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9/11 20 years on

Was on holiday at my place in Canada with friends staying. Woke up and switched on the telly and saw the scene before the second jet hit. Frankly I was surprised only 3000 people died. I thought it would be many more.

What followed, the protection and evacuation of Saudi nationals and suspects, was despicable. The funders of Al Queda have never paid the price.

The innocent dead paid the price of a historic imperial US foreign policy and hundreds of thousands more innocent foreigners paid the price over the following 20 years.
 
david ellwood said:
It was $12 to go to the observation deck of the WTC , I was there a couple of years previously.

The restaurant level had a glass floor allowing for a better view of the ants below. There was a definite sense of the movement of the building as the wind at that altitude moved it around.

It was not a place for anyone with vertigo.
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The first time that I ate there, there was a snowstorm and strong winds. Made for an interesting evening.
 
brumjam said:
These two Tony:

Inside the President’s War Room:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000z8p5

Surviving 9/11:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000z95y
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I watched both of them, Bush came across as a complete @rsehole, the president who ran away right enough, they tried to present him as something completely different, total propaganda the BBC should be ashamed of themselves showing that one sided one eyed view of events.

The American AF woman pilot came across as a genuine honest person, she certainly didn't miss.

Cheney attempting a coup d'etat was both hilarious and frightening although he was de-facto president right up to the minute the planes hit the TT then Bush couldn't quite believe his luck along with the other nutters who surrounded him you could actually see them practically coming in their pants as the news came in.

http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/20...-horrors-from-the-vice-president-for-torture/

To set the scene for the legal coup d’etat that took place in 2001 and 2002, Gellman and Becker describe the impromptu war cabinet in the bunker beneath the White House, where, on 11 September 2001, while the President was in Florida, reading ‘The Pet Goat’ to a group of children, Cheney impassively watched the aftermath of the attacks and then –- ignoring national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and State Department officials, who were in the room with him –- summoned Addington to begin “contemplating the founding question of the legal revolution to come: What extraordinary powers will the president need for his response?” By that evening, Flanigan had also been recruited, and Yoo was soon to follow.
 
I had a premonition the day before 9/11 walking up the stairs in the house that I lived in at that time. I remember it like it was yesterday as it caught me completely off guard. I just knew something bad was going to happen with airplanes, but I didn't know and couldn't say what. I told my then wife, but she thought I was talking nonsense. The next morning 9/11 happened and the whole thing has been etched in my memory ever since. When the planes hit I was in the office when the first reports started coming through on the radio, and as the enormity of the events unfolded a strange atmosphere came over the day. A mix of shock, horror and complete disbelief, even watching it now, some 20 years later, it still feels really surreal.

The next day I flew out to Rhodes for a weeks holiday with my Mum, the airport was an eerie place to be, so much nervousness about and none of the usual 'holiday buzz' that you get in an airport. It somehow felt wrong laying on a beach when so many had had their lives turned upside down and needlessly ended. Although, it did give time to reflect and to muse on how fortunate we were.

Strangely, I have been morbidly fascinated with 9/11, trying to imagine what it must have been like for those poor victims in the towers, as well as those on the airplanes that hit and came down. More so though, for those poor souls that had no choice but to either endure the fate of either burning to death or jumping to their death. It is hard to imagine anything more terrifying.

The bravery of the firefighters was also remarkable, despite knowing that there was a very good chance of them not making it our alive, they did their jobs regardless. Truly, a most selfless and incredible act.

I have watched many, many documentaries over the years, including those that cover some of the conspiracies. I especially enjoyed the two most recent ones on the BBC. I am still undecided on what to make of George Bush, he seems a bit too twitchy to me, to be telling the 'whole' truth. That said, I can't imagine for one minute that any Government could intentionally plan such a chain of events, without it being leaked or uncovered years later. But, then I could never have imagined a terrorist group planning and carrying out such an event either. Yet, they somehow managed to pull off this horrific crime. One thing we do know, much like with Covid, the World changed forever following it.

ATB

GB
 
The 9/11 Memorial Museum is well worth a visit if you get the chance. Allow a good 4/5 hours. It’s pretty relentless and harrowing and we had to stop a few times for a break from it all. The final messages recorded by the passengers on flight 93, the one where they fought with the hijackers, are played on a loop in one room.
 
I was working in London at the time near St Paul’s. We watched in silent horror as it unfolded on tv over a couple of hours. Eventually the company decided we could leave early and go home. There were still planes flying over London and I recall me and others being fixated on the sky every time we heard one, not knowing if it was heading for an airport or would be another attack.

I visited ground zero on a trip to NY years later and it was overwhelming and emotional to see.
 
I remember exactly where I was/what was doing, and how the news broke.
Being a small bunch of young architects & struct-engs types, there was a mixed dread & speculation as to what would happen as a result of the first strike, even before the second; we understood/had read of the towers general design principles, structural & architectural between us / retained some of that knowledge between us in outline; and intense discussion resulted.


Sadly - the worst fear was proved right, all too horribly soon.

Utterly, utterly sickening to witness via the available online feed:

Never Forgotten.
 
A number of us flew to a symposium out West. I flew a day early, on 9/10. All of Raytheon people flew from Boston.

My buddy, who flew out on 9/11, died on the plane that hit the towers. Two small children and wife left behind. Three other colleagues died that day.

I lived.
 
