What was your reaction in the days and weeks following 9/11?

[cynatnite]

I admit to being very angry and hoping the Taliban and OBL was killed immediately. War was a have to at the time and I naively assumed we'd go to Afghanistan, kick some ass, get Bin Laden, take down the Taliban and Afghanistan could live in peace and freedom.

Looking back, I'm ashamed at how uninformed I was in 2001.

I can't remember exactly when it was...I keep thinking Nov 2001, but I might be wrong, but I saw where bush was taking questions from reporters. I think he was in a golf cart or something like that. He talked about Saddam and something in my gut told me this was our next war. It was before I knew anything substantial about bush and his administration other than I didn't like him.

It's weird how we know things by instinct rather than facts sometimes.

[RB TexLa]

1. Stopped spending money

still haven't gone back to spending either personally or business, not my job to help the economy.

[Swamp Rat]

2. At the moment I saw the towers hit on 9/11, the first word out of my

mouth was "Reichstag."

[radio4progressives]

21. Me too.. My Immediate Reaction..

and it hasn't changed since..

in fact, it has been confirmed.

[Swamp Rat]

26. Yep

[lonestarnot]

101. Absolutely hasn't changed one smidge! MFr is the same evil all in one!

MIHOP on edit gut feelings 90% correct! always go with them.

[malaise]

71. I thought of people I Knew

in the building and then in discussions with my better half, sibblings, friends and peers told them that I thought it could only have been executed by high ups within the system and I would wait for proof. More than a few people (who now have severe doubts about the official story) thought I was crazy.

I'll never forget the day -I was about to leave for work and for some strange reason turned on NBC in time to hear the Today show report that a plane had hit one tower. I saw a plane in the skyline and wondered why it was so close to buildings, watched it hit the building, called my sibblings to find out where everyone was and then sat there transfixed for ages. I was lucky since I got through to everyone before the telephone chaos started.

[Solomon]

80. My immediate immediate reaction as I watched the smoke in that tower

is "this is some Bush shit." I remain convinced. I pissed everybody off with my questions, even my wife was mad at me for thinking it was an inside job.

[helderheid]

82. I wasn't as informed but DU has educated me since.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

89. Really?

The first words out of my mouth were "Illuminati scalar weapons."

[Swamp Rat]

102. Yes, really... "REICHSTAG!"

And my father, a native of Manhattan, just stared at me.

[Karenca]

3. Why is he still sitting there reading to the children?

What is that dumb expression on his face?

Where's Cheney?

Why isn't Bush here in New York yet?

[calimary]

59. Yes. That one! WHY is he just sitting there? And then after that,

once he finally got his worthless ass out of that classroom chair, the coldest, scariest moment for me was watching the TV anchors through the day, periodically utter, out loud - "WHERE is the president?" SUCH a comfort to have no leadership at all, that day. No wonder people still flock to Giuliani. Say what you will about him, at least he was THERE.

[helderheid]

83. He was also in London during their bombings....

hmmmmmmmmmm

[mwb970]

93. Bill Clinton made it to NYC pretty quick.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/02/01/05_review3.html

19 Saudi and Egyptian terrorists hijack four planes on the morning of September 11. Two are crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center, one is crashed into the Pentagon, which has no anti-aircraft capabilities, and one crashes in Pennsylvania. Although Andrews Air Force Base's fighters are less than 10 miles from the Pentagon, no fighters are scrambled. About three thousand people from all over the world are killed. Most are Americans. Bush, in Florida for a photo-op, reads to elementary school kids even after being informed of the first two crashes. He tells a nationwide television audience that he has checked with the vice president, then disappears for more than 12 hours. He will eventually turn out to be hiding at a nuclear-bomb-proof shelter in Nebraska.

Mouthpiece Ari Fleisher announces there is evidence Air Force One is a terrorist target. Within days, that is revealed as a lie.

Former president Bill Clinton, on a speaking engagement in Australia, races back to New York City to be with daughter Chelsea and is there September 12. City residents greet him warmly on the street. Bush does not go to NYC until Friday, two days after reporters have begun asking when he would go.

In the Midwest, residents run in panic to buy guns and many gas stations immediately raise prices as high as four and five dollars a gallon. A Sikh is shot in Arizona and a Filipino beaten in New Mexico by "patriots" who mistake them for Muslims. A reporter in Seattle, wearing a traditional Muslim scarf to investigate reports of bias, is shoved into the path of a truck.

[villager]

4. that the Republicans had committed treason by foisting * on us...

n/t

[unblock]

5. i was wondering how the hell they knew whodunit so fast!

and i'm STILL waiting for a single shred of evidence!

[Ufomammut]

17. It was a nice, tidy package-explanation, wasn't it?

And it quickly dissipated.

[SeattleGirl]

18. That is EXACTLY what I thought when I saw the pictures of

the hijackers on television. I was sitting there, thinking, "My God, the dust hasn't settled yet in NY and the Pentagon, and they KNOW who did it? If they KNEW these people were hijackers, why in the hell didn't they scoop them up BEFORE they did this?" That one one of the many things going through my mind in the initial days.

[Ufomammut]

20. The manner in which both towers fell at free-fall collapse

Along with tower #7, which sustained only minimal fire damage ...and incidentally, is not addressed by the 9/11 whitewah committe in their "novel."

[SeattleGirl]

28. I know. I think there are lots of things the whitewash committee

did not address. However, I was not surprised.

[Rude Horner]

27. 1) The towers falling as if imploded...

2) The cars of the hijackers found with flight manuals, Koran, etc....
3) the passport of one of the hijackers found a couple blocks away from the 911 devestation

WAY too convenient.

Oh, and the fact that they hurried that debris field out of there as quickly as possible, without allowing any of that stuff to be examined by investigators.

The list goes on and on

[SmokingJacket]

85. I had the same reaction.

That first day I was filled with horror and anger, and wanted to personally kick whoeverdunit's butt.

But the incredibly bizarre way information came out -- and didn't come out -- over the next few days made me begin questioning the official story.

I never for a minute rallied behind the president. He acted like an imcompetent buffoon from the get-go -- and that's a generous interpretation.

[Rude Horner]

6. I too, was uninformed back in 2001

I wasn't a Bush lover or hater back then. I was pretty indifferent. Yes, I'm ashamed as well. When 911 happened I still believed the things my government told me. Hell, in the very early days of Homeland Security, I remember taking the whole "buy duct tape and plastic sheeting to help in the event of an attack" thing seriously. I didn't actually go out and do it, but I still thought the threats were real.

