grimmest part of that day for me was me asking "are those pieces of concrete falling off the building?" and my boss saying "naw, i think thats people" and not being able to help...

Do you still work near Ground Zero?

Do you still work near Ground Zero?

well, i worked in midtown back then. i still work in midtown, all be it further north now.

Channel 4 in the UK showed the documentary "9/11: The Falling Man" a few days ago. a friend who saw it said it was very painful to watch.

Thoughts and prayers to all the families that lost loved ones. What ever has happened after, one too many people died.

I watched the documentary, it was hard to watch.

I work and live by the WTC site. The firm I used to work for lost 300 people of which many were Indian Wipro employees that were working at the downtown offices. I will try and find the memorial site little later.

Live and let live. That's all I can say to anyone. On September 11, 2007 I took the train to WTC station around 8:30 AM and went about buying my coffee and bagel around 8:40 just like the scores of others on their way to work. Six years ago, if I were around here, it wouldn't have been just another day.

Give me a break, knock off your glorification of suffering and get down the the business of compassion.

to the*

Way to keep it respectful, there.

I'm sorry you think I'm glorifying anything-- I wasn't trying to do that at all. One reader left a tip on the News Tab about today's significance and I felt bad that we didn't have a post up about it, since so much of what SM blogs about (WoT, racial profiling, hate crimes, feeling othered et al) is connected to September 11 and its aftermath. This thread is meant to be an open space, which, if you had liked, you could have used for discussing your thoughts on compassion vs. slamming me/the post/this blog/whatever.

You speak the truth when you say everyone lost something - anyone who watched those images feels like they lost a part of themselves.

Anna,

Thank you.

Peace.

Wow Richard, way to keep it classy...geez.

OM Shanti!

I watched the plane go into the pentagon and the smoke and chaos that ensued thereafter. I desperately tried to get through the day to go through my "normal" schedule but was met by locked doors and police officers telling me to go home and find a safe spot. I abhored that feeling of vulernability -- that my HOME was vulnerable. I have not been the same since.

Anna, you have no reason to defend this post. You glorified absolutely nothing and quite frankly, there is a lot of honor in paying tribute to an event where a lot of people lost their lives. Including a friend of mine.

RIP.

I have not been the same since.

No one has.

In 6 years World War II had ended, with all the major instigators of that conflict dead. It is now 6 years after 9/11. Nothing has ended. This will be a long haul.

I was in a class-room about two miles from the Pentagon when the plane hit. All my 'ship-mates' in the new
Navy Command Center were killed, except the Commanding Officer who was at a meeting in another part of the building. Those people died a horrible death by burning alive.

No Om Shanti- not for this warrior. Ghandian ideology has no place in America, and will never work, except to the enemy's advantage.

As most of the troops feel this war will not be over untill every al-Qaeda and Taliban is slaughtered along with their followers and spin-off groups. This may not end for anither 60 years so we may as well get used to it, Go about your daily lives as normal, but be vigilint.

While we're at it, let's not forget that other 9/11. Mel Chin has made a film juxtaposing the two.

In 6 years World War II had ended, with all the major instigators of that conflict dead. It is now 6 years after 9/11. Nothing has ended. This will be a long haul.

I think it was in the best interest of the government to end that fight asap. I believe that it is in the best interest of the government today to keep it going as long as possible, making up new fronts on the 'war on terror', such as iraq. Therefore, this will be a long haul. not because it needs to be, but because the government can grab more power the longer this lasts.

Anna - Thanks for opening up this space. I logged on this morning looking for some word from you folks about this day, so I for one was glad to see it. Pondatti - you're right; no one has been the same. I think that the post-9/11 world is a stinging reality that none of us can avoid. It's good to have a day to reflect upon what it means.

Remember being woken up (was in CST) by the sound of TV. My roomie was watching the coverage of the first plane striking WTC. Got up in time to see the second plane hit WTC live! Still can't fully realize that it happened.
What else do I remember? The sneering comment from a white college kid "hey where have you hidden bin laden?" as I walked down a street with a group of desi friends, two of whom where wearing salwar kameez.