I was a network engineer at Citi in Zurich at the time - got a call to visit the trading room from a buddy and watched it all unfold on their news feeds - gobsmacked, panic from many traders unable to contact their NY counterparts. Work quickly kicked in though when we were summoned to crisis calls to check system availability and remaining network resilience across the globe - half of the network engineering team in Europe were put on immediate night shift to ensure we had resources available 24/7 and I got sent home. I got home around 4pm I guess - couldn’t face any more news from TV and watched a DVD until my shift started, cuddling my dog and nursing a large glass of brandy.

A world changing event…similar to Covid…
 
I must be one of the few people in the western world who didn't see it on TV that day, even that year. I was on holiday in Italy with a mate, we spent the day in the mountains. Back down, dinner in the tent, out to the bar about 9 or 10. The barman was on nodding terms with us and started telling us the tale, but I struggled to understand him. Eventually he got across that an aircraft had hit a building in NYC, so I said "accidente ?"
only to have him reply " Non, non, TERRORISMA! " I got back to the table with my pal and said "listen, I don't know what s been going on but apparently there's been some sort of terrorist attack in NYC and they've put an aircraft into a building. I'm going to ring someone at home." The pal I spoke to told me what had happened and said "find a TV!" We couldn't , nor the next day. I saw the papers. By the time I got home at the end of the next week the news had moved on, so I only saw the actual footage when they did the "1 year on" programmes . No internet streaming back then, remember.
 
I was driving from Heathrow A/P to home near Portsmouth after delivering a couple of neighbours who were going to California to see their son, other family members and go to a wedding. On my way home via the M3 and the B3349 and just entering Alton, my wife rang me telling about a plane hitting the World Trade Towers and turn on the radio. I got home and within an hour the people I had delivered to Heathrow rang and asked to be collected as their (and all flights) had been cancelled. It was quite a quick journey to Terminal 3, the roads around the airport were quite quiet. I collected our friends and took them home - they came for dinner to help talk them out of their disapointment at their lost holiday.
We were on tenterhooks as we were due to go to Phoenix AZ on the following Sunday and all flights to the US had been cancelled. Flights to the US resumed on the Saturday and we took off on the Sunday.
The people in Phoenix were so subdued, Phoenix A/P was empty unlike previous trips when it had been a hive of activity. The queue for the rental car desk was non existant, the people serving us were greatful that we had gone to the US - they thought us brave to risk flying. Visiting the usual sites were all deserted eg museums and art galleries. On the Friday night we went to RawHide (a theme park based around the mythical cow boy so lots of straw, cattle, staff in cowboy hats, theme park rides of western trains etc) it was empty no queues to get into the restaurants. Very few locals (normally it is stuffed with people partying, celebrating etc) we were greated with thanks for visiting.

During our tour round we went to Santa Fe to visit the art galleries, again the town was very quiet compared to previous visits. At one gallery we were asked if we had seen images of such destruction before. We replied that it was pretty grim in the UK and Europe after the war with whole towns destroyed.

As part of the tour we visited Cave Creek and Portal area in South Eastern Arizona and sitting in the cafe in the evening we watched newsreel on the TV of the troops going in to Afghanistan.

Several years later we visited Ground Zero and saw the local ArchBishop opening a chapel at the site. Several years previously I had "done" the WTC on a business trip.
 
Have not got a clue what I was doing at the time !! Been watching many of the programmes recently and it brings it back so much
 
zarniwoop said:
The 9/11 Memorial Museum is well worth a visit if you get the chance. Allow a good 4/5 hours. It’s pretty relentless and harrowing and we had to stop a few times for a break from it all. The final messages recorded by the passengers on flight 93, the one where they fought with the hijackers, are played on a loop in one room.
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I was reading the transcript today , Mr beamer and his compatriots certainly were hero's
 
DimitryZ said:
A number of us flew to a symposium out West. I flew a day early, on 9/10. All of Raytheon people flew from Boston.

My buddy, who flew out on 9/11, died on the plane that hit the towers. Two small children and wife left behind. Three other colleagues died that day.

I lived.
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incredible!
 
hifinutt said:
I was reading the transcript today , Mr beamer and his compatriots certainly were hero's
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Suggest you watch the documentary about 911 on BBC iplayer linked to earlier, the crew were airbrushed out of history specifically the co-pilot who was black/asian/African American.

His is the last voice heard on the voice recorder.

Cockpit transmissions and recordings
At 09:28:17, the aircraft made a communication to the Cleveland controller and the pilots of aircraft in the vicinity, "of unintelligible sounds of possible screaming or a struggle".[30][41] A Cleveland Air Traffic Controller replied, "Somebody call Cleveland?" but received no reply.[27] Thirty-five seconds later, the aircraft made another transmission. In both calls, a man was shouting, "Mayday! Mayday! Get out of here! Get out of here! Get out of here!"[41] When Melody Homer and Sandy Dahl, Jason Dahl's wife, listened to the tape, Melody identified First Officer LeRoy Homer as the man who was shouting.[42][43][44][45]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_93

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeRoy_Homer_Jr.

But the widow of one of the pilots on board that fateful flight has spoken out ahead of the 20th anniversary of the atrocities as she feels her husband's story has been hijacked.

Melodie Homer's husband LeRoy Homer Jr was the first officer in the cockpit of United 93 as terrorists on board stormed the cockpit.

He raised the alarm, made a MayDay call from the flight deck, fought with the terrorists and lost his life trying to save the plane and all those on board from going down.

His part on that day is rarely acknowledged.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/forgotten-911-pilot-whose-wife-24936666
 
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