9/11
Kevin Cosgrove’s 911 call….
Home video from nearby highrise….
Photos and audio….
Video clips… people jumping….
Illinois Review asked me to submit my recollections for the day, which it put into a timeline along with those of other contributors.
Feel free to share your thoughts, emotions, and memories of the day.
[HT: Bethany for video #1, MK for video #2]
Sep.11, 2007 8:12 am |
Uncategorized |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I just can’t watch the video’s. I’m not going to watch the news today either, part because I can’t handle it and part because my son won’t understand it.
This day has to be so horrible for all those people who lost loved ones. However, We have to keep playing these tapes so we remember what terrorists are capable of. If you don’t have it, you need to post the video’s of the Islam nations out in the streets rejoicing as 3,000 of our people died for no reason. I prayed for the terrorists when the war started. I prayed for the people of Iraq, no matter what side of polics they believe. I prayed for Saddam Hussein the day of his execution. I didn’t rejoice. I think that is what makes my stomach turn – when we hear of some horrible bombing or mass killing in Iraq or another country we don’t go out in the streets and rejoice.
I hope everyone is safe today on the anniversary of 911.
Heather –
Good point.
I agree….
The attacks on Sept 11, 2001 were horrible indeed.
We see what human beings are capable of when they reject God.
Even the killing of innocent babies in their mother’s wombs.
What we should be doing is living lives of penance and mercy. Our Blessed Lady warned us at Fatima, Portugal 90 years ago to pray for poor sinners. She said that war is a punishment for sin. She asked us to pray for the conversion of Russia, which would spread its errors all over the world.
What were Russia’s errors?
Communism.
Communism is a-theistic: without God. It rejects God.
Is our own country rejecting God and his authority??
35 years of legalized abortion?
Legitimization and acceptance of homosexuality?
All manner of perverse acts.
Broken marriages or no marriages at all.
Children brutalized, beaten, killed.
Children killing other children.
Without God, our nation is headed for chaos, and collapse, just like the World Trade Center towers collapsed.
The answer is prayer and repentance. Believe in the Gospel.
The best way to honor the memory of the fallen of 9/11 is to pray, believe in Christ Jesus and follows His commandments.
When we acquiesce to the demands of violent religious Fundamentalists, the terrorists win.
Open the clinic.
I prayed for the terrorists when the war started. I prayed for the people of Iraq, no matter what side of polics they believe. I prayed for Saddam Hussein the day of his execution.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saddam Hussein and the people of Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.
Laura –
Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator that mudered millions of his own people not mention the Kurds. He terrorised his own country. All evidence at that time pointed to him having WMD. ALL evidence from more than just American intelligence. He had 19 (or 18) resolutions from the UN which means he had 19 chances to prove he did not have these weapons.
Iraq was also a breading ground for terrorists.
What were we suppose to do? Tell the Iraqi people that their deaths were less important than our deaths? We experienced terrorism on the smallest of scales. Imagine living 9/11 every day of your life.
These people have been victims of the worst form of terrorism with no political guidence for decades. However for some reason we feel that they should just snap their fingers and all will be better. Life doesn’t work that way. Healing takes time. These people need to stop living in fear, the very thing that has kept them alive all these years, and stand up for themselves, something they were never allowed to do.
9/11 began the “war on terror”. Not the “war on only the people who had direct contact with 9/11”. Saddam was a terrorist.
We can’t just fight the terrorist after they become terrorists. Then this war will never end and will be our destruction. Terrorists have to be stopped from brain washing people into believing that suicide bombing is the best way to die. They have to be stopped from training 7 and 8 year olds to hate anyone who doesn’t think like them and “kill the infidels”. How do you propose that be done? By allowing a country to live with such a brutal dictator that allows these kinds of training camps?
Saddam Hussein has everything to do with terror. Just ask a Kurd.
15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi, and virtually all the money used to finance that strike has been traced back to the House of Saud.
Iraq had 19 resolutions from the UN?
