American Disaster
Sep. 14th, 2001 01:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alixandreaI've been trying to think of the right things to say about this awful tragedy, but nothing seems to fit. However, a lot of the people on the lists I belong to have said some very poignant and important things, so I think the best way to get this terrible thing across to people would be to quote some of the things they have said. So first, a summary...
"Firstly I blame the terrorists. They took the choices, there might have been failures that let them get away with it, but they took the decision to do what they did, they are responsible. Secondly this is not an acceptable way of dealing with a problem. These look like people who did not get their way and now resort to murder to try so. It is doubly important that the US does not give in (and now it may hurt their causes more) since it will encourage others.
What to replace the WTC:
Heard one idea which was rebuild it, this time with three towers, the central one being taller than the other two (think about it, perhaps make representation. :))
I am not sure what you can replace it with, I personally think a garden. The important thing is to rebuild people. To make sure America stays a free Western Liberal society, to get back to normal and to show them they are stronger and bigger then this.
Who did it:
Personally do not know. But it looks very heavily Middle East based.
Lots of accounts from people on the phone in the planes pointing that way. There do seem to be lots of people out there who dislike America.
What to do next:
It might not be nice, but I really do not see that the US (or to be
honest western society) being able to take such an atrocity without
doing something back. It is definite they need to make sure that such things do not happen again. This should not be by isolation, perhaps they should try the tatics that ended the cold war. The economic benefits of the western system, the high living standards, the personal freedoms and so on. People have to abandon dictators and terrorism if they want them.
Unfortunately I also see military might being used, there will be people who threaten through terrorism and this is no more acceptable than through one country fighting another. It has to be eliminated. There will be those who are extremists and they will have to be dealt with. I think people have to denounce terorism and give it up and not celeberate in its aftermath, if they do then perhaps their victims have a right to say they are the enemy.
Muslims:
Well blaming all Muslims for this is stupid, they are individuals like everyone, it is the terrorists and their backers who are to blame and them alone not everyone. However perhaps the moderate majority need to stand up to the extremists to say it is wrong, to point out that suicide attacks do not get you into heaven (as so many extremists claim, but the moderates deny) and this does nothing for their causes or to help give their communities the tolerance they deserve.
Freedom of speech:
It is a shame that people have descended to purile comments it really does not help anything, reasoned debate yesterday, understanding tolerance different view points yes, insults no. It also does not help when people make points others find uncomfortable they are shouted down and abused. Yes this is emotive and people are going to say things that upset others, but that is freedom of speech and that is one of the good things we have, I hope it is not ripped down in some new Mcarthyism
after this tradegy. In that way perhaps the terrorists will have won."
The events, as related to one list, as they actually happened...
The first post: - Tue, 11 Sep 2001 14:13:51
"2 planes flew into the World Trade Centre, on BBC news 24 now. Looks pretty bad."
"Looks horrific..."
"Fuck!!! wait till you see it....bugger me.
shit they're saying theres some plane high jacking too.
I think someone was trying to make a point...theres live pictures too."
"Apparently one of them at least was an Airbus. If they were both laden with fuel and passengers, there could well be thousands dead.
I wouldnt be at all surprised if this didnt turn into the worst terrorist act in history. If they find out who did it, someone is going to get bombed back to the stone age."
"I have a clear and horrific view of it out my 10th floor window at
work. We were all standig at the window after the first one, and we
watched the second explosion happen. The plane came from the opposite side of the building, but we saw the explosion.
Oh. My. God.
It looks like something out of a movie.
It should ONLY be something out of a movie.
We're watching the flames right now, and listening to the news. The
broadcaster said, 'we're going to have to interrupt this broadcast for a moment -- our building is being evacuated!'
It's chaos around here. The trains, the streets, everything!"
"Oh...my god! sounds nasty!
people killed?
Where's the 3rd... bad luck always comes in 3's!!"
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 14:39:50
"Apparently a third plane's been hi-jacked...
Tho' the news is totally chaotic at the mo, so no idea if that's right..."
"Reports coming in that a 3rd plane has been hijacked, but has not been crashed (as yet) *shudder*
This is getting worse by the min...."
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 14:45:49
"Now there is a building on fire in Washington (an area behind the Pentagon). They just said that this was another explosion....
Wtf is going on? *shock*"
"Third plane high jacked
Something happening at the pentagon...smoke pouring out of it...and the white house has been evacuated!!!!!!!!!
holy shit...This could be the biggest thing in our lifetime"
"or the start of world war three...
world wars have started with less..."
