Ten years ago our country managed to put politics aside and unite as we mourned. Today, let’s put politics aside for the day to remember. Feel free to post your thoughts on the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
UPDATE, by Mark Noonan: Major truck bomb attack in Afghanistan leaves 2 Afghans dead, 77 American soldiers wounded. Keep those who are on the front lines in your prayers today.
UPDATE II, by Mark Noonan: Presidents Obama and Bush mark 9/11 – from the Washington Times:
On the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, President Obama began a day of commemoration by honoring the nearly 3,000 victims at a memorial service at ground zero in New York with former President George W. Bush.
The president and first lady Michelle Obama joined Mr. Bush and his wife, Laura, at a reflecting pool at the site of the north tower of the World Trade Center, where Islamist terrorists crashed planes 10 years ago. The Obamas and the Bushes viewed the names of victims etched into a wall and greeted family members of those who perished.
Mr. Obama read Psalm 46, which begins, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Relatives of the victims took turns reading the names of the dead in alphabetical order…
…Mr. Bush, who was commander in chief on the day America was attacked, read a letter from President Lincoln in 1864 to a mother who lost sons in the Civil War….
UPDATE III, by Mark Noonan – from CNA:
The World Trade Center cross is still a “sign of comfort” to many people, says the Franciscan priest who describes himself as its “unofficial guardian.”
On Sept. 13, 2001 construction worker Frank Silecchia found a 20-foot, cross-shaped T-beam from World Trade Center 1 standing almost upright in the wreckage of World Trade Center 6.
Fr. Brian Jordan, O.F.M., blessed the cross later that year on Oct. 4 and promised that it would be preserved…
In the darkest of times, we are still given hope…
Blogs For Victory 
When I arrived at school on 9/11, it was shortly after the first tower had been hit. As we watched the TV in the library we saw the second tower get hit. The rest of the day was spent in the classroom with a very scared group of 11 and 12 year-olds. We watched the coverage on TV (the only time in my teaching career I’ve had live TV on for more than a few minutes). We talked about what and had happened, and why it had happened.
That night after I got home, I walked up to the nearest fire station and thanked the firemen on duty for their service.
The phone rang, “have you heard from my sister?”. It was Cheryl’s younger daughter calling about her sister who worked in Manhattan. “No”. “There’s been an accident in New York, let me know if you hear from her”. “Ok”…
Sitting up in bed, I turned the TV on….and there was 9/11. It was the oddest thing…a building at the WTC hit by a plane! My goodness, what a terrible accident! And then I saw the second plane hit.
In the long and often terrible history of humanity, this event still stands out – it was such a bolt from the blue, to begin with. When you add in the fact that those killed could not have had any direct responsibility for any grievance, real or imagined, of the attackers, it became even worse. A mask was ripped off humanity that day, and it showed that evil is always at work on us…that unless evil is continually resisted both in the individual and in the group, absolutely hideous things will occur.
God bless all who fell, and those who continue to fight to free us from this threat.
My wife had already left for work that morning. I had put on my bath robe and had a leisurely breakfast out on the deck. I finally came in around 8:30 and took a quick shower. I turned on Good Morning America on the TV on the dresser in bedroom, which is visible from the sink in the bathroom, and started to shave. The good folks of ABC’s morning show were, to use one of Amazona’s favorite words, “bumfuddled”, trying to decide if that much damage could have been caused by a small plane. As I was shaving, I kept glancing at the TV and saw the 2nd plane hit the South Tower. I almost cut my ear off.
It was pretty clear at that point that ABC didn’t have a clue what was going on. I started channel-surfing and came across Fox News Channel, which was relatively new at the time, and which I hadn’t watched before. Unlike ABC, Fox had reporters on the ground interviewing people who had witnessed the whole thing. Like most Americans, I was glued to the TV for the rest of the day. One of my first thoughts was that I wished I wasn’t retired from navy signals intelligence, as I was pretty sure we were going to engage in a fight that I would have loved to be a part of.
As a side note, I haven’t watched Good Morning America since.
I was at a major airlines hangar in Tampa Fla.on that day Needless to say the news was amazing. We all watched (mechanics and mgt) as the second plane flew into the tower my phone was ringing off my belt as every one I worked with and friends knew where I was working.
One of my friends at the hangar had a brother in tower #2 and a son in law in the pentagon……..both survived.
I remember telling all there how brilliant of an attack it was and that both towers would fall, a couple of guys scoffed but I explained how and why they would.
soon afterwords they both fell.
The next couple of weeks there were interesting to say the least.
and that both towers would fall, a couple of guys scoffed but I explained how and why they would.
I got an email just this morning filled with 9/11 conspiracy theories, including the fact the both collapses were the result of controlled demolitions. As soon as I saw what was in it, I deleted it without reading further or watching the attached video. The conspiracy theorists have never been able to explain how demolitions charges in the basement were able to cause an explosion and collapse that can clearly be seen on the videos to have started at the point of the planes’ impacts.
I believe it was Popular Mechanics that did an excellent piece on exactly how and why the towers collapsed.
Spook
there is a great video showing a steel beam across a pit filled with JP4.
They lit it on fire then watched how the I beam (eight inch I think) reacted about 10-15 min in it buckled and fell into the pit.
All big buildings have a fire proofing material sprayed onto the steel to prevent this but the impact knocked it off exposing the steel to the full heat.
Yeah, the “truthers” do have their stories…my father, who knew ballistics inside and out, never had the slightest question that when you have something that heavy and flammable flying that fast in to a target that the building will come down. Hopefully the new towers will have taken thought to this and be given more robust construction…but there is no building ever made that can’t be brought down.
Mark
the towers were built to withstand a 707 impact.
The 767’s much bigger, more fuel and impacted at @ 600 knots
My daughter was stationed in Germany on 9/11. It took us a couple of days to get a hold of her. One of the things she said that will always stick with me is when she explained how the Germans immediately deployed their security forces to protect our men and women stationed in Germany. I will always be grateful to our German allies for that.
a “soldier” needed protection???
WTF
My daughter and husband lived in off base military housing. It included a school and apartments for servicemen and their families.
NOBODY protected we Marines.
WE protected them.
the feminization of America.
9 years later this POS
I was in a hotel in Denver, with an appointment scheduled for later that morning. I never turn on the TV in the morning at home, but flipped it on just in time to hear the confusion about the first plane. Was it a commuter plane or private plane? Was it a plane at all and not an explosion? There were statements coming in that it was an airliner—could that possibly be true?
I called my husband, and told him to turn on his TV, when the second plane hit. I yelled over the phone that another plane just hit the second tower and he didn’t think he heard me right. We stayed on the phone together till the towers fell, watching TV more than 100 miles apart.
i remember seeing reports of price gouging at gas stations, small riots, general bad behavior, and later when I cancelled my appointment (by mutual consent, of course) and went to a market for something for lunch, I was so proud of Coloradans, as the market was silent and mournful but with absolutely no sign of unrest.
I just heard a radio interview with an editor from Popular Mechanics, who was on to discuss their new book, debunking the conspiracy theories. Then last night our local PBS station was showing the looniest of the loony tunes “documentaries” of the conspiracy theories, with breathless PBS people thanking the authors for their fine and important work, blah blah blah. I think we all need to be reminded of this the next time PBS comes begging at the door.
Thanks….great insight…stay well
The year 2001 should not be repeated