You’ll never guess who has the highest rate of resolutions from the UN in that region:
“Israel, our closest “ally” in the Middle East, has been the subject of 138 resolutions. Not surprisingly, most of those resolutions call upon Israel to comply with basic principles of international law embodied by the UN Charter. Many of them condemn actions taken by Israel and call upon Israel on more than one occasion to comply with previous resolutions that Israel ignored and continues to ignore to this day.”
If we’re going to fight the war on terror and punish UN violations, we might start by carpet-bombing Saudi Arabia or Israel.
Laura –
An article in the Columbus Dispatch
http://wwwphp.dispatch.com/text/stories/20070905-A13-02.php
Article by THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Mr. Friedman writes for the New York Times
“Saddam
The attacks on Sept 11, 2001 were horrible indeed. We see what human beings are capable of when they reject God.
Paul, are you saying that 9/11 happened b/c the attackers believe in a different God or b/c some people in America dont believe in God?
Laura –
Forgive me…. Sadam had 19 resolutions based only on WMD. The UN did alot more with Sadam than just that. Do you really want me to find info on the hundreds of resolutions against Sadam on humanitarian violations?
Also: Why don’t you show us where you got that quote from? (Possible an oversite? as I think you usually do this)
“Without God, our nation is headed for chaos, and collapse, just like the World Trade Center towers collapsed. The answer is prayer and repentance. Believe in the Gospel.”
Amen Paul….
http://www.mediamonitors.net/michaelsladah&suleimaniajlouni1.html
hmmmm…
from Wikipedia….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Nations_resolutions_concerning_Israel
Resolutions condemning Israel were not made under Chapter VII of the UN Charter therefore most legal scholars interpret them to be non-binding…
The UN has been accused of heavy anti-Israel prejudice…..
oh…and it also looks like the UN only targets Isreal….
1955-1992 ; 65 resoultions against Isreal; 0 resolutions agains Palistine
I sense a lot of Falwell supporters here.
The “War on Terror” is a war on ideas.
How can you kill an idea? How do you know what you are looking for? Furthermore, when do you determine that the war is over? (i.e. when the idea is gone)
Jasper: That is a horrid thing to say
PIP-
This a a group (not a nation) that attacked civilians on our own soil, the first time any entity has dared do that since Pearl Harbor. This group also takes full, arrogant, cold-blooded responsibility for those attacks and vows to continues to threaten the American people. Since there is no nation to fight to protect the American people from more attacks, we have gone after the terrorists, in whatever form they or nation they reside – hence the “War of Terror.” Rather than simply playing the defensive and trying to prevent additional acts of terror in America, we’ve opted to root out terrorists (including Saddam- the man was a terrorist). We’re fighting back, rather than staying some sitting duck for terrorists to take crack shots at and consequently announcing to the world that you can attack America without recourse. Holding hands and singing Kum-Ba-Ya won’t work. Acquiescing to the terrorists who hate our stand with Isreal, our Christianity, our Capitalism, (whatever), would only surrender ground for them to terrorize us further.
So this isn’t a war on ideas, it’s a war against terror. If they want to think up nasty ways to kill Americans, so be it. It’s when they hijack planes and crash them into American buildings that we are fighting against.
Recently I heard the comment that terrorism had killed 4000 since 2001.
Abortion has killed 4000 since yesterday.
There will always be those who feel that certain “others” just don’t deserve to live.
We need to work together for justice and liberty for all.
Laura-
Have some class not to hijack certain threads. Case(s) in point: The hurting post-abortive woman and THIS. You like to dismember babies. We get that. But that woman was hurting and in need of love and support, and this thread is about recollections and tributes regarding 9/11.
I’m sorry I indulged you by responding to PIP. If we all didn’t jump at your innappropriate and tactless statements, perhaps you’d stop making them.
Jacque, agreed!
Jacquie-
It is a war on ideas. Let’s say it’s a war on terrorists…okay…
Why aren’t we going after every terrorist in the world?
Why don’t we go to Africa and North Korea?
After you root out the main terrorists, would not the idea to commit terror remain? We are essentially fighting an idea. There are people that carry the idea, but “terror”? Point at terror for me. Tell me how to destroy it.