"There are apparently four planes that have been hijacked. The fourth has yet to be found hence they are evacuating the White House.
This is one of those days that the world changes for ever. If America can pin this on a nation state, there will be war. It will also fundamentaly change the political landscape."
"Quite... I do hope someone is currently beating the saying "I do not know what weapons the third world war will be fought with, but the fourth will be with sticks and stones" into GWB..."
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 15:00:09
"the whole second tower just FELL!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 15:25
"car bomb reported outside the state department!"
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 15:26:54
"Holy fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!! second tower collapsed"
"now no world trade center left.........its like a war zone"
"There are reports from witnesses of people jumping from the WTC towers as they fell.
I feel sick."
A personal response from one of the other lists...
"There are people in my office right now, watching the burning buildings on tv, building with people _dying_ in them right now, as we speak, laughing at their own jokes. They make me ill. God only fucken knows how many people have been killed today - a third plane has just hit 'a building' in washington. They were all hijacked. There were all passenger planes. Suicidal terrorists not content with taking their own lives but those of as many others as possible.
And there are people here _laughing_ at the pictures of death on the tv. I feel like crying."
And another...
"The majority of people in thi soffice are just standing there in silent shock staring at the TV. A couple made very week attempts at jokes; but in this case I'll put it down to a reaction to shock; certainly they clammed up of their own accord almost before finishing.
We're all just trying to get back to work, and ending up sitting here staring blankly in front of us."
"2 767's and a smaller aircraft were apparently
hijacked, the smaller aircraft and the 767 hit the
WTC, the other 767 landed on or in the pentagon..."
A rather scary backlash, as people begin to suspect the Middle East...
"The online response from Americans on Yahoo etc is fucking scary, though. I know that this sort of tragedy brings out the blowhards, the trolls and the crazies... but the overwhelming theme is 'shoot/expel all the muslims', and this being America we're talking about, most of the people writing this shite have access to guns..."
"this is so f*cking tragic. the loss of life is the worst part... and I do not mean to trivialise that by saying this (apologies if comes across like this) but America has also just lost a serious landmark as well.
It's haunting to know that no one will ever be able to go there again...
good god I can just imagine what it was like in Maoist China...."
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 15:44:48
"3rd plane crash near pittsburg, PA?"
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 15:55:06
"A plane has crashed in western Pennsylvania"
"It looks like the city is on fire!
all that smoke and dust.........
wasn't WTC the tallest building in the world! What would be that now? People on news now suggesting that it could possible be a US terrorist group and nothing to do with the middle east. that and the fact that the fbi etc knew nothing of it even being planned!"
A summary of events so far...
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 16:01:21
"FAA has grouded all flights.
2 planes have hit both towers of WTC.
Bush has spoken, and is on his way somewhere in Air Force One, from Florida.
Sears Tower evacuated.
Flight 11 Boeing 767 Boston to LA - American Airlines CONFIRMED to be involved in one of the two WTC explosions, and a possibility an Airbus 8320.
Rumors of West Side of Capitol Building being hit.
Rumors of 5 total hijackings around the world today.
Confirmed hit of plane into wing of the Pentagon.
In Greece, and other places around the world, they have cancelled every flight and are guarding American buildings, such as embassies, etc. / Israel has evacuated all of it's missions.
BOTH WORLD TRADE CENTER TOWERS _HAVE_ COLLAPSED.
UNCOMFIRM REPORT - car bomb @ state building(DC)
Telephone lines to New York are all down
747 down in western Pennsylvania - COMFIRM REPORT - 3rd plane crash near pittsburg, PA - 80 miles SE - REPORTS ARE THAT
IT WAS SHOT DOWN
Reports of Pentagon roof caving in one wing of building."
MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
"NEW YORK, Sept. 11 - Americans reeled in horror
Tuesday as the worst terrorist attack in U.S.
history sent planes crashing into the World Trade
Center in New York, toppling the twin 110-story
towers. An explosion later rocked the Pentagon
in Washington. The White House, the Pentagon
and the Capitol building were evacuated.
Military jets patrolled the skies above both cities.
The FAA grounded all civilian aircraft
nationwide, but not before reports of another
large aircraft crashing in Western Pennsylvania.
President Bush vowed to 'hunt down the folks
who committed this act.'
THE FATE OF those in the twin skyscrapers was not
immediately known. Authorities had been trying to
evacuate the thousands of people who work in the twin
towers, but many were thought to be trapped. 'I swear
I've never seen anything like this,' said MSNBC's
Ashleigh Banfield. 'This whole place is like a complete
war zone.'
