interesting where the rebroadcast of that day's events is cut off by cnn. not always necessarily for gore, but often when people are speaking in studio

[AdRockGRL]

I even remember how I was dressed up that day....I went home from school and my dad told me to sit and watch the TV because something very bad had happened.... I beginned to cry when i saw all that people runnin' everywhere screamin'.... it touched me so much...

[icy manipulator]

so what's at the WTC site now? is there a monument or something?

[abcdefz]

No -- they still haven't got it together.

I think there are a couple of pools? -- and some construction going on on a new building?

[WillMac]

I was two years out of college and working two shitty jobs trying to save enough money to move out of my parents house. I thought it was the worst thing ever having to work nights and still live w/ the folks after spending so much money on college. I had worked all night till about 4am the morning of the 11th cleaning an office building. I was tired and feeling sorry for myself. I woke up around 9am not being able to sleep. It was a normal occurance as sunlight easily crept in through my window despite the mini-blinds I had up. I tried to sleep again but couldn't so I turned on the tv and flipped through the networks. I only had regular tv so I figured I'd catch some Regis. Guy's a Notre Dame fan and I figured he might say something about the game. First tower is on fire and I flip around to the other networks and its on every station. Kinda weird to think a plane crashed into a building. Bam...second hit. Continuously flipping through channels to find out what just happened. Who has the best view. Holy shit that was like a 747 or something. My dad calls... "what the fuck is going on?" he asks. "Are you by a tv?" I say. "No I just got out of a meeting." he responds. "well get to a tv... I think new york is under attack" I tell him. I tell him I'm letting him go. an hour has gone by and I haven't even got up to take my morning piss. I've just been sitting in bed watching. At this point I get up to go downstairs where the Directv is. Surely cable/satellite has even more news. I watched CNN all day. Towers fell, pentagon, flight in PA crashes. My boss calls me to tell me I don't have to come to work. Instead of the ESPN national sports show that usually runs the radio station is playing the abc news feed uninterrupted. I decide to head up to the studio anyway where I could use the computer. Its a weird day. In some ways it was like watching a crazy movie. I was definitely moved emotionally, but still felt a little insulated by being in the midwest as opposed to somewhere closer to New York. work all night listening to the radio. get to sleep around 4am again. wake up the next day and turn on the tv again trying to find out if they've pulled anybody out alive.

[YoungRemy]

No -- they still haven't got it together.

I think there are a couple of pools? -- and some construction going on on a new building?

I read this report from the Metro paper this morning, there is alot of work going on in Lower Manhattan, as opposed to what many refer to as a "hole in the ground"


WTC 1- the Freedom Tower- construction began in April and is expected to finish in 2011

WTC 2- construction to be finished in 2012

WTC 3- construction to be finished in 2012

WTC 4- construction to be finished in 2012

WTC 7- began in 2002 and finished this year

WTC Memorial and Museum- preliminary construction began in March, to be complete by Sept 2009

WTC PATH Transit Terminal- construction began in December 2005, to be complete in December 2009

Former Deutsche Bank Building- prep work began in March 2006- currently in process of asbestos abatement and decontamination, to be destroyed by next summer

other buildings that will be incorporated into the WTC development:

Goldman Sachs, Borough of Manhattan Community College Fiterman Hall, Visitor Outreach and Education Center, WTC Performing Arts Center

[abcdefz]

...something I kept thinking was how likely it was that the area I lived in (right across the bay from San Francisco) would be such an incredibly obvious target. There's a Chevron oil refinery right there which, if it took a direct hit, would take out that area, the Golden Gate Bridge, a good chunk of San Francisco, and probably the BART tunnel which goes under the bay. It's insane.

Watching The West Wing years later and seeing that their terrorists had plotted to hit Fort Point (right under the Golden Gate), then, made an awful lot of sense.

[Echewta]

http://www.break.com/index/911_call_from_inside_tower_one.html

[QueenAdrock]

Yeah, it's kind of scary living near a major city, but what bothers me more is commuting INTO the city every day. They had DC Metro police out today, for the first time in forever, so that helped me feel a little safer.

On the radio, they were talking about a report that was just released. They said that NYC wasn't that big of a target since terrorists usually go after symbolic things, as well as targets that will disrupt the economy. Thus the WTC's being attacked, they fit both criteria. They tried to go after the White House, which would also have been quite symbolic. Either way, they said that since the towers fell, the city most likely to be attacked symbolically reverted to DC. For obvious reasons. They also mentioned Chicago and the Sear's Tower, but if they went after DC, our government would be fucked.

Let me tell you, I wasn't reassured after I heard that. :(

[Echewta]

How tall is the "freedom tower" going to be? Big enough to be another symbol/target?

[Dorothy Wood]

My mom called me and woke me up that morning to tell me to turn on the t.v., the first plane had hit and everyone was really confused. At the time it just seemed like someone had made a terrible mistake. I sat in my bed bleary-eyed, trying to figure out what happened, when the second plane hit. My mom and I were like, "oh my God, this is on purpose". Then we cried for a bit. I had a class that day, nobody brought up what happened until the end, it was like everyone was afraid to talk about it. I went to work after and everybody was just really quiet. I remember being calm, but afraid that there would be more attacks. In fact, I still feel that way, like something terrible could happen at any time. We never really had to worry about that before.