What else do I remember? The sneering comment from a white college kid "hey where have you hidden bin laden?" as I walked down a street with a group of desi friends, two of whom where wearing salwar kameez.

later that morning, my parents really wanted me to go home. I obliged. When i got to GCT to catch the train, they were hurding people on the train to get them out of town. I got on the train. While on hte train, heading home, a big whyte lady started talking about how its a problem that all of these 'palistinians can get into the country just like that', and how its easy for people from 'the wrong places' to come, like that dominican kid who was caught cheating in the baseball little league world series, because these 'kids of countries' dont have a 'tradition of ethics'. She then said that its really hard for people from 'the right countries' like ireland to get here. The crowd on the train was cheering "YEAH!, YEAH!" after every sentence condemning "the wrong kind of people". i was really happy to get off that train and into puli appas car....

While we're at it, let's not forget that other 9/11

Or those other two that are also of some special significance to South Asians, either.

I also found a fuller listing of other significant 9/11s in history here.

Epochal as 9/11/2001 was, some of the others were pretty important too.

What else do I remember? The sneering comment from a white college kid "hey where have you hidden bin laden?"

"Inside your a**", is what I would have retorted.

The sneering comment from a white college kid "hey where have you hidden bin laden?" as I walked down a street with a group of desi friends, two of whom where wearing salwar kameez.

Though I am loathe to admit it, after September 11, whenever I put a sari on, I think twice about it, if I'm going to spaces or places that won't have other brown people...I try and push the paranoia away, but the process of even doing that recognizes that something within has changed. I know; I'm craven about being "foreign" these days.

I was ready to head off to NYC to do my last bit of paperwork for financial-aid (my freshmen year!!!, i started late). I was ready to start this new chapter....

The most f'd up thing in the world:

I am now working with people who's entire collegiate (and in my view, opinion forming) experience existed post 9/11.

I am now working with people who's entire collegiate (and in my view, opinion forming) experience existed post 9/11.

hear some young dude in his early 20's talking about which people are 'evil doers'

My sister went to college a few miles from Shanksville, PA. The day of the attacks she was accused of being behind the attacks by a group of fellow students. She was walking with one of her friends at the time (who also happened to be a very burly and a US Marine). Upon my sister bursting into tears, her friend took the guys around the corner and slammed their faces in.

That being said, I do worry about "standing out" post-9/11, especially when boarding airplanes.

Though I am loathe to admit it, after September 11, whenever I put a sari on, I think twice about it, if I'm going to spaces or places that won't have other brown people...I try and push the paranoia away, but the process of even doing that recognizes that something within has changed. I know; I'm craven about being "foreign" these days.

thats just whyte peoples loss. they look at a grl in a sari and think "foreign terrorists". i still think "hot".

WGiiA? and Rudie,

I've listened to this story a few times today:

Sept. 11 and the Photo of the Falling Man
by Melissa Block

All Things Considered, August 21, 2003 · Melissa Block talks with Esquire magazine writer Tom Junod, author of "The Falling Man," an article in the September 2003 issue of the magazine. They talk about the arresting photograph of a man jumping from the World Trade Center on September 11. The picture appeared all over newspapers on September 12, but never appeared again. [NPR]

To me, that image is the most harrowing one from a day full of very horrific pictures. I love ATC, but this is difficult to listen to and perhaps more powerful, because of that. I don't think I'd last through the documentary you saw, Rudie...not when I sometimes cry over Dateline NBC (well, I did last night, because it was about this awfulness).

A N N A,

thanks for the NPR link. that image of the man falling (and other people jumping) is one of two defining images of that day for me. i see from the wikipedia link you've provided that the documentary aired last night in the us.

There's an interesting piece in USA Today about books that have come out since 9/11 - a total of 1,036 in all, they say. Has anyone read any of the mentioned books, including "Falling Man"? How do we feel about writing fiction about a historical event so close to its occurrence? Just curious.

How do we feel about writing fiction about a historical event so close to its occurrence? Just curious.

I think most humans feel compelled to "make sense" of the senseless and some of us feel the need to bear witness to the pain of others, especially if it’s part of our own process for creating compassion within ourselves; walking a mile in another's Bata chappals, if you will. Some could also be writing as an act of release.

Every time I see the planes smashing into the towers my mind goes 'wow - genius'. Shame that the genius is used for evil rather than good.

Though I am loathe to admit it, after September 11, whenever I put a sari on, I think twice about it, if I'm going to spaces or places that won't have other brown people...

