Remembering That Day
(This post will remain at the top of the page through tomorrow. Any other news that breaks, or anniversay round-ups will do willbe below this, so please scroll down for updates. Thank you.)
How could anyone forget that day? As part of our anniversay remembrance we have assembled a series of links that will help people remember what might have been forgotten, missed int he details, or otherwise blocked out. And our first link goes to this site and the reason we chose it was for the photo montage you can view. Click on each picture to asdvance the display, and be patient while it loads. Above each photo is a quote--inspirational, motivational, and timely--to coincide with the devestation this nation witnessed on that dark day.
Our second link goes to Little Green Footballs. Charles Johnson is one of only a few bloggers whose site was up and running then. That link takes readers to this post:
I don't have words for what I feel.
Shock and incredible rage.
We are at war.
And that about summed it up for the nation, as well. We were all in shock. We were angry, and many of us still are. And yes, we knew right then and there, that this nation was going to war. Anything less would have appeased our enemies, and shown us to be as Osama bin Laden had described. We were not the "paper tigers" we had been eight years before. Feel free to follow his posts that day by advancing from that page forward. Simply click on the "next entry" link at the top of his page, and you can view all of his posts from that day. As a matter of fact, he posts this in the following entry:
This is the start of a new era in civilization. God (if you exist) help us.
The coordination and scale of this attack is unbelievable. It's important for us to realize that the creatures who do this evil will never stop. Their intent is to bring the entire world into a religiously dominated Dark Age.
I'm very afraid of what happens next.
He understood it then. We all did. But as time marches on, memories grow short, and many people in this nation tossed aside the evidence of that day--proof that we were vulnerable and that others wanted to hurt us as much as possible--for petty partisan reasons. This nation must remain united, and that has been the theme since this dark day was delivered to us.
James Lileks threw his two cents in as well. On the 12th of September, this is what James wrote, in part, about what happened to the nation:
It’s not good when you turn on the shower radio and you hear Peter Jennings. It’s just not good at all.
I thought: hmm, they’re running a repeat of the World Trade Center bombing coverage. Anniversary?
Then I hear what happens. Leave shower, toweling off as President speaks. Head downstairs; wife wonders what I was shouting about. Turn on TV.
Unbelievable. Well, I think - it was high enough, they might have withstood the crash of a light plane . . .Then the tape runs of the jetliner slamming into the side.
Two thoughts, almost simultaneously:Clancy novel, with New York instead of Washington
Pearl Harbor. This is Pearl Harbor.
Again, it is shock that awoke us that morning. It had been a bright, cheery, "sunshiney" sort of day, and we were knocked right out of our dream world, and reminded that this world is a dangerous place. There are dangerous people in it. And those people want us dead. James continues:
9: 20 Just called the office, cancelled the column for tomorrow. They’ll need the space for serious business, and the last thing anyone needs tomorrow is a humor column.
9:24 Have sudden strong need for a cigarette, and a gun. ...
...11:38. Walked around the block with daughter and dog. It’s quiet in the neighborhood; not much traffic. Unusually silent.
No planes.
I pass three giggling girls sneaking a cigarette outside the highschool. I feel as if I should glower, but just look away.
Wondering as I approach the house if there’ll be additional news. There is. Another plane down. Four commercial airliners in one day. Sweet Jesus. ...
... There’s not a single part of this story that doesn’t induce wave after wave of nausea and horror.
12:07 The timing between the impacts is interesting - it has a classic terrorist twist: Detonate one bomb, wait for the ambulances and fire trucks to convene, then strike again. Kill the innocents, then kill the people who show up to help.
1:49 Rebuild it. Not two towers, but one: taller than its predecessors. Rooftop guards with stinger missles. Hell, people would take that job for nothing.3:00 If this was the work of Bin Laden, he’s just done for Palestinian nationalism what Tojo did for Japanese militarism. ...
...10:38 PM Day over, but not over; I got a call from the DC bureau requesting an op-ed piece on today’s events. I wrote it. (Used the Empire State Bldg passage above as a portion.) Periodically I’d go outside to work on a cigar. I heard a plane go by overhead, and I was startled - all day the skies have been quiet overhead. Tonight in the playground you could hear all the laughter of all the children all the time; the usual roar of the jets was stilled, and the neighborhood had the calm & quiet we’d all so deeply desired. Now we had it and it made us nervous.
So when I heard a plane overhead tonight, it was wrong. Turns out they were military jets circling around, securing the airspace. Just heard an unusually loud one, and I flinched; what had been an ordinary sound, an ordinary annoyance, was now a dire portent. Is this the future? Fearing the sound of every jet?