I don't know when the light bulb went on. Somewhere along the line I started questioning the events of 911 and the official story. That lead to web searches about the subject and my eyes opened up for the very first time. I started learning about PNAC and Operation Northwoods and it was like a tidal wave hit me. Not to sound too corny, but it was like the movie the Matrix, where I felt like I had been living in a dream world and all of a sudden I saw that I had been lied to and it pissed me off to no end.

Eventually I found DU, and I keep on learning and learning and learning. And questioning. ALWAYS question the powers that be.

[Theres-a]

42. That's pretty similar to my experience.

I didn't have a tv,so all my news came from the radio,whereas pre 911,I did not read or listen to the news.I read alot ,went to movies,had friends,but I was blissfully unaware of the world's problems.I started going to the library and reading on their computer.Gradually it became apparent to me that we were being at the least exaggerated to.Finally I got my own computer and discovered DU,truthout,kos,etc,and once you wake up you can never go back.Welcome to the desert of the real...

[annabanana]

7. first,? fear & fury...

followed fast by fears of fascism

(for real)

[TomInTib]

8. I remember thinking how glad I was that my sons , who were..

19 and 20 at the time, had not registered with Selective Service.

[Ufomammut]

9. I was still recouping from a bad on-the-job accident

From what I recall though, none of it made any sense. It didn't take long though and a very disturbing picture began to form.

[Canuckistanian]

10. I thought "the wingnuts are going to go nuclear on this"

Metaphorically speaking. I knew it would mean the end of politics as usual.

Really, that was almost my first thought before I even heard about the death tolls.

[Jensen]

11. I have been kidded about this statement but I believe more after all this

I sat watching the towers being hit and stated out loud...If Al Gore was in the White House this would not be happening....To this day I believe that!

[European Socialist]

12. I was suspicious because the attack was way too successful and the...

Government figured it out too soon.

[lostnfound]

13. Horrified, but I naiively expected that the US citizenry would

turn over every rock to find out what happened, and that there would be some healing due to people coming to a better understanding of our world and our country.

180 degrees from what really happened.

I started voraciously reading books on politics and world affairs. Huntington, Rashid, Zinn, Chomsky. And Znet and CommonDreams.

When the bombing of Afghanistan happened, I didn't feel good about it because all wars destroy many innocent lives.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

14. I remember saying to a girl who I worked with,

"As long as we live, we'll never hear the end of this." (And she started crying . . . which made me feel even worse.)

But, like Swamp Rat, I had a gut reaction to the actual collapse of the buildings. I've seen lots of buildings demolished--they implode on their own footprint. I always thought it was Mihop . . . tho, Ben Burch has a fascinating theory that makes one wonder if maybe it really wasn't "just" Lihop. Either way, I've always known that 9/11 is just what the NeoCon Nazi Pigs wanted. I was in a depression for weeks. Finally drove out to Utah with my brother and we disappeared into the Canyonlands in his jeep for two weeks. It was peaceful, and helped my sanity. Wish I could've stayed . . .

[ourbluenation]

15. I have two sisters. One could see people jumping from the towers

from her flat in Manhattan and is still in therapy. I had to tell her what was happening live over the phone cuz she had no tv signal (the signal was on top of tower two).

The other sister is an American Flight attendant who does the west coast to boston and new york leg all the time. Couldn't reach her. She flew the same flight a day or two before...

I wanted one sis to move and the other to quit her job. Neither have done either. But both hate the situation they're in.

[Dorian Gray]

48. I was (and still am) in NYC at the time.

I watched it from my windows, while I watched television at the same time. (I lived on the 42nd floor of a building in Midtown that had views of downtown.) I couldn't see people jumping out of the building, but I could see the towers fall. I was devestated. I tried calling all my friends and my brother who worked downtown. Thank God they were okay, though many friends of friends were not. Four people I know lost spouses, and it was a horrible, horrible time. For weeks, politics didn't really cross my mind. I was in a living state of shock.

[serryjw]

16. Very, Very sad

I wasn't revengeful. I just wanted to know WHY anyone would do this...I was fundraising for the DNC when 9-11 happened. In 3/02 I was speaking with a 'high donor' when my world changed forever.If it wasn't for Ahmed's book I may never have arrived at DU. He told me to go get
quote......
THE WAR ON FREEDOM

There are not words to describe the courage it will take anyone, conservative or liberal, left, right or center, to read this book from cover to cover and sit with the new world you will be looking at afterwards. Ahmed, through more than *six hundred* footnotes, political and historical analysis, quotes of everyone from European and Afghani political analysts to New York stockbrokers to American congressman and FBI agents--and some of the most erudite, plain language scholarship I have ever read--irrevocably changes one's view of history and current events such that one is left with the profoundly disturbing fact not by saying that his main theory is true, but by proving unqeustionably that it is POSSIBLE.

end quote.........
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0930852400/qid=1142907082/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-2086969-3439805?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

[Rude Horner]

19. Another good book

"The Terror Timeline" by Paul Thompson. FANTASTIC book with TONS of legitimate sources that will completely convince you that there is definitely a 911 coverup.

I'm reading it again and finding a lot of stuff I forgot about already. You will be amazed.

For example:

September 11, 2001: All-Republican Shadow Government Formed
It is later revealed that only hours after the 9/11 attacks, a US “shadow government” is formed. Initially deployed “on the fly,” executive directives on government continuity in the face of a crisis dating back to the Reagan administration are put into effect. Approximately 100 midlevel officials are moved to underground bunkers and stay there 24 hours a day. Officials rotate in and out on a 90-day cycle. When its existence is revealed, some controversy arises because the shadow government includes no Democrats. In fact, top congressional Democrats are unaware of it until journalists break the story months later. CBS News, 3/2/02; Washington Post, 3/1/02

[serryjw]

31. It's amazing how few of us read this stuff

I HAD TO KNOW! and NOW I do!

[QuettaKid]

97. shadow government.

I remember when this story broke. I wonder what this "shadow government" is up to these days?

[mdmc]

37. thanks for the link. I will check it out

:kick:

[leftofthedial]

22. I thought bush did it

lost the first of a series of my final jobs

started a business which "failed," spinning off another business which unambiguously failed.

[Democrats_win]

23. Thought OBL was stupid. He could never hurt us. Was I WRONG!

I thought destroying these building could do no real harm other than the obvious shock and awe. It would be difficult to destroy the important practical stuff: our scientists, our hard working people, the bread basket, even the military. Look at Katrina: yes, it was bad, but we're so huge we can handle it.

I didn't realize our leader was a moron. His traitorous reaction, a reaction meant to capitalize on our shock, did more harm than anyone could have imagined.