Why don’t we call it a war on terrorists instead? Or rather, a war on middle east terrorists?
Bush did say that Bin Laden wasn’t important anymore…
Jacqueline –
I, too, am guilty of what you accuse Laura of. I understand where you are comming from, dont’ get me wrong.
However, one way to understand history is through debate. Laura has provided me some information that I did not know, so I am now researching this. I will be rewarded by my gain of knowledge. I do not find this a bad thing. Also, talking about the terrorists is a way to remember 9/11. Just not in the way that most Americans would like to remember it.
In a way, the terrorists that died were victims too. You can be guilty and a victim. They had been brainwashed by a very powerful idea that led them in the wrong direction. I’m not saying they deserve our pity or excuses, I could never do that, I am saying that in order to end things like this, we have to understand what may have motivated this powerful idea to begin with. Only then can we honor those innocents that died that horrible day. The best way we can honor them is by giving their families a terror-free world.
I can say that I will stop, and I’m sure another thread will come along that will allow Laura and I to continue this conversation.
You are right, there is a time and place. This is probably not the best place.
oopss…..
I should have said that another thread will come along that will allow Laura, PIP and I to continue the conversation.
sorry PIP – I didn’t mean to leave you out!
;-)
It was a Tuesday and I was in intro to social work class when the first plane crashed. I left class and walked to my dorm and noticed an eerie quiet. I lived in the rowdiest dorm, full of music majors, mostly Texans, so quiet anytime other than 4:00 am was suspicious. I remember walking into my room, seeing my roommate on the couch, staring vacantly and awestruck at the television. She didn’t say a word- and I looked at our tiny television and saw one smoldering tower, with scrolling CNN headlines beneath it.
The televisions stayed on in all the rooms- The cafeteria tv’s typically tuned to music videos were on the news. People ate in silence. The silence was broken by a guy sitting at our table and saying, “Dude. Walmart is closed. Walmart doesn’t even close on Christmas. You know the sh!t has hit the fan when WalMart’s closed.” Classes were canceled for the rest of the day- but none of us made plans to play like we did on bad weather days. Everyone stayed in, glued to their tv’s and close to their telephones.
We called our family and friends. I convinced my mom to let me stay at school (she wanted me to drive home). In retrospect, I should have driven home to my mom. She was worried and that’s the least I could have done but I had a lot of things that were just “sooooo important” in my immature 21-year-old mind. I can’t remember them now and I guarentee they were trivial. My father, away on business, rented a car and drove home from Philadelphia to central Texas. That was wise, as flights were grounded for a while afterwards.
In the next few days, there was a ton of volunteer work answering the phones for the Red Cross. Lots of contraversy. Lots of prayer vigils. The next intro to social work class that Thursday we dropped our lesson plans and just talked about how we felt. One girl was in tears because September 11th was her birthday. I remember believing no cause to feel anything but sympathy, since I hadn’t lost anyone. Now I realize we had a right to feel afraid and violated as Americans.
Things stayed strangely courteous and quiet for weeks following the attacks. I was an officer in the pro-life group. Both we and the choicers canceled our events and played nice with eachother.
It was all kind of surreal.
I can say that I will stop, and I’m sure another thread will come along that will allow Laura and I to continue this conversation.
I’m sorry- I’m not the thread police. You’re right. Conversations do evolve and include all aspects of the topic. What I was referring to is when Laura spouts off inane, impertinent, tactless, insensitive comments like: “Open the clinic” on a thread about reflections on 9/11. Furthermore, when she berrates a hurting woman after specifically being told to lend nothing but kind words and support, that sort of behavior is both infuriating and juvenile. Instead of ignoring those posts, we tend to indulge them with comments, only making it worse. And thus, she commandeers the thread.
Please, carry on with your debate. It’s just my wish that Laura would exercise some adult judgement in what, where and when she posts.
I was driving down the road the day this happened. The planes were grounded, and an eerie quietness filled the air. The sky was light orange. One of the planes {{PA crash}} flew over my city.