[YoungRemy]

How tall is the "freedom tower" going to be? Big enough to be another symbol/target?

1776 feet

i guess you could say its a symbol


http://www.renewnyc.com/default.aspx
http://www.buildthememorial.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage2

[HOTWIFE]

I was in work when the first plane hit. It spread around the office almost instantly. Then the 2nd plane hit so I called my Mom who was home watching the news so I could stay updated. I just remember wondering when the attacks would end. Our office was evacuated because we worked at a very large plant and they had to take precautions for our safety. I got outside and thought how ironic it was that it was such a beautiful, crystal-clear day, one of the most beautiful I remember, all while over in NY this tragedy was happening. I didn't lose anyone that day but I was depressed for months afterward. I still can't believe it happened.

[Dr Deaf]

on 0911, i was up early for some reason or another. posting on the board and answering emails. a roomate came in to tell me to switch on cnn. an airliner had slammed into it.

i watched the events unfold, made a thread and it quickly filled up with tidbits and new information from a collection of sources.

by 1000 or so i called into work to see if they were going to need some help. i had heard that all airliners in transit were to land at the nearest available airport asap. they did in fact need the help so i raced up to the airport. i live for chaos and decided i was essential service and drove as fast as i felt like.

we only ended up with 4. a UAL 737, AA 767 (x2) and a NWA 777. i worked with the crew from UAL. they mentioned that they were next to the UAL that plowed into the tower. it was a frantic situation working with them. all the FAs started bawling, naming their friends that were on that flight. (a lot of them were just red-eyeing back to their home base) it was the longest 15 mins i''ve ever spent with a crew. i felt like a grief counsellor. i dropped the UAL crew off at a hotel a few miles away and back tracked for the captain.

i drove him down separately. when he hopped in the van, i asked if he wanted to listen to the lastest events on the news or if he'd instead prefer some easy listening jazz. he opted for the jazz and i was happy that he did. we chatted sporadically but both were quite content focusing on the jazz for the time being.

although we only got 4 ac diverted, they kept us busy all day, arranging buses, accomodations and catering.

when the dust settled and the airspace was opened back up; i collected that UAL crew and brought them back to their airplane. they were still in rough shape, but ready and anxious to return home to their loved ones.

they asked if i'd snap their picture before they left and snail/email them copies. i happily obliged. when i look back at that picture (http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/lockedandloadedkillah/9112001UALCREW1.jpg), it really brings it all back to me.

i don't believe the official story about what happened that day.
there's holes all in it. there's only so many times you can look the other way, when something defies logic. nothing that happened that day was logical. none of it made sense. lots of it defied basic physics and chemistry principles. most of it is very far fetched.

i've believed from day one that the govt was involved or at the very least--- was aware of it and intentionally stood down as it unfolded. there are other agendas taking place all around us. when the truth becomes common knowlege among the masses, it'll be too late. actually it already is, too late.

rip to all that died that fateful september morn and much respect to the heros that died trying to save lives from an enemy, that walks among us.








Government & Mainstream Media Explanation of How the Twin Towers Fell


Once upon a time in America, the land of opportunity, a group of foreign guys at a Florida strip club said: "Let's get Korans and boxcutters and hijack airplanes and crash them into skyscrapers."

And so they did.

They bought flight manuals and lapdances, Korans and double martinis. They took flight lessons and bad photos. But most of all they flew badly and partied and flunked flight school.

"But how will we deceive NORAD," said one flunky? "And how will we get past airport security," asked another? "And how many millions should we invest in Put Options," said a third?

They discovered that NORAD and the Pentagon would be having some military exercises on the exact same day they chose for their mission. Although several top US officials knew in advance not to fly that day, nobody warned any average citizen.

Next the G-string jihadists outwitted the FBI. They outfoxed the Bureau's top officials by brilliantly exposing their plans to FBI field agents months in advance. The plotters seemed to know that the FBI head honchos would never believe their most patriotic field agents. Instead they would harass these agents long after the plot unfolded.

Next the 19 outlined their plan. "We'll get past Israeli security at Logan airport in Boston by posing as Arab terrorists. We won't even check in or show proper credentials. We'll just go right on through, like ghosts."

And so they did.

But one BIG problem vexed them greatly. How exactly would steel skyscrapers, seven of them, fall down once two aluminum airplanes hit them? So they went bowling and decided that the two airplanes would be like the bowling ball and the WTC buildings would be like the pins.

Still they wondered: How to make these massive towers, built with an enormous inner core to withstand 180 mph hurricanes, engineered to survive the impact of a jumbo jet, actually fall down?

So the 19 flight school dropouts put their minds together and thought and thought. The Newtonian laws of gravity and physics, and the long history of burning steel skyscrapers (None had ever fallen down before--or since) seemed to be against them.