[sandnsea]

24. I thought we'd rebuild Afghanistan

I feel like Pollyanna saying that now. I would never have dreamed we'd abandon Afghanistan the way we have. If I could have imagined it, I'd have never supported invading that country. I thought you have to do the military thing just for the principle of it, but turning others away from terrorism would come from proving that we were a good people and that would happen when we rebuilt Afghanistan. That's what the outpouring from the world meant, that that's the kind of people they thought we really were. Sadly, Bush destroyed all of that and that's the real crime against America and the world.

[cynatnite]

29. Call me Polly, too

I had high hopes we'd do right by the people of Afghanistan and I even sent bush two letters begging to arrest the Taliban for war crimes. They butchered people and made it a public spectacle.

I really really believed that some good would come out of what happened on 9/11.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

34. Thanks for the link. n/t

[mdmc]

30. I was in denial for a long time

September 11th, 2001 was primary day in NY. I was running for office and had invested a great deal of energy in securing the green party line. The greens refused to endorse me (they liked, but I am a registered Dem), and I was able to run in a primary to secure the line. Actually, it wasn't a primary, because no one was running against me. It was an opportunity to ballot.

My name was not on the primary ballot. I needed people to write in my name. On Sept. 11th I was able to get 17 out of 21 registered greens to go and write my name in. It took many days of campaigning to get all these greens out to vote. It was a major coup and a great moment for me, especially after w. had stolen the election less then a year before.

I was on my way to work when I heard that a plane had hit the WTC. By the time I got home, the election had been canceled, and the world had changed.

All campaigns were suspended after 9-11, and we all pitched in to...try...to...do...something. One of the Dem candidates was a port authority cop. She lost over 300 friends / acquaintances in the attack. She disappeared into a constant funeral schedule. There were about 50 local deaths due to 9-11.

We never got the campaign back on track. We never had a chance of hell of winning (3500 dems, 4000 blanks, 8000 gop 500 cons = town voter breakdown), but we were going to be Democrats ON the green party line. We never were able to secure the green party line.

So a month later I lost the election. A month later, I lost my job. Soon it became apparent that the USA would go on the offensive. Bush, up to this point a mandate-less joke, now had a mandate for war.

So then it was 2002, and I was just coming to terms with the 9-11 attack. I was no longer in denial. Now I was incredibly depressed. I was numb and depressed.

To this day I am still a mix of emotions (as this post proves) when I talk about 9-11. I still get choked up and angry when I pass ground zero on the west side highway.

There was a girl from my county that died. She was the friend of my girlfriend's sister. She had worked super hard her whole life (p/t job and school), she went to college, and got a phat job with Cantor - Fitzgerald. I had never met her, but her obituary has stuck in my mind. She was fucking 24 years old. All her hard work (and success) down the drain. I still cry when I think of her.

I don't know what else to say. Things have never really been the same.

[rpannier]

32. To be truly honest

Revenge. I wanted an immediate strike on Afghanistan if they didn't turn bin Laden and his cronies over. Also, I was amazed, shocked and impressed with how well coordinated they were. I think, like most people, there were a lot of emotions.
But, like you...I wanted bin Laden -- Dead.

[Midnight Rambler]

33. I was just waiting for all the closet racists to come out with a vengance

And boy, I wasn't disappointed. I even had one idiotic freeper type yell at me for being Pakistani. And I'm Hispanic!

[electron_blue]

35. I was scared, then I wanted peace - my baby's due date was days after 9/11

I gave birth, and then held and nursed my precious bundle. I never thought we should have bombed Afghanistan. I thought it was juvenile and asanine at the time. I thought if OBL was behind this, then they should just go get him, individually, and not go to war with another country. I never wanted a revenge war against Afghanistan, Iraq or another country.

I saw through Bush's lies about WMD's Iraq from the beginning (and said so loudly to anyone who would listen) and a year later when I read M. Moore's books it all made sense to me what Bush was doing.

I also agree that I was so uninformed back in 2001, but at least I could see through most of the bullshit.

eta: I also thought Bush acted so peculiarly in the days and weeks after 9/11. From the staying the classroom for so long to the hiding all over the country in his jet plane, to never really seizing the spotlight to try to be the big hero in all of this. That still puzzles me.

[Retrograde]

36. "Did they just say what I thought they said??"

Being on the West Coast, I did not see the coverage live. When I heard the BBC World Service broadcast, I thought I must have misunderstood. When I turned on the TV to check, my thoughts were along the lines of "Thank God we got home yesterday!", "I know people who work in those buildings. My ex-company has offices there - did they make it out? ", "Some friends are traveling right now - I hope they make it home OK", "OMG, I used to work with him !", "WTH is the President?", "I should let my family back east know we made it home ok", "Is this really happening?", "Does anybody know where Bush is?", etc.

I must confess I was hoping Bush would turn into Harry Truman, but no such luck.

[mdmc]

38. R + kick

cause I found this thread helpful.

[DemGirl7]

39. To begin with, on 9/11 I was very worried that whole day

until late in the afternoon, because my older sister works in the building across the street from the WTC, and went to meetings in the WTC, so my whole family didn't know if she was safe or what until late in the afternoon, when she finally was able to get in contact with us.
Politically, in 2001 I was just started to get in touch with my inner uber liberal, I was always liberal thinking, but since 2000 & the stolen election/ selection I was becoming more liberal day by day. On 9/11, I hated * & the Republicans, but not to the degree in which I hate them now. I thought we were going to go in and take out the Taliban & Bin Laden, but I also had a feeling we were going to do something stupid, but I couldn't think of what at the time, I was right. For 2 weeks after 9/11, I was kind of in "the rally around the flag" mood but I quickly grew sick of seeing American flags everywhere, and got turned off more & more by people wrapping themselves in the flag. Then when I first heard Saddam metioned I knew what the stupid thing we were going to get involved in was going to be.

[Ksec]

40. anger , first at the terrorists, then at the government

The Government who we paid to protect us. The incompetence they showed then and before the invasion of Iraq was staggering. Its like all those billions we throw at them is just a waste, and it hasnt gotten any better. Remember all the F's they recieved from the 911 commission?

[BeatleBoot]

41. On the day of September 11th...

I left work at lunch and went to the grocery store and bought like 8 gallons of bottled water - just in case.

I took the water home and watched CNN a bit - just in amazement and basically numb.

That evening I remember staring out my bedroom window and thinking what it would be like in Poland in 1939 when the Nazi's invaded. Like if Nazi's were marching down my street just then.

And I thought of the French resistance of World War II and that there was no way it would get that bad here. I got a grip.

And I listened that evening as Fighter Jets zipped passed my house (I live near an AFB).

And I gave Bush a pass for like 12 hours of my life.