Jaqueline –
I understand.
however, you were right. There are times and places. Your comments may have been about Laura, but they spoke volumes. This is a place to remember, not argue. Trust me – the topic will come up again. :-)
Don’t worry about the “thread police” everyone has a right to their opinion. That is what Jill’s blog is all about…..(opinions may be debated harshly, but the right is still there.)
*smooch*
valerie, That’s what I meant as well.
I remember when I got to work on 11 Sept. 2001, I saw Donna coming down the hall. She said someone crashed planes in to the WTC towers in NY. It was the strangest feeling, not exactly fear, rather the feeling we are not unassailable. It is hard to put into words.
The media invited lots of ex military on to talk about different aspects. One retired general gave some basic ideas about what we should do in response. Then he continued that leaders needed to understand what goes on in the minds of those who feel there is no avenue left for their expression and they then resort to violence. Well, they never had that guy on again. The others were on almost daily.
I think Erin made a good point about getting rid of an idea. While it is true that it is easier to kill folks than it is to change their minds, I am not sure we really want to go there.
I think there are many folks in the middle east who are sympathetic to terrorists because they are so appalled at what they see as decadent western culture. They may not really support terrorism, but feel so disempowered to stop growing western influence in their own culture that they just kind of shrug it off. Since they aren`t personally involved, they don
I remember that around 3AM Sept 11,2001 (My Grandmother’s birthday) my puppy, Cassie, woke me up because she let out a loud yelp and started to whine. She was about 14 weeks old (and 40 pounds!). I went to go see what was wrong with her and saw some sort of wood spider crawling away. We do have some poisonous wood spiders around here, nothing that kills but can make you really sick. Since I was alone (my husband was traveling – by car) I put her in bed with me until morning. I called the vets because by morning Cassie was very lethargic and while I was on the phone I turned to Fox and Friends on FNC. E.D. was talking about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center and they were getting camara’s set up. I told the receptionist (good friend of mine since I worked there for 7 years) what was going on and she had the Dr. turn on the radio. I made my appt for Cassie. Steve and E.D. (on the TV) were speculating about what happened. The initial reports was that it was a small personal plane. Then the real reports came out and that it was a commercial plane. Bin Laden’s name was mentioned. Fox and Friends began to talk about other news and I wanted more info on the actual event so I turned to one of the main networks morning shows. They had a better view of the buildings. Within minutes I saw another plane in the distance. From the angle of their camera it looked like it was going to circle the building and it was definatley too close. The newswoman went silent as we all watched in horror as the second plane crashed into the other building. The newswoman went into hysterics and the station went dead for a few seconds and when it came back on another reporter had the microphone.
Terrified, I called my husband who was somewhere in Kentucky. I couldn’t get ahold of him. The news was now talking about other planes that were missing and other horror stories. They were estimating that there could be 10,000 dead. I called my Mother who told me that Dad had come home from work to watch the news. Dad never comes home from work. I tried to call my husband again, still no answer. The news reports were now saying that planes were ordered to be grounded. They didn’t know if there were more targets to be hit. They mentioned Chicago may be a target, that is where my husband main office is. I tried a third time to call him, no answer.
It was time to get Cassie to her Vet appt. I decided I would be better off there than home alone so I left. I can see the highway from my home and there was no traffic. I must have been numb because I didn’t react to that at all. I decided to take the back roads thinking that the highway was closed. Hardly anyone was driving. It was like driving through ghost towns. As I got closer to the city traffic picked up a bit and everyone looked like zombies. No one was speeding. No one was running red lights. Everyone was stopping too long at 4 way stops with no one honking a horn behind them. I was shocked when I got to the the animal hospital. It was packed! People and pets were everywhere. For some reason, everyone “found” ailments in their pets and “had” to be seen. I can only think that they just needed to stop thinking about what was going on and created a diversion.