HELL no. I am not going to live in fear. They want my freedom, my peace of mind? Come and get it.
I won't do your work for you.
And that was the reaction many of us had at the end of that day. You want my blood--you want our dearest blood--then come and take it, if you think you can. We will rain Hell down upon you, and you will mistake our military for the wrath of God.
People say that things get lost in the details, and with the amount of information coming out as the attack unfolded made it difficult for people to keep up. Few people have put together comprehensive timelines of the event. Sure, there are a ton of nutters out on the 'Net that have cobbled together their idea of how things went down, including all of the conspiracy theories, but it took some digging to find a couple of sites that actually lay the information out for people to see. The first one comes from National Geographic. The second one comes from a site called The Patriot Resource. The author of that site has compiled not only the information regarding the events of that day, but also the president's speeches, and the various briefings that occurred in the administration that day that are declassified. Both are invaluable resources for those interested int he truth rather than unfounded and unproven theories.
To conclude our round-up and remembrance, I give our readers Basil's Blog. This link, which the entry is cited below, was comprised by Basil on September 11th, 2005, and it is how his day started that day. And as we can see, he shares the same sentiments that Charles Johnson had, that James Lileks had, and that we had. There is anger here, and the grim realization that we were at war.
That morning, I got up as normal, showered as normal, ate breakfast as normal, went to work as normal, and when the phone rang, answered it as normal.
That was the last normal thing I did that day.
It was the wife and it was just about 9:00 AM. She asked me if I had heard about the plane crashing into the World Trade Center. Having been at work for the last 30-45 minutes, I hadn't. Things were slow that Tuesday morning and her phone call was the first call I had received that day.
She suddenly started stuttering, saying something like another plane just crashed into the building. It took a second for her to be sure she hadn't just watched a replay. She hadn't. She got off the phone and went back to watching Fox and Friends.
It was slow, and I clicked on news sites to see what might be going on. That began a constant stream of Web pages being checked to find out information.
Because so many sites were down from being flooded with hits, I found other news sites. Drudge was still up and I scrolled down to his list of news sources. I clicked the "stop" button so it wouldn't refresh and disappear because it was down. I hit every news site I could find.
News was confusing and contradictory. Five or six planes missing or crashed. Bombs going off in Washington. Towers falling. More towers falling. More planes missing. More planes crashed.
It took a bit before we understood what had happened. But understand we did.
We had been attacked. Americans were dying on American soil. Civilians were dead by the hand of a hidden, sneaky enemy.
We knew we were at war. We knew we didn't start it. But we knew we damn well would finish it.
Some people have forgotten. I haven't. I remember.
We all need to remember what it was like that day.
Indeed, we all need to remember that day. Truth be told? The bloggers at The Asylum will never forget that day. We have seen the scar in the ground from where those mighty towers once stood. we have spoken to the people of New York City that remember that day, and like us, they will never forget it either.
In closing it only seems fitting that we remember one other team of bloggers that remember that day. Cox and Forkum have a nice little reminder for those in denial today. They also added onto their cartoon entitled "Confronting Terrorism." They add a new panel each year in remembrance. Thay also put together a cartoon to remember that fire fighters who went into a building that they knew was going to come down, but went in nontheless. And there is their most famous cartoon entitled "That Day" which Marcie and I agree is perhaps their most powerful drawing regarding the attack that day; the message scroll down the side reads "never again." You got that right, guys. And, there is this cartoon which reminds this nation (as the doctor reminds Uncle Sam) that our heart may never heal from that disaster.
In time, the nation will heal. But her anger will never subside until the barbaric animals that struck this nation are destroyed, dead, and buried.
Marcie & Thomas
ADDENDUM: (ADDED at 5:15 p.m, Sept. 11, 2006) From Charles @ LGF comes a link to James Lileks. James has put together a 9/11 Remembrance tribute on his site. Read what he has to say, and watch the video he has created. Also, check out Captain Ed Morrissey's site and Michelle Malkin's site for their addition to the "2,996 Memorial" project. They each chose two people killed on that day, and put together a tribute for them.
Check out all the familiar blogs today for their tributes. Ours isn't bad, but it does lack the amount of links we had been hoping to find this weekend. The simple fact of the matter is that there were not a lot of blogs up and running back then.
Try to hold back the tears today (I failed to do so this morning), and remember the people who died that day. And most of all, remember Michelle's discovery:
"Lan Astaslem." It is Arabic for "I will not submit/I will not surrender." And that should be the biggest message sent by this nation on this day.