And then I realized, hey maybe this guy is an ultra friggin' idiot and he can't handle this job.

Honest. I was pissed because of the 2000 Election up to then and for like half of a day I stopped being pissed, but after that I realized this guy is friggin' incompetent.

And I came to my senses after a 12 hour lapse.

And I got really frustrated that the majority of my country couldn't see through this nit wit.

Now, I feel vindicated, but its like 'the damage is done', how can I feel good that 'I told everyone so' when so much damage has been inflicted on our Constitution, you know?

I love my country. That's why I vote. That's why I am active in politics. That's why I post here.

[Blue_In_AK]

43. At first I was just horrified, stunned and sad.

My ex-husband, who I was still with at the time, hung a flag, but he very soon became suspicious and took the flag down the very next day. Within the first week I started having nagging suspicions that things weren't as they appeared and my skepticism has only grown. At this point I'm MIHOP.

[mdmc]

45. me too Blue

:patriot:

[QuettaKid]

98. loose change 2.

this is an excellent video. I only have one quibble with it. The photo of the military guys carrying out the blue tarp thingy from the pentagon? Nothing mysterious there, it was just a de-contamination tent that they were carrying into place. Other than that, he gets the facts fairly straight.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8260059923762628848

[UTUSN]

44. 1st Stunned, 2nd Appalled, 3rd Repelled n/t

[Arugula Latte]

46. After shock and horror came a quick realization that

the Bush regime would exploit 9-11 like few things had ever been exploited before. And they surpassed my most cynical predictions by a longshot.

[bush_is_wacko]

47. My reaction.... PURE TERROR...I have NEVER gotten over it

The only thing that has changed is who/what I'm terrified of. I was not uninformed but I did buy the OBL/Taliban story, initially. I think I NEEDED a target. When he started talking about Saddam I woke up from my coma mighty damn fast.

As far as the terror goes... I just hope SOMEONE has some control over him/them right now. Their numbers are rotten and they need a new excuse. This is when I really start to worry.

With his poll numbers this bad though I'm fairly confident that another "terrorist attack" on American soil would spell doom for the entire party. I'm hoping that repukes will keep King George under control with regards to Iran out of fear for their jobs but I'm always surprised with these guys.

[Triana]

49. They KNEW....

They KNEW...
They KNEW..
They KNEW...

...

and I STILL say they KNEW. LIHOP.

[alittlelark]

50. I drove 15 miles to get a Large flag from a Cemetary

It was advertised on the station. My kids waved that flag out the window on the way home. I built a base for it on the tree in my froont yard:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:



About 2 months later I had talked to enough friends and family members to not support the above reference.



It caused massive cognitive dissonance and problems in the real world.


Welcome to my (fascist) reality.

[hopeisaplace]

51. Well call me psychic, I was at my neighbors ranting on about

how there was now going to be a war, and even if Iraq wasn't involved
I predict the war will involve Iraq (and whoever else was at fault).
My neighbors daughters boyfriend at the time, was mostly in the
room when I was going on, and he was probably thinking I was loopy.

I remember that day so well...it was a beautiful day here where I live
in Canada...I had left in the morning for my usual walk with the baby...
I remember thinking (and I swear to you I was thinking this)..how lucky
we are to live in this part of the world, where we have opportunity, what
we need, clean streets, beautiful homes, etcc...I was feeling grateful.

When I got home, was just bringing the baby in, hubby was home, came running
to the door, cause our neighbor had called us to turn on the TV...he said
there is some sort of an attack on the US...I screamed "WHAT!" ...left the
baby with him and ran over to my neighbors house (one of my best friends)..

I sure do remember that day, like it was yesterday.

[Liberal In Texas]

52. I was in Omaha. I saw the only plane in the sky, AF1 descend in the

distance and land at STRATCOM. (Where, by the way, -at STRATCOM not just Omaha- many bankers usually ensconsed in the WTC were golfing with the likes of Warren Buffett and Rush Limbaugh.)

I turned my eyes back the the TV and called my fiancee in Dallas and said, "We're at war."

I felt sick. I was in Omaha for a funeral, and this didn't help. I started making plans to evacuate my fiancee and the dog up to Omaha as I thought that it would be safer than Dallas. After that, my mother and the rest of the family would find our way to England where my (now) wife's folks are.

I pretty much thought life as we knew it was over.

And that's the hold the GOP has on Joe Six-Pack. Fear.

[spacelady]

53. My husband & I are from Nebraska--his dad worked at SAC before he passed

My husband played on that airfield growing up a block away in Bellevue (near Omaha). We were not surprised the Chimp went to ground there.
However, when 9-11 happened we were in South Alabama. Husband had been downsized immediately from a great engineering job the minute Chimp took office & I was an artist building Mardi Gras floats in Mobile.
A sense of disbelief then acceptance of the horror that is our existence now--because if the will of the democratic process had been upheld-President Gore-this would NOT have happened.

[The Traveler]

54. I was watching CNN when the second plane hit

Some guy had been talking about sun in the eyes of the first pilot maybe being the cause of the "accident". When the second plane went in, of course, we all knew immediately what was on. I was pretty sure Bin Laden had to be involved, right at the start.

My boss had called me as I was getting dressed for work, so that is why I had CNN on and caught this historic moment live on TV. (I now work as a software developer. I have learned to never go to work before I get out of bed ... so, yeah, I was running late, as usual.)I chose to stay home with the family and watch events unfold. We watched in horror and amazement as the south tower fell down over John O'Neil and many others, not knowing who died before our eyes but knowing some must have.

It was obvious, even then, we would be going to war with someone.

My oldest boy was worried. He was 17 at the time. My room mate, Curt, and I shared our experiences ... his as a highly decorated Nam vet and myself as a former, uh, shall we say "contractor" for the defense community. Funny. I never knew until that day Curtis won the Bronze star twice. He doesn't like to talk about Nam. But there are things I don't like to talk about. Sometimes, friendships are based on what you agree NOT to talk about.

But the award he was most proud of was a certificate in the form of a group photo of his comrades with the words: "We were there!" superimposed. And he shared all that with my son, who found it all somehow comforting.

It was shortly after that ... minutes, really ... that the old intel guy I keep trying to bury inside me spoke up and asked in the echo chambers of my mind, "Could this be a 'fund raiser'?" I stay well clear of the MIHOP/LIHOP crowd, but it is not because I find them necessarily unreasonable in the general framework of their speculations.

But at that moment, it never ocurred to me that we would invade Iraq, of the all fucking places. And as our policy trended in that direction, I could only watch in dismay. It was like watching a train wreck happen in slow motion. Three years ago, my wife and I watched soberly as we commenced "shock and awe" and with Curt we made certain predictions, all of them bad. We were wrong. Even we did not imagine the Bush administration screwing the pooch as badly as they did.