The Dr. told me to go ahead and start running the appropriate tests on Cassie so I began to get ready to draw her blood. Something I never did with my own pets. I had quit working there 2 months prior, but everything was the same. The groomer kept coming out of his room to give us updates. He had a TV in his room. I can’t remember which came first, the pentegon or Pennsylvania. I do remember seeing on the tiny black and white TV the buildings coming down. I told the Dr. that I couldn’t get ahold of my husband and he told me that the cell phone lines were probably not too reliable as everyone was probably using their cells. I have no idea if that is right or if he was trying to calm me down. I helped out at the animal hospital and later the local group of rescue dogs came in to get current health certificates. They had been called to NY (we are in IN) to assist. That was fast! It made the situation so much more dire than what we were thinking. They asked the Dr. if he had any canine blood/plasma and medications to donate just in case dogs are injured. so we practically emptied our cabinets. It would be easy for us to get supplies, but at what would be later known as Ground Zero, not that easy.
Cassie and I went home, she was put on antibiotics. My husband finally called. He was in a factory calibrating a machine (the cell phone had to be turned off) and there were no radio’s in the room he was in. The people working in the factory forgot he was there and didn’t tell him what was going on. He is the type to work all day without lunch. He had just learned what had happened – His company had closed up and they told all the salesmen and service engineers to go home as soon as possible. He drove what should have been 5 hours in 3 1/2 hours to get home. (he claims he didn’t speed, yea, right.)
I have many relatives in the military, so the next couple days was devoted to finding out who was going where and what was going on. I have a cousin who has some sort of top secret job in the air force, he didn’t even get to tell his parents he was leaving or say goodbye. He is still working in that position, whatever it is! My Brother in Law was put on notice but since he is a “numbers” guy he wouldn’t see any action. He was upset – we were overjoyed. He did get deployed, but only to make sure supplies got to where they needed to go and was in a “safe area”.
I have never in my life remembered a day so specifically before. 9 months later my son was born.
God Bless all the people who lost loved ones that day. God Bless all the people who have lost loved ones so I can be free to tell you my story.
I’ll never forget where I was, what I was doing or what I had on that day (I still remember the clothes I wore).
I was a junior in high school. It was homeroom/1st period (they were separate but were combined that year for some odd reason). The class was chatting while the teacher (Mrs. M) was getting ready to hand out our tests. All of a sudden Mrs. Johnson (who is a rather large woman) came bursting in our room screaming “We’re under attack!” Well needless to say, we though she meant the school and we all started screaming and trying to hid under our desks.
When she finally realized what we thought she ran over to turn on the TV on. When she got the right channel on, our class sat there as the second plane hit. I had three tests scheduled that day, and all of them were canceled. We ran down the hallways between classes so we could get to the next room to see what happened. I sat there in third period and watched the tower collapse. There was an eerie silence in the entire high school that morning.
I went to high school with on of Alabama’s Congressman’s son. He was in my grade and we were (and still are) good friends. When the plane hit the pentagon, I ran out of Algebra without saying a word to the teacher. He was in Government Economics that period and I knew the class room did not have a TV in it. I went in and grabbed him and brought him into the hallway (that class did not have a TV in it). I had to tell him what had happened and asked him where his father was (turns out he was in Washington and had left the Pentagon 20 minutes earlier to attend a meeting some where else). I sat with him until his mother (accompanied by Secret Service Agents) came to get him from the school. The whole day seems like a translucent dream that I remember every detail of.
And another thing I remember. Our old house was under an airplane flight to the Birmingham Airport. When I saw/heard planes three days later I freaked out.
It sounds so cliche, but my mother really put it into perspective for me when I got home from school that day (I seriously watched TV strait for two weeks).Anyways, when I got home that day she told me, “this is your generations Kennedy assassination. Everyone I grew up with can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. No one you grew up with will forget where they were on 9/11”.
This is going to continue until the root causes (plural) are addressed.
heresyhut.blogspot.com
midnite, I flew out of the Birmingham airport once. I was going to Florida after a visit with my mom.
I was only in the…7th grade I think? No one told us anything while we were in school. I had just read a book about German submarines going into New Yorks harbors and how they planned to blow things up so I sat there thinking, “What would it be like if that happend today?” And then after school I was driving home with my friend and her Mom said that someone blew up the world trade center. I had no idea what it was or even that it was in New York. Then of course the next day everyone only talked about revenge.