"What if we make the Twin Towers pancake down," said one flunky, with a face full of buttermilk hotcake? The plotters were all eating a pre-dawn breakfast special with their bleary-eyed lapdancers. A group of Iraqi undercover agents, Saddam's finest, had joined them, savoring a short stack of blueberry pancakes. And so the laws of physics and logic waffled that day.

"We can also knock down the CIA headquarters in New York City, demolish the mayor's command post, and wreck the SEC records building while we're at it, crushing the entire building while smacking the structure with a few objects the size of an I-beam" said one bright plotter, remembering his Put Options.

And so they did.

The mighty Pentagon was next to fall. A fortress guarded by many layers of security, the trillion dollar war toy shopping mall seemed impregnable. But not to the 19 G-string jihadists.

They had discovered, by trial and error, that it was mush easier to fly a hijacked jumbo jet with screaming passengers than to control a small Cessna with a calm instructor beside them. The flew those jumbo jets like Blue Angels--except better--pulling ten G's before leveling off and smacking the Pentagon exactly where it had been recently remodeled.

But unfortunately for the G-string jihadists, the Pentagon bigwigs knew months in advance. The Pentagonals even published a report with a hijacked plane exactly in the center. They knew no hijacker could ever score a bull's eye---and they were right.

The flight school dropouts only hit the edge.

But by outflanking, outfighting, and outthinking the combined resources of the Pentagon, CIA, NSA and FBI,, the flight school dropouts had succeeded. Sure, they never received their certification in small planes but they had outfoxed NORAD, Israeli security and the combined resources of the US Air Force in the airspace over America.

And even more amazing: the 19 stripclub afficiandos had engineered their own deaths to look like deaths. Nearly half of them were still alive the next day.

Call it a modern mission impossible. 19 flight school dropouts who couldn't control a Cessna had destroyed seven heavily-insured steel skyscrapers and the recently remodeled wing of the Pentagon, while outwitting airport security, smashing CIA and SEC headquarteras in a 47-story New York skyscraper they hadn't even hit, while devising a brand new scientific "pancake" theory. All while remaining alive and forcing the entire US population to live in terror, utterly taxed for the unforeseeable future, to pay for the trillions in new war toys and security measures, in a fruitless manhunt to find the alleged mastermind.

In conclusion, the 19 boxcutter boyz were either the Ultimate Fighting Champions, or the the above account remains a modern fairy tale, fabricated by the very same people who placed those Put Options and demolition charges and continue to profit today.

USAF veteran and amateur historian, Douglas Herman is the contorversial author of The Guns of Dallas.

[QueenAdrock]

I don't understand your acronyms, Bobby. What's UAL? I'm assuming it's a flight. What was your job? And where was it headed to that it stopped in Canada?

I'm curious. :o

[Dr Deaf]

UAL = united airlines
FA = flight attendent
AC = aircraft


i'm not sure where the UAL 737 was heading, but i think it departed from BOS (boston logan international)

i used to coordinate things at an airport in canada for a decade or so.

check out this crackpot physics professor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj6_VrXcrvY

nice accolades, accomplishments and awards on you buddy!

[b-grrrlie]

I remember I was with my friend, driving to the archipelago. We had loads of cats with us, she'd been to the vets and I was taking mine there for the weekend (I think I was going to Finland then) and on the way I took Iris for a walk and a wee wee. When I got back to the car my friend was talking on the phone with her sister to check the ferries were on time and she'd told about the airplanes crashing. We could see the news on the boat and more when we got to her place. I said I wish I was back at home so I could check CNN (she only had three main channels) cause the Swedish news were very bad reporting about the disaster. The main channel got huge complaints for not interrupting their programs for the news straight away...

[ggirlballa]

i was in 3rd grade when this went down...

i got some shady details but this is wut i remember

i'm not a morning person (it takes me a long time to get out of bed) and i live in Cali so it was around 7Am when it happened

i remember my mom & dad came to my room & said we're being attacked! we're being bombed!...i didn't take it seriously so i just stayed in bed...i finally got up & went to the kitchen saw the News on the T.V & went OH MY GOD! i was still confused on wut was happening i just saw the images of the towers & the hectic people & was wondering wuts happening over there?

i got to school & the 1st thing my teacher discussed was wut was happening & who these people were, who were attacking us....that day was the first day i ever heard the name osam bin-laden as she kept talking i was still pretty confused...

my brother was in high school & he saw everything go down thru the live news....

[Lex Diamonds]

http://www.break.com/index/911_call_from_inside_tower_one.html
Oh fuck.

[Nivvie]

I didin't know about it until a week later.
We lived on a boat, and husband took baby to see his mother, so I unplugged the Sky cable and the phone and floated off by myself for a bit. I didn't listen to the radio as I wasn't going far, and when I came back to meet him, I really didn't believe what he was saying, and no one could believe I had no idea it had happened.

And it made me think how small this world is, but how utterly seperate some people are. There has to be tribes in the Amazon and such that still have no idea how much the world has changed since that day, that have no idea about any of the defining events of the modern world.
I'm not saying that's a good or bad thing, just a thing.