[VolcanoJen]

55. My reaction within hours was "We're at war."

Within days, that reaction morphed into a numb acceptance that everything might have very well changed, that the nation was headed into a new era of fear, and protectionism, likely followed by a clampdown on civil liberties.

Within weeks, I thought of that pre-2000 election book, "A Charge To Keep," by George W. Bush (aka Karen Hughes). I remember when the book came out, pointing it out to friends, highlighting paragraphs, telling everyone, "I'm sayin', if he gets elected, we'll be back in Iraq before four years, and it won't be pretty. He's got a 'charge to keep.'"

In other words, within weeks, I thought the writing was on the wall, and we were about to begin a long march into Iraq.

Those were scary days indeed and it hurts a bit to try to revisit them emotionally...

[The Straight Story]

56. Went home to my wife and daughter, then hung out a banner, went to library

The banner was hung out our window in downtown circleville - basically it said 'pray for the families'.

We took a walk, went to library, and then I remember the eerie quiet of the skies as we were used to seeing planes and hearing them. Though we did hear a few military jets from time to time.

[Name removed]

57. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cynatnite]

58. I wish I had been a member of DU then...

I was so angry that I wound up cheering bush for everything he did. When he said 'either against us or with the terrorists' I agreed. I was a goddamn freeper for a fucking week after that. It took a while for the anger to die down and for me to start asking why. I am so ashamed of how I reacted.

If I had been a part of DU then I know I would've stopped, listened and used my brain rather than acting like some self-absorbed lunatic.

[bpilgrim]

60. i am very grateful for DU being here

it certainly helps to find out that we are not alone like the M$M & the ELITE try to make us feel.

and don't feel bad about your natural reaction, even right here on DU, led by folks like WILL PITT, we were urged by many to all rally behind *

considering we were literally under attack that was the logical choice... who could have know then that we were under attack by a minority in our own gov.

:hi: cynatnite

peace

[Arugula Latte]

61. Beyond all the regular terror, the willingness of people to

immediately fall in line with Bushco. scared the living crap out of me. I felt I had woken up in a world where most people had been body snatched or zombified. It took a long time for that feeling to diminish. I'm glad you came around quickly!

[blonndee]

62. Don't feel bad. I wish the same. I was as uninformed

as you were. I absolutely had NO IDEA. I was so naive, I really thought that all the stuff America was involved with was for the betterment of the world at large. I was SO naive and uninformed. But when 9/11 happened, thankfully, I was in college and had access to some awesome history profs. I was so interested I really started looking into WHY this could happen. And I learned a LOT. It was really, really tough. I learned a lot about what my country had done, what it REALLY stood for, and it broke my heart. It was a lot like losing my religious faith. I went and talked about this with a certain prof of mine, and I confess, I cried, and not just in her office. And I remember, as cliched as it may sound now, crying for what was for me, the death of my country. What I had believed was my country was a lie. And in a matter of a year or so, I went from an apathetic, quasi-politically conservative person to a skeptic on EVERYTHING. Almost five years later, I'm a raging liberal. All it takes is critical thinking.

I hate for anyone to have to go through such a painful process but at the same time, I WISH that everyone would, for their own sake and for the sake of our country.

[hopeisaplace]

64. great post, you give me hope, loved what you had to say

:)

[msgadget]

65. Well said,

same here. From casually interested (and slightly bored) to a compulsive researcher and news hound. It still hurts but I'm also impatient that everyone didn't take the same route, didn't look beyond the headlines or beyond Fox in the trenches during Shock and Awe. I gotta admit, I hated the war so much it clenched my heart but I refused, superstitiously, to say anything against the mission because soldiers go where they're told and I was scared in the way a mother is scared for each and soldier. Plus, I recalled the bitter words of Vietnam vets for citizens who castigated them for just doing what they were told. That lasted about a week and then I was mad. Been mad ever since.

Thanks for sharing that, blonndee.

[HamdenRice]

100. very moving enlightenment story ... thank! nt

[eeyore]

68. bpilgrim, I'm certain I read those posts of yours...

I started lurking at DU after the (s)election, and I spent the entire day reading posts and trying to sort it all out. I'm sure that yours were among those posts, and I know that being here really helped me to come to terms with the ramifications of what had happened.

So, thanks bpilgrim for helping me that day. I kept lurking until early 2004, but I kind of felt like I needed to just read as much as possible to get up to speed before I could start posting.

You were one of many people who kept posting the information that I needed to find. Thanks for doing that, it really helped.

:hi:

[msgadget]

63. After the shock I couldn't believe my luck,

I didn't lose anyone close.

Cell phones and LANs were down and businesses and people who never spoke - who might even be competitors - offered each other assistance. It was an incredible, sad, numb, and optimistic time. For the first time in my life the American flag had great meaning to me and I purchased and downloaded damned near every kind - flags, window clings, stickers, screen savers, PDA skins - and I even printed some out on the computer.

Whenever I had to make a personal or business call out of state I was surprised and touched at the concern from my fellow citizens, "Oh my God, are you guys alright? Did you lose anyone? We're prayin' for y'all." I felt American and defiant and resiliant. We have survived, I thought even as I compulsively kept the car gassed up and the pantry full of food and water...just in case.

Soon I was wondering why cars had both OBL and Sadaam 'Wanted' posters alongside their 'These Colors Don't Run' stickers and said to anyone who'd listen, "...but he didn't attack us! One's secular, one's fundamentalist - they don't roll together!" I was troubled by the open hositilty and racist remarks toward Arabs and Muslims and had the unpleasant experience of a nearly hysterical man demanding to know if I was one of those 'black muslims' because if I was... And, I watched helplessly as survivors attended memorial after memorial, not knowing what to say.

Edit to add: Politics didn't enter my mind at first and when it did I merely groaned and rolled my eyes at the thought of our more-vacations-than-Reagan president handling the aftermath.

[Odin2005]

66. Horror, then anger.

Anger at Osama for planning it.
Anger at the Misadministration for being too incompetent to prevent it.

The invasion of afganistan was completely legitimiye. No government has a right to coddle terrorists. I already knew what the Taliban did to the Buddha statues, I was only 15, but I already knew enough of those bastards to know that they needed a good shake down. I was just as much a polyanna as some of the other posters, only when Bush started to saber-rattle about Iraq and Iran that I realized that * was using a disaster that occured as a result of his own incompetence for less then honnorable purposes.