I was in Italy with a friend on 9/11/01. When we finally ventured away from the tv in our hotel room, we were met with many unfriendly stares from the mostly European crowd in the small restaurant next door. They must have been thinking our skin tone was too close for comfort to that of the hijackers? I remember that both of us starting talking loud enough for our neighboring tables to hear our obviously American accents. The looks softened after that, but we both wondered how on earth were we going to be treated at airport security whenever we were able to get back home if anyone brown was automatically going to be considered "the enemy".

" SOME say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice."
-Robert Frost

I remember Sept 11 well because I was a videotape news editor in San Diego and watch the tapes over and over and over for several years. For me, as an American with kinship ties to the Middle East, this was a horrendous day for so many reasons, but September 12 is the day we started our collective descent into indecency. Do I resent the hijackers? Yes, because they killed thousands of innocent people, but do I blame them for the fact I am now the citizen of a rogue state? No. I blame the "government," the American people who rolled over and the media (me, too pre- late 2004 when I went freelance) who made this possible.

THis is partially what I wrote on my blog for the 5th anniversary:

Isabelle Allende once said in an interview:

"You learn to live with things. For example, something is taken away, like let's say, the freedom of the press or... yeah, let's say that you're telephones are tapped so you say "Okay, I can live with that" and then the next day something else, and then you say, "Okay, I will have to live with that too," and so forth. And then after a few months, you realize that you have lost everything. But, you got sort of used to it. And then there's a point when you're talking torture at breakfast time with your kids. And all of a sudden you have this epiphany or this revelation in which you realize what kind of life you are having... and then there is a point where I left."

I refuse to live like that and I began to write again, and to produce artwork in resistance to what I saw as a despicable tendancy to silence civil discourse.
And I found that I am not alone. Over the years, our voices have grown. As has interest in the Middle East and its cultures. And I have learned that I have to be vigilant and active in this effort because "they" do hate our freedoms- and it is not an external enemy we face, but an internal one which is both ourselves and elected representives who do not and will not stand up for what is right-an America in which civil rights and discourse are respected, racial profiling is riviled and both torture and offensive wars are what others do.
And I will not be silent because no one will come to save us. We must save ourselves.
It will never by September 10, again.
Every day is September 12.

"they" do hate our freedoms-

true. these women were hated because of their foreign policy.

As most of the troops feel this war will not be over untill every al-Qaeda and Taliban is slaughtered along with their followers and spin-off groups.

Is this any different to the beliefs of the crazy Jihadists. Each side wants to kill the other.

The most f'd up thing in the world:

I am now working with people who's entire collegiate (and in my view, opinion forming) experience existed post 9/11.

Why is this the most f'd up thing in the world? Almost everyone I work "with" was a young child on 9/11. They will experience a different kind of history, just as I have because I missed Pearl Harbor or Partition or the Crusades. This is the nature of life, no?

Anna: Thanks for your post. Over at SAJAforum, we have collected a bunch of items for the anniversary, including lists and profiles of South Asian victims and updates of about some of the more famous stories. Please take a look: http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/09/911-anniversary.html We welcome your comments.

My baby brother started his first real job ever this week.
He now lives and works in Manhattan.

Is that why I'm having nightmares of late?

***

I started my first real job ever in Small Town, Texas in the summer of 2001.
I had just managed to convince a few hold-outs among my colleagues that brown did not equal extremist terrorist - and no, I wasn't going to blow up the plant.
We finally got together for a nice shrimp boil the weekend of September 9th.

By the middle of the following week, we were back to the (im)polite fiction. They barely tolerated my presence at work.

Having said that....a vast majority of my colleagues at the time were wonderful, hospitable folks. There were two of us girls at that plant who were South Asian...and I can't tell you how many of the technicians came by, hard-hats in hand, and offered us escort home, to the store, anywhere we needed to go in the next few days - "just in case people get stupid."

I should add that this was armed escort that they offered.
(We were in Texas, after all.)

I don't know what moved me more: the realization that people don't necessarily know better, even if they have learned better - or that there are people who don't necessarily know better, yet remain friendly hospitable to all of their neighbors.