At the Pentagon, eyewitnesses saw an aircraft crash
into part of the sprawling complex. Walls were later seen
to have collapsed. An earlier report of a car bomb exploding outside the State Department was later denied.
In New York, the aircraft struck minutes apart,
starting fires and sending smoke billowing out of the
skyscrapers. The top of the south tower later collapsed
onto the street below.
The first crash happened shortly before 9 a.m. ET.
MSNBC.com reporter Martin Wolk, who was inside
one of the towers, said the lights flickered and then a loud
bang was heard. People panicked and started to flee the
building. When they reached the lobby, smoke started to fill the
building and people could see debris falling and many cars
outside were damaged. 'It was sheer pandemonium,
people were screaming and crying, afraid to go outside
because of the falling debris,' Wolk said. 'We looked up
and it looked like the top 20 floors were in flames.'
Another bystander described a barrage of debris
raining down on the sidewalk below.
Shortly after 9 a.m., a second aircraft was seen
crashing into the other tower. Broadcast cameras already
watching the scene filmed the second plane as it slammed
into the tower and exploded in a huge fireball.
A half hour later, President Bush made a brief
statement to reporters, calling the disaster a 'national
tragedy' and attributing it to terrorists. He did not cite any
specific terrorist groups but vowed to 'hunt down the folks
who committed this act.'
U.S. military jets reportedly took to the skies to shoot
down any unidentified aircraft, and congressional leaders
were taken to secure locations. A plane was reported to
have been circling the Capitol building before the
evacuation. American Airlines later acknowledged that one of its
flights had been hijacked Tuesday morning shortly after
leaving Boston en route to Los Angeles.
In the wake of the crashes, New York airports and
the Lincoln Tunnel were closed as precautionary
measures. The stock exchanges in New York also did not
open. Large holes were visible in sides of the 110-story
buildings. The tops of the twin towers were obscured by
the smoke. Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office
paper came drifting over Brooklyn, about three miles from
the tower, one witness said.
In an earlier terrorist attack, the center was bombed
on Feb. 26, 1993, killing six people and injured more than
1,000 others. Terrorist Ramzi Yousef and three others
were convicted of orchestrating the attack. Three other
indicted co-conspirators remain at large.
Traffic entering New York City from New Jersey was
at a standstill approaching the Holland Tunnel as motorists
stood outside their cars watching the fire.
Across the country, highrises like Chicago's Sears
Trade tower were being evacuated as a precaution.
Buildings were also being evacuated in London."
"Firstly I blame the terrorists. They took the choices, there might have been failures that let them get away with it, but they took the decision to do what they did, they are responsible. Secondly this is not an acceptable way of dealing with a problem. These look like people who did not get their way and now resort to murder to try so. It is doubly important that the US does not give in (and now it may hurt their causes more) since it will encourage others.
What to replace the WTC:
Heard one idea which was rebuild it, this time with three towers, the central one being taller than the other two (think about it, perhaps make representation. :))
I am not sure what you can replace it with, I personally think a garden. The important thing is to rebuild people. To make sure America stays a free Western Liberal society, to get back to normal and to show them they are stronger and bigger then this.
Who did it:
Personally do not know. But it looks very heavily Middle East based.
Lots of accounts from people on the phone in the planes pointing that way. There do seem to be lots of people out there who dislike America.
What to do next:
It might not be nice, but I really do not see that the US (or to be
honest western society) being able to take such an atrocity without
doing something back. It is definite they need to make sure that such things do not happen again. This should not be by isolation, perhaps they should try the tatics that ended the cold war. The economic benefits of the western system, the high living standards, the personal freedoms and so on. People have to abandon dictators and terrorism if they want them.
Unfortunately I also see military might being used, there will be people who threaten through terrorism and this is no more acceptable than through one country fighting another. It has to be eliminated. There will be those who are extremists and they will have to be dealt with. I think people have to denounce terorism and give it up and not celeberate in its aftermath, if they do then perhaps their victims have a right to say they are the enemy.
Muslims:
Well blaming all Muslims for this is stupid, they are individuals like everyone, it is the terrorists and their backers who are to blame and them alone not everyone. However perhaps the moderate majority need to stand up to the extremists to say it is wrong, to point out that suicide attacks do not get you into heaven (as so many extremists claim, but the moderates deny) and this does nothing for their causes or to help give their communities the tolerance they deserve.
Freedom of speech:
It is a shame that people have descended to purile comments it really does not help anything, reasoned debate yesterday, understanding tolerance different view points yes, insults no. It also does not help when people make points others find uncomfortable they are shouted down and abused. Yes this is emotive and people are going to say things that upset others, but that is freedom of speech and that is one of the good things we have, I hope it is not ripped down in some new Mcarthyism
after this tradegy. In that way perhaps the terrorists will have won."