[Dunedain]

67. Do I know this movie?

I woke up in what was probably the safest town in the world that day.
The Midland Texas of george the elder.
I was traveling for my work at that time, and had arrived late in the evening on the day before.
I fell asleep with the tv on, so when I woke up, I saw a picture of the world trade center, and smoke was rolling out into the sky.
No sound, the picture changes to the street level looking up.
The spot was way up there, where the smoke was coming out.
All of a sudden, out of the side of the screen came an airplane, and it crashed into the building.
I know this isn't any movie, this is insane.
I went to work; the price of gas was going up by the minute, I think it hit above five.
I called my wife, spoke to my children, even called my mother. Work called me.
I finished the job, drove the rental to dallas.
Beautiful country, the ride from Midland to Dallas.

I think I spent three days in Dallas after the eleventh of september.
I caught the first flight out the day they opened the sky back up.
What ever was happening it couldn't be good, that was my thought.
I don't imagine my mind could even comprehend what had really just taken place.
I see this great human tragedy brought about in a severe manner, I see and feel anguish.

Yesterday, I stopped in the coffee shop to see my wife and get a kiss.
While my wife was busy being herself, I waited on a young woman.
She took her latte' and sat at a spot near the front, by the window.
Soon after a young man appeared, with signs decrying george the lessors veracity.
I wondered for a second, was he really a patriot; or like me, did he come to get kisses from the pretty girl?

[gilpo]

78. Nice Post, Dunedain!

We know the movie now, don't we?

[tenshi816]

69. Your entire post could've been written by me,

because it reflects exactly how I felt after 9/11. I too was naive and uninformed, but I've been making up for lost time since then.

Like you, I remember how I felt when the Chimp started talking about Saddam a scant couple of months after 9/11. I remember thinking "no, wait, first things first, you've got to get bin Laden before you think about Saddam". The whole thing smelled, and still stinks to high heaven.

Edit: typo

[Skittles]

70. I knew bush would use it as an excuse to destroy America

even though his complete dereliction of duty led to the events of 9/11. I remember being disugsted that 90% of the American people rallied around that piece of shit FRAUD. Hoo boy I was right; I remember thinking, we are truly are F***ED

[B Calm]

72. My immediate reaction was this filthy administration is somehow

behind the attack.

[denidem]

95. Me too!

I remember feeling really happy that morning, that *'s poll numbers had fallen to below 50% and when I walked into work, a co-worker told me that 2 planes had hit the WTC and that it looked like terrorists. I immediately said that Bush had something to do with it 'cause he had the most to gain by it. I knew that he had just been handed a blank check. My co-workers were a bit appalled by my cynical attitude, but hey, we're in Boston. I do remember feeling really creeped out by all of the flags and "God bless America" signs and even worried about my conspicuous lack of display of said items. I was and still am totally mihop, and luckily my husband and dear sister and many friends are too.

[Behind the Aegis]

73. Honestly?

I figured it was a real attack. I knew it was being blamed on OBL and his crew, but I also said to my parents, "it will only be a matter of time before the Jews or Israel are blamed, or at least implicated."

Like clockwork....

[Taxloss]

74. Slightly less than three weeks, in fact.

By that stage the "no Jews turned up for work that day" lie was already circulating.

[Behind the Aegis]

75. Yup.

I remember getting that email (not the "don't show up for work," but the one saying they got it). It was about that time the "Israeli art student" story broke. As a said...like clockwork!

[QuettaKid]

99. the story that always gets lost in the

"4,000 jews were warned" lie, is the ODIGO story. ODIGO was an IM firm based in Israel and 2 of their employees were warned.

""OFFICIALS at instant-messaging firm Odigo confirmed today that two employees received text messages warning of an attack on the World Trade Center two hours before terrorists crashed planes into the New York landmarks. Citing a pending investigation by law enforcement, the company declined to reveal the exact contents of the message or to identify the sender.

But Alex Diamandis, vice president of sales and marketing, confirmed that workers in Odigo's research and development and international sales office in Israel received a warning from another Odigo user approximately two hours prior to the first attack. Diamandis said the sender of the instant message was not personally known to the Odigo employees. Even though the company usually protects the privacy of users, the employees recorded the Internet protocol address of the message's sender to facilitate his or her identification.""

http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/01/09/WTC_Odigo.html

but of course, we never heard anymore of this "investigation".

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

86. But did you expect...

...that the main purveyors of that belief in the US would be (nominally) on your side of the political aisle?

[foreverdem]

76. Horrified

I was (and still am) in NYC on 9/11 and remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember my husband calling me and telling me that a plane had crashed into one of the towers. Then I saw alot of my co workers going into the pantry at work to see on the TV what was going on. Then we saw the 2nd plane hit. My boss was telling me that you could see it clearly from the window on the other side of the building. I remember watching it from the window like it was unreal. I couldn't beleive what I was seeing. Buildings were being evacuated in midtown but no one could go anywhere because Manhattan was closed off. I felt like this was happening to someone else. I remember getting chills because my husband had been offered a position with Cantor Fitzgerald just weeks before and had turned the job down because he "got a weird feeling about it". Cantor Fitzgerald lost every person that showed up for work that day.

I was not waiting to hear from *. But I do remember wondering where the hell he was, and how the mayor on NYC was the one that was everywhere. I hated * since the 2000 selection. I had no interest in what he had to say after the attack. What I was hoping was that the US would get whoever was responsible. Looking back, I see how naive that was. I wasn't a member of DU then, so I was totally uninformed. Now I see more and more that my own government was involved in the most hideous way in that horrible day and all that happened in the weeks that followed.

[Efilroft Sul]

96. I lost my cousin Seth at Cantor that day.

He was on his phone with his wife, and his last words, swear to Koresh, "My God, there's a plane coming toward the building!"

Poor guy was incinerated immediately.

I wasn't close with him (I have hundreds of cousins) and only saw the guy at the rare family get-together, but I know the world truly lost one of the good guys that day. For example, when the WTC was bombed in 1993, he and another employee from Cantor carried a very pregnant woman down dozens of flights of stairs. That's just the way he was. I wish I knew him better.

[Minnesota Libra]

77. Of course initially my reaction was grief, anger, but within a.........

......fe days I couldn't help but think there was more to this than met the eye. I didn't for a second trust Bush/Cheney's reaction/explanation. As soon as I saw the video of Bush reading to a group of kids as he was notified of the attacks I knew in my gut he knew much more than he was letting on. I couldn't help but think back of Kennedy and the government's implication in that.

[rman]

79. I was thinking * was doing a fair job

being president of a nation that had suffered an incomprehensible attack.

That changed when i found out about PNAC.
Things have gotten more interesting ever since.