On September 11th, 2001 I learned how cursed and blessed I am.

i woke up that morning to the television on - which my mother accidentally left on on her way out - I was not working but already deep in trauma due to a situation I was dealing with at the time. my first thoughts were: I wonder if aaron went to work today. knowing that my best friend worked at cantor fitzgerald. we were no longer on the best of terms and I was later the victim of a hate crime, when people implied that I was happy with his death. I have been in trauma ever since. I can't help but wonder what would have happened had the situation been reversed.

Apart from the colossal tragedy associated with the terrorist act, I will also remember 9/11 for a stupid faux-pas that I committed on that day. I had a meeting with my boss about 15-30 minutes after the planes crashed into WTC. I enter his office oblivious of the event and my boss asks me with great anxiety whether I heard the news. We generally don't discuss "news" in his office and I was kind of clueless about what he was talking about. Then he mentions that some planes had crashed into WTC . Immediately I remark (stupidly) about the number of people in the plane who may have been killed. With a tone that I felt smelled of condescension/irritation, my boss questions my surprise about that number when I should be worrying of number killed in the building. Though he hadn't mentioned that the building had crumbled too, I felt kind of naive.....

There were total of 2974 fatalities : 246 on all the planes, 2063 in NYC ( tower and ground ; including 341 fire-fighters ) and 125 at Pentagon.
The total American troops killed in Iraq so far is 3774 and the number of Iraqi civilian casualties is estimated to be 70,000.
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks

Now after 6 yrs I am kind of feeling disgusted with the Eye-for-Eye concept...

#46. Prankaj- not knowing your friend of course, but I cannot imagine a friend, no matter how estranged, who could take pleasure in such an awful, senseless death of another friend. And the people who suggested such are simply awful. I sincerely think that Aaron would have been greatly grieved by the loss as you are by his.

And Brij, I am sure the number for the Iraqis is higher. Check out Dahr Jamel's site for other numbers. As for the US numbers, neither green card soldiers nor interpreters (usually provided by Titan, etc) have been included in that number so, again, the official account is questionable. And as a side note, neither Afghanistan nor Iraq are about an eye for an eye. And neither will be Iran.

I was travelling overseas, watched it on TV from about 9 a.m. on; my Mom, terminally ill, was due to land in JFK that a.m., my sister-in-law in the American Express building next to the WTC, and my niece at Stuyvesant High, a block away from the WTC. The phone lines were jammed, so I couldn't reach anyone, except for my brother in midtown , who went walking downtown to find my niece. Worst moment? On the phone with my father-in-law, both of us watching CNN helplessly as the North Tower collapsed. The huge cloud of debris obscured the Amex building, and my dad-in-law kept asking if that building was safe. I had no answer. All of my family were safe, but not two people I knew who were in the WTC.

Wierdest feeling? My boss, whom I met later in the day, never even mentioned it, that day or the next.

Om Shanti, indeed.

I'm not real big on the concept of "kill 'em all," in stark contrast to this kind of think, which is working oh, ever so well.

The logic here being, 3000 dead American civilians in a terrorist attack justify a 60-year war, countless more dead soldiers, and genocide? I don't pretend to believe that I know what all the survivors of 9/11 think, but I've heard of at least one group of survivors and families of survivors who do not believe in war-as-vengeance.

At some point, it should be time to start examining the idea of creating a realistic, sustainable, and sane foreign policy again. I'm sick to death of people holding up 9/11 while bellowing out war-cries. It was a tragedy, and it was a horrible act by terrible people, but it's just not sane to think that we are pursuing anything remotely like justice. And the whole "steely resolve in the face of our enemies" bit is really getting tired. So I feel sympathy for your loss, but I do not agree for one moment with the sentiment you express.

Well, the other thing that has been pointed out countless times is that numerous places in the 3rd world experience mini 9/11s almost daily- Lebanon, the West Bank, various places in Africa... We experienced a terrible shock, learned about blowback, and then went out and committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, not to mention all tje domestic crap that has been going on. Yup, does it for me. And to think I was getting nostalgic for Argentina in the time of the Dirty War...

Unlike many other posters here who chose to bash the United States, yet still chose to live there.

My anger has someone with brown skin tone is toward the 19 gutless cowards who commited that act that day and there actions will forever have made life harder for many brown skined people in western countries the last 6 years.

But one thing that amazed me was that unlike in India where you had 3000 sikh's lose there life in Nov of 1984 and other events like the Gurjati riots, that you never saw the anger anywhere near that in the United States other then the loss of the one Sikh man in Arizona a few days later. But for the most part Americans show much more tolerance then in other parts of the world. You could only image if an event like this took place in Muslim country, what the reaction would have been there.