(This post will remain at the top of the page through tomorrow. Any other news that breaks, or anniversay round-ups will do willbe below this, so please scroll down for updates. Thank you.)
How could anyone forget that day? As part of our anniversay remembrance we have assembled a series of links that will help people remember what might have been forgotten, missed int he details, or otherwise blocked out. And our first link goes to this site and the reason we chose it was for the photo montage you can view. Click on each picture to asdvance the display, and be patient while it loads. Above each photo is a quote--inspirational, motivational, and timely--to coincide with the devestation this nation witnessed on that dark day.
Our second link goes to Little Green Footballs. Charles Johnson is one of only a few bloggers whose site was up and running then. That link takes readers to this post:
I don't have words for what I feel.
Shock and incredible rage.
We are at war.
And that about summed it up for the nation, as well. We were all in shock. We were angry, and many of us still are. And yes, we knew right then and there, that this nation was going to war. Anything less would have appeased our enemies, and shown us to be as Osama bin Laden had described. We were not the "paper tigers" we had been eight years before. Feel free to follow his posts that day by advancing from that page forward. Simply click on the "next entry" link at the top of his page, and you can view all of his posts from that day. As a matter of fact, he posts this in the following entry:
This is the start of a new era in civilization. God (if you exist) help us.
The coordination and scale of this attack is unbelievable. It's important for us to realize that the creatures who do this evil will never stop. Their intent is to bring the entire world into a religiously dominated Dark Age.
I'm very afraid of what happens next.
He understood it then. We all did. But as time marches on, memories grow short, and many people in this nation tossed aside the evidence of that day--proof that we were vulnerable and that others wanted to hurt us as much as possible--for petty partisan reasons. This nation must remain united, and that has been the theme since this dark day was delivered to us.
James Lileks threw his two cents in as well. On the 12th of September, this is what James wrote, in part, about what happened to the nation:
It’s not good when you turn on the shower radio and you hear Peter Jennings. It’s just not good at all.
I thought: hmm, they’re running a repeat of the World Trade Center bombing coverage. Anniversary?
Then I hear what happens. Leave shower, toweling off as President speaks. Head downstairs; wife wonders what I was shouting about. Turn on TV.
Unbelievable. Well, I think - it was high enough, they might have withstood the crash of a light plane . . .Then the tape runs of the jetliner slamming into the side.
Two thoughts, almost simultaneously:Clancy novel, with New York instead of Washington
Pearl Harbor. This is Pearl Harbor.
Again, it is shock that awoke us that morning. It had been a bright, cheery, "sunshiney" sort of day, and we were knocked right out of our dream world, and reminded that this world is a dangerous place. There are dangerous people in it. And those people want us dead. James continues:
9: 20 Just called the office, cancelled the column for tomorrow. They’ll need the space for serious business, and the last thing anyone needs tomorrow is a humor column.
9:24 Have sudden strong need for a cigarette, and a gun. ...
...11:38. Walked around the block with daughter and dog. It’s quiet in the neighborhood; not much traffic. Unusually silent.
No planes.
I pass three giggling girls sneaking a cigarette outside the highschool. I feel as if I should glower, but just look away.
Wondering as I approach the house if there’ll be additional news. There is. Another plane down. Four commercial airliners in one day. Sweet Jesus. ...
... There’s not a single part of this story that doesn’t induce wave after wave of nausea and horror.
12:07 The timing between the impacts is interesting - it has a classic terrorist twist: Detonate one bomb, wait for the ambulances and fire trucks to convene, then strike again. Kill the innocents, then kill the people who show up to help.
1:49 Rebuild it. Not two towers, but one: taller than its predecessors. Rooftop guards with stinger missles. Hell, people would take that job for nothing.3:00 If this was the work of Bin Laden, he’s just done for Palestinian nationalism what Tojo did for Japanese militarism. ...
...10:38 PM Day over, but not over; I got a call from the DC bureau requesting an op-ed piece on today’s events. I wrote it. (Used the Empire State Bldg passage above as a portion.) Periodically I’d go outside to work on a cigar. I heard a plane go by overhead, and I was startled - all day the skies have been quiet overhead. Tonight in the playground you could hear all the laughter of all the children all the time; the usual roar of the jets was stilled, and the neighborhood had the calm & quiet we’d all so deeply desired. Now we had it and it made us nervous.
So when I heard a plane overhead tonight, it was wrong. Turns out they were military jets circling around, securing the airspace. Just heard an unusually loud one, and I flinched; what had been an ordinary sound, an ordinary annoyance, was now a dire portent. Is this the future? Fearing the sound of every jet?