[MadHound]

81. I didn't see the planes hit live

I woke up and had switched on NBC, at 7am CDT. Caught Katie Couric doing the lead story, how a handful of planes were way off course, and were probably hijacked. Got ready for work, noting that I hadn't heard anything about NORAD jets being scrambled to intercept(SOP), but wasn't really concerned. Heard about the first one hitting the North Tower while on the way to work. No details, nothing like that. Got to work, and got caught up in getting doses ready to ship. Somebody came by and mentioned that another plane had hit the South Tower, and that a TV had been set up in a conference room.

I finished up what I was doing and got to the conference room just in time to see the South Tower collapse, then the North Tower shortly thereafter. And I thought to myself as I watched the Towers fall, we're watching the Big Lie, live and in color. No way in hell could one, not to mention both Towers fall so neat and clean into their own footprint, no way in hell.

Well, shortly after that all flights were grounded, and since we depend on Fed Ex and other airlines for shipping, we got shut down for the next few days. Work was idled, and most people could talk of nothing else except 911. Frankly, I was very depressed, and quite angry. Depressed because I knew that under Bushco, we would be heading straight into a senseless war abroad and increasing fascism at home. Angry for the same reasons. I was resigned that we would be going to kick the shit out of Afghanistan, Americans' bloodlust would permit no other action. But I also knew that 911 would be used as an excuse to go elsewhere.

And sadly, as many times before in my life, my deep, deep cynicism was proven right, even beyond my darkest dreams.

[mattclearing]

84. First fear, then sadness, then discovery, then anger.

And then more fear, but the anger and the more fear weren't directed at "terrorists."

[peacebaby3]

87. I was completely freaked out by the reactions of this country. They were

pulling songs like "Imagine" by John Lennon off the radio. The visceral reaction and bloodlust was very scary to me. I saw an incompetent, little man who was appointed President become some kind of weird hero overnight.

The terrorists won on 9/11. They made this country terrified. They have since made us (not all of us, but many) change nearly everything we believed in as a country and a people.

I think this poem by David Wilcox (he should put it to music) sums it up very well:

A Different Kind of War

There was a long haired guy who drew a crowd outside
He got them all angry over national pride
He was talking of the war that's on our shore
And how we've never had to fight so hard before
It's a war to fight and a war to win he said
But how do we strike and where to begin?
We want to kill those guilty of the crimes they've made
But they don't live in one city; there's no fortress to invade
This war is psychological and it starts right here
So in my defiance, I will not live in fear
Because fear is their weapon so I won't give in to that
They know that fear turns to rage, and thats just their trap
The way they win is to make us strike back
They want us to launch a dreadful counterattack
The more people that die at the hand of our nation
The more hate it will breed in the next generation
In this kind of war, they're not after our land
They want their children's blood on our vengeful hands
They want to make us act like an angry mob
So we look like a bully that hates their god
Their plan is to hurt us with our own brute force
Like a herd stampeding down a deadly course
If they can get us running with a rage like this
They can lead the free world off the edge of a cliff
And the cliff is to fall for the trap they've sprung
To make us play the role of the vengeful one
They want us to chase them and hunt them down
To kill their people and burn their towns
The few guilty people are happy to die
If they can make us kill a few thousand more besides
Becuase the death of the innocents just fuels the flame
Until the next war starts and it's all the same
And the future unfolds for a hundred years
As the terror grows and it breeds more fear
So who will decide the future of our nation?
Will we follow along with their invitation?
The invitation is to trust our hate
To let revenge define our fate
To never see that it's a different war
And we can't fight the same way we fought before
We're not hunted by a tiger, or a lion or a shark, its more
Like FIRE that's the danger and the enemy's a spark
But the trickiest spin that the devil could twist
Was convincing the world that he didn't exist
If you don't believe in evil, then they're just dangerous men
And you'll fight fire with fire, and you'll be just like them
An eye for an eye, time after time
Eye after eye until the whole world is blind
If our enemy is evil, like a virus of the mind
And its moving through the body of all humankind
Then the evil brilliance of this virus which is hate
Is that our natural reaction makes it replicate
We want to shoot at a target that's easy to find
But the enemy is in us - all humankind
We want to kill the invader like we could in the past
But you can't kill a virus with a shotgun blast
This is not a nation that we're up against
If it's good against evil, what's our best defense?
The man on the street was drawing a crowd
Some people got angry and voices got loud
The crowd answered back to the sidewalk guy
That we must have revenge for the people that died
But the man kept talking about love and light
As if that were any way to fight the fight
And a scuffle started and they hauled him in
He was convicted of crimes and convicted of sins
And for national safety and religious pride
That sidewalk preacher was crucified

David Wilcox - copyright 2001

[bklyncowgirl]

88. My husband saw the explosions--he was on the street outside when they hit.

I first heard a plane hitting one of the World Trade Center towers from my husband who was standing on the street about a block away from the towers.

At first I thought it was a small plane flown by some moron who wanted to buzz the Trade Center. He said no, it was a big jet. I was at work and we were discussing whether it was an accident or a terrorist attack when he called back and said that the second tower had been hit.

Now we knew it was terrorism. Looking across the river to the north we could see smoke rising above the trees.

We correctly said it was Islamic terrorists. We correctly said it was Al Queda and I remember saying at the time that even if he didn't do it Bush would make Saddam Hussein the scapegoat and that we would find a way to attack Iraq.

When the towers fell, I was sick with worry for my husband. As it turned out, he ducked down into the subway when he saw the horde of people racing out of the towers and caught one of the last trains out. He ended up at his appointment in Harlem in a building that also houses Bill Clinton's offices--probably the safest place in New York City.

My feelings about this have ranged from outrage at the terrorists who burned thousands of innocent people alive to outrage at my own government for its criminal incompetence and complicity.

[guinivere]

90. All I kept thinking at first was

this can't be true, it's not happening. I was very afraid for my sister and bil in Chicago. He works in financial and they live very close to downtown. I assumed that there would be more of the same very soon.
When it didn't take long for them to "catch" some guys, I thought wtf? I wondered why the hell, since they seemed to know who these people were didn't they prevent this horror in the first damn place. I figured we would turn Afganistan upside down looking for Osama.
*sigh* Silly, optimistic, uninformed me.

[CornField]

91. Numbness , quickly followed by Fear for my Children

It didn't take conspiracy theories for me to understand that no matter who perpetrated 9/11, the world I lived in was going to be changed forever. Sitting here nearly five years after that day, I'm both amazed and shocked that many of my gut instincts (loss of freedom, widespread panic/paranoia, stereotyped hatred, etc.) have come to pass.