I’ll tell my story as well.
I was in my study hall after Volleyball. We were in the basement and didn’t have a tv or anything like that. One of my friend got called out of the room and came back crying. (It turns out she had a sister living in New York who was fine, but they hadn’t heard from her at that point)
Before anyone could ask her what was going on, the principal came over the intercom and said “Some parents have called into the school, and wanted us to make an announcement, it seems a plane has crashed into the World Trade center in New York”.
Then we all started laughing. I guess it all just seemed so absurd we could only cope by laughing. After a few seconds, the principal came back on the intercom to say that the second plane had hit. There was no more laughter.
I went to my next class which was Theater. My director was a former New Yorker, and had two sons living in New York. We watched in horror as both buildings fell (These were an hour and a half long classes).
My mom was a counselor at my school, but I don’t remember talking to her that day. She might have been whisked away to a meeting or something. I don’t remember anything after the buildings fell other than walking around in a daze.
I didn’t have any family in either New York or Washington, so I guess it didn’t hit home to me as much as others. I just remember the terror of watching those videos over and over and over again and trying to make sense of everything.
I was at work, and the owner set up a TV in the breakroom for people to watch.
From a financial message board, I knew two people killed that day.
Cosgrove’s call is heart-breaking. His wife thought he was getting out.
Doug
Doug, sorry to hear that.
ACTUAL REAL ABORTED BABY CARRIED IN NATIONAL PRO-ABORTION PARADE
Did anyone listen to the third hour of the Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio on Monday, Sept 10th? Fr. Frank Pavone was filling in as the host and he had Jerry Horn on the show. Jerry tells his story how he carried a real aborted baby in a pro-abortion parade and was arrested. Jerry got all the headlines in the national papers which stole the headlines from the actual Pro-Abort parade. Pro-Abort leaders like Eleanor Smeal and Patricia Ireland were livid!
This is a story you have to hear.
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?p=2709171
Mike
Did you know we kill more babies in the mothers womb each day in America (over 4,000 per day) than the number of people killed on 9/11 (just over 3,000)?
I’m not trying to minimize 9/11 but let’s wake up people — it’s time we put an end to all killing.
Mike
Mike, true. It’s so sad.
Did you know we kill more babies in the mothers womb each day in America (over 4,000 per day) than the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq (just over 3,700)?
I was in 6th grade, and just starting my last year of catholic school. I was sitting in the classroom when there was an announcement that a tragedy had occured, but nothing had been confirmed yet, or something of that sort. They essentially told us nothing (which made sense as it was a k-8 school). But I remember we all found out somehow, whether through friends in older classes or teachers listening to the radio, or explaining to their classes what had happened, or kids getting taken out of school because of some relation to a victim.
My friend lost his 5 year old baby cousin who was on one of the flights with his aunt. It was a sad/terrible day.
Mike,
I listening to it now. wow.
I remember a news commentator on CNN or FOX or something like that, and they were crying on camera because one of their coworkers died.
Jasper: “Did you know we kill more babies in the mothers womb each day in America (over 4,000 per day) than the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq (just over 3,700)?”
what’s your point?
(I’ll let someone else debate your choice of the words “we” “kill” and “babies.”)
Mike,
Thanks for the heads up. I’ve only listended to the first half and I’m astounded.
Talk about guts!
When I found out I was on my way to a customer site. A friend from work called me and said a jet slammed into the World Trade Center. I remember thinking it was a joke so I called my father to verify. After speaking with my dad about it for about a minute, I thought I should just get to the customer site and not worry about it.
After working a full day I went home. Then all things started to sink in. I don
Hal wrote,
Babies are infants, as in already born. A fetus is still in the womb. There’s a difference.
“We see what human beings are capable of when they reject God. ”
*Rolls eyes*
Your recollections of 9/11 have been very interesting. Thank you for taking the time. Such a wide variety of ages, too.