HELL no. I am not going to live in fear. They want my freedom, my peace of mind? Come and get it.
I won't do your work for you.
And that was the reaction many of us had at the end of that day. You want my blood--you want our dearest blood--then come and take it, if you think you can. We will rain Hell down upon you, and you will mistake our military for the wrath of God.
People say that things get lost in the details, and with the amount of information coming out as the attack unfolded made it difficult for people to keep up. Few people have put together comprehensive timelines of the event. Sure, there are a ton of nutters out on the 'Net that have cobbled together their idea of how things went down, including all of the conspiracy theories, but it took some digging to find a couple of sites that actually lay the information out for people to see. The first one comes from National Geographic. The second one comes from a site called The Patriot Resource. The author of that site has compiled not only the information regarding the events of that day, but also the president's speeches, and the various briefings that occurred in the administration that day that are declassified. Both are invaluable resources for those interested int he truth rather than unfounded and unproven theories.
To conclude our round-up and remembrance, I give our readers Basil's Blog. This link, which the entry is cited below, was comprised by Basil on September 11th, 2005, and it is how his day started that day. And as we can see, he shares the same sentiments that Charles Johnson had, that James Lileks had, and that we had. There is anger here, and the grim realization that we were at war.
That morning, I got up as normal, showered as normal, ate breakfast as normal, went to work as normal, and when the phone rang, answered it as normal.
That was the last normal thing I did that day.
It was the wife and it was just about 9:00 AM. She asked me if I had heard about the plane crashing into the World Trade Center. Having been at work for the last 30-45 minutes, I hadn't. Things were slow that Tuesday morning and her phone call was the first call I had received that day.
She suddenly started stuttering, saying something like another plane just crashed into the building. It took a second for her to be sure she hadn't just watched a replay. She hadn't. She got off the phone and went back to watching Fox and Friends.
It was slow, and I clicked on news sites to see what might be going on. That began a constant stream of Web pages being checked to find out information.
Because so many sites were down from being flooded with hits, I found other news sites. Drudge was still up and I scrolled down to his list of news sources. I clicked the "stop" button so it wouldn't refresh and disappear because it was down. I hit every news site I could find.
News was confusing and contradictory. Five or six planes missing or crashed. Bombs going off in Washington. Towers falling. More towers falling. More planes missing. More planes crashed.
It took a bit before we understood what had happened. But understand we did.
We had been attacked. Americans were dying on American soil. Civilians were dead by the hand of a hidden, sneaky enemy.
We knew we were at war. We knew we didn't start it. But we knew we damn well would finish it.
Some people have forgotten. I haven't. I remember.
We all need to remember what it was like that day.
Indeed, we all need to remember that day. Truth be told? The bloggers at The Asylum will never forget that day. We have seen the scar in the ground from where those mighty towers once stood. we have spoken to the people of New York City that remember that day, and like us, they will never forget it either.
In closing it only seems fitting that we remember one other team of bloggers that remember that day. Cox and Forkum have a nice little reminder for those in denial today. They also added onto their cartoon entitled "Confronting Terrorism." They add a new panel each year in remembrance. Thay also put together a cartoon to remember that fire fighters who went into a building that they knew was going to come down, but went in nontheless. And there is their most famous cartoon entitled "That Day" which Marcie and I agree is perhaps their most powerful drawing regarding the attack that day; the message scroll down the side reads "never again." You got that right, guys. And, there is this cartoon which reminds this nation (as the doctor reminds Uncle Sam) that our heart may never heal from that disaster.
In time, the nation will heal. But her anger will never subside until the barbaric animals that struck this nation are destroyed, dead, and buried.
Marcie & Thomas
ADDENDUM: (ADDED at 5:15 p.m, Sept. 11, 2006) From Charles @ LGF comes a link to James Lileks. James has put together a 9/11 Remembrance tribute on his site. Read what he has to say, and watch the video he has created. Also, check out Captain Ed Morrissey's site and Michelle Malkin's site for their addition to the "2,996 Memorial" project. They each chose two people killed on that day, and put together a tribute for them.
Check out all the familiar blogs today for their tributes. Ours isn't bad, but it does lack the amount of links we had been hoping to find this weekend. The simple fact of the matter is that there were not a lot of blogs up and running back then.
Try to hold back the tears today (I failed to do so this morning), and remember the people who died that day. And most of all, remember Michelle's discovery:
"Lan Astaslem." It is Arabic for "I will not submit/I will not surrender." And that should be the biggest message sent by this nation on this day.
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 11:56 PM
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