[HamdenRice]

92. I was in lower Manhattan on 9/11, and I'll never forget it

This is kind of hard to write. I have to admit, I was already somewhat crazed and numb with grief before September 11, because both of my parents had died that spring. My father lost a long struggle with cancer in late April 2001, and shockingly, my mother died suddenly one week after his funeral. As an academic, I was off for the summer and went through the summer is a weird haze. I was pretty terrible with my SO and her son I think. I was like the Kevin Spacy character in American Beauty: I kept thinking, I don't have to be nice to anyone anymore.

We were just back at school for a few weeks on 9/11. I took the train into work very, very early that day to prepare a lecture. I actually passed under the WTC station, as usual, several hours before the attack. I was at my desk by about 7:30 obsessively going over my lecture notes for a class at about 11.

At 9 I heard the roar of a jet flying over my office and then heard a tremendous boom. My first thought was, was that a bombing run over Manhattan? Then I convinced myself that I had heard two separate incidents, a low flying jet and a car crash. Then a secretary said a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I went down to the street and watched the north tower burning. I'll never forget how vast the plume of smoke seemed. The last time I had seen anything like that was many years before in Hawaii, looking at the plume of ash from the volcano on the island.

I went back to my office to work and a secretary said a second plane had hit the WTC. I went into the hallway, and saw a dean who said, I guess it wasn't an accident.

I turned the radio on for news. I remember being furious with NPR/WNYC, because the were not reporting what was going on. Bob Edwards was giving a canned obituary of the man who invented the supermarket bar code scanner, and had the audacity to say that that "guy had changed our lives forever." WBAI and CBS newsradio were reporting that it was obviously a terrorist attack.

In my bizarre state of mind, I continued working on my lecture notes. My sister called almost hysterical, yelling at me to get out of lower Manhattan. Then my SO called crying because she thought her niece worked in the WTC (she had fortunately just changed jobs). Also my former employer had recently moved from mid town to the towers and I wondered if some of my old friends were OK.

Yet again word of mouth spread through the office that the tower had collapsed. Once again, I went down stairs to the street and saw the North Tower still standing, but no South Tower, only a vast cloud. A man in park said that he had seen everything and that the first plane went directly over my office building. A little later I heard that the North Tower had collapsed.

At some point it became clear that classes would be cancelled. Rumors were circulating that all the bridges were closed, and arrangements were being made for any of us from the outer boroughs to stay with colleagues in Manhattan. But I wanted to just go home, and started walking toward ground zero because that's where the bridges are.

I went over to First Avenue and saw the first refugees: people covered from head to foot in grey powder, looking like ghosts, trudging uptown. And I was headed in the opposite direction with yet another vast stream of people. I got to the Williamsburg Bridge where thousands of people were walking across to Brooklyn. Just as I was about to get on the bridge, a group of police officers stopped us and said the bridge was closed because they suspected the bridge was rigged with explosives. The police directed us even further toward ground zero, to the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. I worried for the people who were still walking across.

I walked further downtown into Chinatown to the Manhattan Bridge and was able to walk over with thousands of people. At some point we heard the scream of a jet, and everyone gave this kind of doomed sideways glance at each other because of the rumors that the bridges were about to be attacked. But it turned out to be a military jet patrolling the skies.

Although not a direct view, from the height of the bridge, we could look toward ground zero and see the vast smouldering plume rising where the towers had been.

The doctors, nurses and staff of Long Island College Hospital were gallantly passing out water to the walkers, but I wasn't that thirsty having stopped at a bar for a much needed beer.

I managed to get home several hours later. One thing that non-New Yorkers may not know is that it was very difficult to get news because most of the TV and radio stations had antennas in the North Tower, so most stations were off the air, and even cable stations were out. I remember telling my SO that this was like Pearl Harbor.

The next morning, I was shocked that there were soldiers at every intersection of Atlantic Avenue even way out in my outer borough neighborhood. For the next months, there were soldiers with machine guns on most trains, and it reminded me of living in militarized South Africa in the 1980s.

But I was very gung ho about the war, and even gave a pacifist rant for war to some friends -- something to the effect that by allowing bin Laden to carry out those earlier attacks, we had emboldened him, and he had to be taken out.

I think I began to get suspicious when Giuliani started talking about how he had to permanently cancel the mayoral election and abolish the term limits that previously had forced him not to run. That was when I realized that politicians were going to use 9/11. Jimmy Breslin wrote a scathing piece in Newsday I think that called Giuliani "a little man in search of a balcony."

I think I began to suspect LIHOP/MIHOP when I learned that Bush had flown the bin Laden family out of the country. I think that what really turned me was Farenheit 9/11, even though Moore did not go so far as to say LIHOP/MIHOP, but the implication was obvious.

I was already something of a news junkie but 9/11 made me switch from progressive radio to mostly the internet.

My overall emotional reaction to 9/11, however, I'm sad to say was a kind of numbness and grief. It was like the grief I felt for my parents merged with the collective grief of the families of the victims. I felt I could feel exactly what they felt, or at least more than most people understood. Even today when I see the carnage in Iraq, I think of how each mother, or father, or son, or daughter feels when their children or parents are senselessly killed, and I will never, ever see death as a statistic.

[Bridget Burke]

94. Somebody dropped by my desk & said a plane had hit the WTC.

So I went online for details. Lurked at DU for much of the day, since news sites were so busy. Then the 2nd plane hit & I knew it was no accident. Saw the 1st tower fall live on TV. My last visit to NYC had been during the early Fall, with crystalline skies just like 9/11. I hurt for the City.

Our IT guys came down & had us disconnect everything from the network. That's the standard drill against "cyber-attack." Unnecessary in this case, but at least we did something. (While Bush did nothing.)

When the "suspects" were named, I told my Muslim co-workers that the idiot rednecks would be out for blood.

Spent the next few days hypnotized by those images on the TV. No real sleep for some time. (Unlike our Prez.) Found out a cousin who worked in NYC was OK. (That part of the family's a bit distant; he works for the FBI.)

My thoughts in Bush? Mostly disgust that That Idiot was in charge. A few weeks later, a friend discussed the endless media watch. I said I'd been glued to the screen--but switched on mute whenever That Idiot started talking. She looked disoriented, but then agreed. One other acquaintance had dared speak ill of him since 9/11; I think I convinced her it was OK.

I was not convinced that there was enough evidence against Osama. I doubted the invasion of Afghanistan was justified--after all, they asked us to prove our case. But, at least, I knew that Afghanistan had some problems that we might fix. Too bad about that.

[long_green]

103. I was worried for my brother-in-law who works in NY

I thought from the start that we shot Flight 93 down, and I still do. My first real break with public opinion came when I started reading bits of the Patriot Act.