The events, as related to one list, as they actually happened...
The first post: - Tue, 11 Sep 2001 14:13:51
"2 planes flew into the World Trade Centre, on BBC news 24 now. Looks pretty bad."
"Looks horrific..."
"Fuck!!! wait till you see it....bugger me.
shit they're saying theres some plane high jacking too.
I think someone was trying to make a point...theres live pictures too."
"Apparently one of them at least was an Airbus. If they were both laden with fuel and passengers, there could well be thousands dead.
I wouldnt be at all surprised if this didnt turn into the worst terrorist act in history. If they find out who did it, someone is going to get bombed back to the stone age."
"I have a clear and horrific view of it out my 10th floor window at
work. We were all standig at the window after the first one, and we
watched the second explosion happen. The plane came from the opposite side of the building, but we saw the explosion.
Oh. My. God.
It looks like something out of a movie.
It should ONLY be something out of a movie.
We're watching the flames right now, and listening to the news. The
broadcaster said, 'we're going to have to interrupt this broadcast for a moment -- our building is being evacuated!'
It's chaos around here. The trains, the streets, everything!"
"Oh...my god! sounds nasty!
people killed?
Where's the 3rd... bad luck always comes in 3's!!"
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 14:39:50
"Apparently a third plane's been hi-jacked...
Tho' the news is totally chaotic at the mo, so no idea if that's right..."
"Reports coming in that a 3rd plane has been hijacked, but has not been crashed (as yet) *shudder*
This is getting worse by the min...."
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 14:45:49
"Now there is a building on fire in Washington (an area behind the Pentagon). They just said that this was another explosion....
Wtf is going on? *shock*"
"Third plane high jacked
Something happening at the pentagon...smoke pouring out of it...and the white house has been evacuated!!!!!!!!!
holy shit...This could be the biggest thing in our lifetime"
"or the start of world war three...
world wars have started with less..."
"There are apparently four planes that have been hijacked. The fourth has yet to be found hence they are evacuating the White House.
This is one of those days that the world changes for ever. If America can pin this on a nation state, there will be war. It will also fundamentaly change the political landscape."
"Quite... I do hope someone is currently beating the saying "I do not know what weapons the third world war will be fought with, but the fourth will be with sticks and stones" into GWB..."
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 15:00:09
"the whole second tower just FELL!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 15:25
"car bomb reported outside the state department!"
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 15:26:54
"Holy fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!! second tower collapsed"
"now no world trade center left.........its like a war zone"
"There are reports from witnesses of people jumping from the WTC towers as they fell.
I feel sick."
A personal response from one of the other lists...
"There are people in my office right now, watching the burning buildings on tv, building with people _dying_ in them right now, as we speak, laughing at their own jokes. They make me ill. God only fucken knows how many people have been killed today - a third plane has just hit 'a building' in washington. They were all hijacked. There were all passenger planes. Suicidal terrorists not content with taking their own lives but those of as many others as possible.
And there are people here _laughing_ at the pictures of death on the tv. I feel like crying."
And another...
"The majority of people in thi soffice are just standing there in silent shock staring at the TV. A couple made very week attempts at jokes; but in this case I'll put it down to a reaction to shock; certainly they clammed up of their own accord almost before finishing.
We're all just trying to get back to work, and ending up sitting here staring blankly in front of us."
"2 767's and a smaller aircraft were apparently
hijacked, the smaller aircraft and the 767 hit the
WTC, the other 767 landed on or in the pentagon..."
A rather scary backlash, as people begin to suspect the Middle East...
"The online response from Americans on Yahoo etc is fucking scary, though. I know that this sort of tragedy brings out the blowhards, the trolls and the crazies... but the overwhelming theme is 'shoot/expel all the muslims', and this being America we're talking about, most of the people writing this shite have access to guns..."
"this is so f*cking tragic. the loss of life is the worst part... and I do not mean to trivialise that by saying this (apologies if comes across like this) but America has also just lost a serious landmark as well.
It's haunting to know that no one will ever be able to go there again...
good god I can just imagine what it was like in Maoist China...."
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 15:44:48
"3rd plane crash near pittsburg, PA?"
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 15:55:06
"A plane has crashed in western Pennsylvania"
"It looks like the city is on fire!
all that smoke and dust.........
wasn't WTC the tallest building in the world! What would be that now? People on news now suggesting that it could possible be a US terrorist group and nothing to do with the middle east. that and the fact that the fbi etc knew nothing of it even being planned!"