One thing more that really bothered that day was the seen in the West Bank that day with the way the Palestinans that day were celebrated. To this day that just makes me beyond sick.

I was in tenth grade when 9/11 happened. I remembered rumors were going around my school that Palestinians did it. A totally baseless rumor.

Teachers and staff were stationed around all the doors to watch out for suspicious activity. I was a bit weired out by that because I didn't think a town of 9,000 people in Illinois was a prime target for terrorists.

@ 52,

Unlike many other posters here who chose to bash the United States, yet still chose to live there

dissent and informed criticism has nothing to do with place of living. You can live anywhere and have the right to criticize anybody i.e freedom of speech and pillar of democracy.

But for the most part Americans show much more tolerance then in other parts of the world

by and large you are probably right about America being more tolerant than most other countries/cultures.

walking a mile in another's Bata chappals

before insulting someone, i always walk a mile in thier shoes. That way, when they get mad at me, im a mile away and have their shoes.

One thing more that really bothered that day was the seen in the West Bank that day with the way the Palestinans that day were celebrated. To this day that just makes me beyond sick.

What makes me even more sick is that the Palestinians that want running water, and food for their families. Ridiculous. Also, that they didn't just sit by idle when their land was wrested away from them by the west.

But one thing that amazed me was that unlike in India where you had 3000 sikh's lose there life in Nov of 1984 and other events like the Gurjati riots, that you never saw the anger anywhere near that in the United States other then the loss of the one Sikh man in Arizona a few days later.

as zazou mentions @ 51 the reason is the mini 9/11 quite regularly in many parts of the world. therefore people have become numb. america had never experienced like this before in the civilian arena and therefore the over-reaction post 9/11 ?

E-fucking-nough about the Palestinians:

Annette Krüger Spitta of ARD's (German public broadcasting) TV magazine Panorama claimed that while the footage was indeed correctly dated, reporters may have partly staged one of the scenes and that viewers should keep some distance from what is spread by journalists on images of conflict. The German weekly Der Spiegel repeated this news report and noted about the mistaken circulation that the footage was from 1991.[15]

The Panorama report from September 20, 2001 has Medium Professor Martin Löffelholz explaining that in the images you see jubilant Palestinian children and several adults but it is impossible to know if they are necessarily pleased about the attack reports; and he does not assume this and ignores the way it has been reported.

Krüger Spitta notes that inspection of the untelecasted complete tape shows the street around the celebration is quiet and a man in a white T-shirt is noticeable for inciting the children and is fetching new people again and again. The woman who is remembered for her cheering (e.g. Nowel Abdel Fatah[11]) stated afterwards that she was offered cake if she celebrates on camera, and that she was frightened when she saw the pictures on television and that she never expected it would be noticed to the USA.

Krüger Spitta expresses that it is impossible to know if these images -- which were wildly sent worldwide under the title: Palestinians celebrate in Jerusalem -- are truth or a production and that, as Proffesor Löffelholz says, in crises and war situations a due portion of distance should be kept from what is spread by journalists who sometime make errors.[wiki]

I said to keep it respectful. And on topic.

Upon my sister bursting into tears, her friend took the guys around the corner and slammed their faces in.

Not sure that was the most ideal response, particularly given the surrounding events, but I do admire him standing up for your sister.

sempre DIE mutha-f*cka!

"don't think I'd last through the documentary you saw, Rudie”

It was hard, the Journalist at one point was trying to find out who the man was, a women who MAY have been the sister of the man. She sort of hit home when she said something like, she hopes he is not trying to find who the man was, but we find out who are we as Americans, and Really dealing with the tragic event.

What else do I remember? The sneering comment from a white college kid "hey where have you hidden bin laden?" as I walked down a street with a group of desi friends, two of whom where wearing salwar kameez.

KB, sorry to hear this. I've heard many similar stories from friends and I'm always grateful that I never experienced anything that blatant post 9/11.

Shalu and Puliogre: I agree with you that her friend's actions weren't the most appropriate. A few weeks later when my sister had collected herself again she met with the University President about the incident. She wanted to see how she could help to teach the pretty rural campus about diversity etc., so he appointed her to his diversity counsel and they had a very successful year with many well-attended events.