A summary of events so far...
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 16:01:21
"FAA has grouded all flights.
2 planes have hit both towers of WTC.
Bush has spoken, and is on his way somewhere in Air Force One, from Florida.
Sears Tower evacuated.
Flight 11 Boeing 767 Boston to LA - American Airlines CONFIRMED to be involved in one of the two WTC explosions, and a possibility an Airbus 8320.
Rumors of West Side of Capitol Building being hit.
Rumors of 5 total hijackings around the world today.
Confirmed hit of plane into wing of the Pentagon.
In Greece, and other places around the world, they have cancelled every flight and are guarding American buildings, such as embassies, etc. / Israel has evacuated all of it's missions.
BOTH WORLD TRADE CENTER TOWERS _HAVE_ COLLAPSED.
UNCOMFIRM REPORT - car bomb @ state building(DC)
Telephone lines to New York are all down
747 down in western Pennsylvania - COMFIRM REPORT - 3rd plane crash near pittsburg, PA - 80 miles SE - REPORTS ARE THAT
IT WAS SHOT DOWN
Reports of Pentagon roof caving in one wing of building."
MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
"NEW YORK, Sept. 11 - Americans reeled in horror
Tuesday as the worst terrorist attack in U.S.
history sent planes crashing into the World Trade
Center in New York, toppling the twin 110-story
towers. An explosion later rocked the Pentagon
in Washington. The White House, the Pentagon
and the Capitol building were evacuated.
Military jets patrolled the skies above both cities.
The FAA grounded all civilian aircraft
nationwide, but not before reports of another
large aircraft crashing in Western Pennsylvania.
President Bush vowed to 'hunt down the folks
who committed this act.'
THE FATE OF those in the twin skyscrapers was not
immediately known. Authorities had been trying to
evacuate the thousands of people who work in the twin
towers, but many were thought to be trapped. 'I swear
I've never seen anything like this,' said MSNBC's
Ashleigh Banfield. 'This whole place is like a complete
war zone.'
At the Pentagon, eyewitnesses saw an aircraft crash
into part of the sprawling complex. Walls were later seen
to have collapsed. An earlier report of a car bomb exploding outside the State Department was later denied.
In New York, the aircraft struck minutes apart,
starting fires and sending smoke billowing out of the
skyscrapers. The top of the south tower later collapsed
onto the street below.
The first crash happened shortly before 9 a.m. ET.
MSNBC.com reporter Martin Wolk, who was inside
one of the towers, said the lights flickered and then a loud
bang was heard. People panicked and started to flee the
building. When they reached the lobby, smoke started to fill the
building and people could see debris falling and many cars
outside were damaged. 'It was sheer pandemonium,
people were screaming and crying, afraid to go outside
because of the falling debris,' Wolk said. 'We looked up
and it looked like the top 20 floors were in flames.'
Another bystander described a barrage of debris
raining down on the sidewalk below.
Shortly after 9 a.m., a second aircraft was seen
crashing into the other tower. Broadcast cameras already
watching the scene filmed the second plane as it slammed
into the tower and exploded in a huge fireball.
A half hour later, President Bush made a brief
statement to reporters, calling the disaster a 'national
tragedy' and attributing it to terrorists. He did not cite any
specific terrorist groups but vowed to 'hunt down the folks
who committed this act.'
U.S. military jets reportedly took to the skies to shoot
down any unidentified aircraft, and congressional leaders
were taken to secure locations. A plane was reported to
have been circling the Capitol building before the
evacuation. American Airlines later acknowledged that one of its
flights had been hijacked Tuesday morning shortly after
leaving Boston en route to Los Angeles.
In the wake of the crashes, New York airports and
the Lincoln Tunnel were closed as precautionary
measures. The stock exchanges in New York also did not
open. Large holes were visible in sides of the 110-story
buildings. The tops of the twin towers were obscured by
the smoke. Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office
paper came drifting over Brooklyn, about three miles from
the tower, one witness said.
In an earlier terrorist attack, the center was bombed
on Feb. 26, 1993, killing six people and injured more than
1,000 others. Terrorist Ramzi Yousef and three others
were convicted of orchestrating the attack. Three other
indicted co-conspirators remain at large.
Traffic entering New York City from New Jersey was
at a standstill approaching the Holland Tunnel as motorists
stood outside their cars watching the fire.
Across the country, highrises like Chicago's Sears
Trade tower were being evacuated as a precaution.
Buildings were also being evacuated in London."