Being the eternally optimistic person that I am, I always admire when we can take something seemingly negative and turn it into something positive. I guess what continues to trouble me so much about 9/11 is that it was a tragedy but we as a country didn't turn the tragedy into something positive. For example, I was overwhelmed by the international outcry that we received immediately following the tragedy. Unfortunately we as a country didn't use that international condemnation of the attacks to work together to fight terrorism. When will we learn that we are not an island and that we cannot tackle these huge problems unilaterally? All of that international goodwill was completely squandered by this administration and it will take many administrations and some kick-ass diplomacy to get that back.

Sorry, Anna- one more comment on the Palestinians- a) teh footage was considered suspect by many news people that I know from the getgo, b) contrary to popular opinion based in part on the official Israeli history over te last 50+ years, Palestinians did not just give up their land. While some legally sold it, there was resistance in many villages to armed appropriateion. The Hagannah were intimately involved in massacres such as Deir Rassin and Tantura and 1,000's were forcibly expelled. For more on this, consult the New Historians Ilan Pape, Teddy Katz and others whose work is based on previously classified documents and interviews with eyewitnesses.

On a slightly different note: a poem by Ferlenghetti read on Amy Goodman's show:

PITY THE NATION
Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.

Pity the nation whose leaders are liars,
whose
sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.

Pity the nation that raises not its
voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim
the bully
as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and
by
torture.

Pity the nation that knows no other
language but
its own
and no other culture but its own.

Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.

Pity the nation--oh, pity the people who
allow
their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.

My country, tears of thee, sweet land of
liberty.

My roommate woke me up Tuesday morning with three words: "We're being attacked."
He had the TV on and the image of the first explosion was being played over and over. The second plane struck, and the newscasters sounded panicked. The first thought I had was that brown people (Middle-Eastern exchange students, my family, anyone vaguely non-white) were in trouble. They would come after us.
I pushed this thought to the back of my mind and went to class, tried to continue life as normal in a small, college town in rural Missouri. When I came home, someone had written "Fuck Palestine" on their door. In the months that followed, my brother was attacked twice, my car was pelted with rocks, and an unfortunately named cafe (Osama's--no relation) 'mysteriously' burned down. Day after day the news carries reports of South Asians being attacked by both police and civilians, being viewed with suspicion, being denied entry into our country.

It is an echo of another infamous event 60+ years ago. While both attacks on American soil were tragic and resulted in casualties in the thousands (2,350 for Pearl Harbor, 3,000 for Sept. 11), it's also important to remember the equally tragic aftermath.
In the first case, the U.S. knee-jerk response resulted in the slaughter of 70,000 civilians, and countless more deaths from cancer and radiation-related illnesses. Japanese-American families who were rounded up for internment, and denied their most fundamental constitutional rights.
Now in Iraq (not to mention the all-but-forgotten war in Afghanistan) the same slaughter is happening on a similarly disproportionate scale (conservative estimates put the Iraqi death toll at 71,800). Human beings from around the world have been illegally and indefinitely detained in Guantanamo, and nothing has been done.
It makes me wonder how many Iraqi (or Afghani, or Indian, or Pakistani, etc.) lives will have to end before we can cancel this ridiculous debt? And for what? For the memory of 9-11.

I know this is a day late, but I had to post something.

And for what? For the memory of 9-11

I don't think it's fair to link this with the "memory" of 9/11, if we are using "memory" the way I did in the title. I doubt that 3,000 Americans would have wanted us to alienate the world, chip away at our rights here at home and fight this war in their names. Every injustice you listed is worsened by the inexcusable fact that certain people fling "twin towers" and "9/11" about as justification for them. If I were a family member of one of the lost, I'd be livid that my family's tragedy was being exploited...for this.

Iraq has nothing to do with the twin towers. The debt we are paying is the interest on Bush Sr.'s grudge, if anything.

Absolutely. 9/11 was a gift on a solid gold platter to BuchCo.

A line from the Project for the New American Century, a neocon document written before 9/11:

Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event––like a new Pearl Harbor

Signatories included:

Cheney
Wolfowitz
Rumsfeld
Jeb Bush
Scooter Libby
Zalmay Khalilzad (Bush envoy to Afghanistan, advisor to unocal)