<p>They now have armed fighters and pilots on standby at all times, ready to scramble in certain areas of the country. At that time, apparently they didn’t, and they couldn’t wait the hour it took to arm the jets. Apparently nobody was ready for 9/11.</p>
<p>We lost a woderful friend in the Pentagon crash, a young man we had watched grow up. He was a model American- gentle, good dad, husband, son and brother, good boss, good neighbor, good citizen.
My friend lost an entire crew, working on the rooftop of one of the towers. </p>
<p>I don’t mind if some people (Americans or other) wish to diss the US. I mind terribly that anyone uses the anniversary to make ignorant remarks or sweeping statements.</p>
<p>Had never heard of this aspect described in BD’s link. I can’t believe how the two of them must have felt. Still find it hard to believe we had a policy where there were no armed planes or that it would take so long to do so.</p>
<p>In answer to the question about aircraft being armed or not, they generally are not left armed whether carrier based or on land, aircraft generally get armed when they are getting ready to fly a mission or are on some sort of standby, like if an alert has been put out. I wasn’t in the air force or navy, but I have known several pilots, plus armament mechanics and my dad worked in the miltiary aviation industry as an engineer, so I am pretty confident this is SOP. Prior to 9/11 I doubt aircraft had been armed at US bases since the height of the cold war when things heated up…This makes sense, because though the weaponry on the planes has a lot of safeties to try and make sure accidental firings and such don’t happen, if the rockets and bombs are not on the aircraft the risk is much less…</p>
<p>From what I am led to believe, that has changed in one area, they now have fighter aircraft and such on constant alert around major target areas and you can bet they are kept fully armed. </p>
<p>Prior to 9/11 no one really thought something like this would happen. Israeli planes have had security doors for a long, long time and they had procedures for something like 9/11, but they have lived with this direct threat a long, long time too. It all seems obvious in hindsight, but everyone kind of assumed that the US would somehow remain safe. Even after the first WTC bombing, a friend of mine who worked as a terrorism consultant said that it still wasn’t taken seriously, the WTC bombing was kind of written off as an anomaly or something…</p>
<p>I am not sure how big this current threat really is, and I think the vigilance would have been heightened anyway, given that it is the 10th anniversary and with OSB getting wiped out this year, made it even more so. My absolutely wild guess would be that they got chatter from intercepts where some people talked about someone wanting to set off truck bombs or whatever on 9/11 and they took it seriously given all the circumstances (and no, it doesn’t mean I am saying it is the same old same old, it needs to be taken seriously).</p>
<p>I live in the NYC area and work in NYC, and worked there on 9/11, and from my perspective when it comes to a terrorist attack it is like a lot of things in our lives, there is really no total control over something like that, whether it happens at all or where and when it will hit, and it is much like things like an auto accident, an airplane crash or the like, you do what you can to prevent these things from happening, do everything you can to be prepared but you still have to live life. I drove into NYC this morning, my son has a regular saturday program, and there was heightened security (one of the things I kind of do wonder about, to be honest, is why they decided to have Fashion Week this week up at Lincoln Center, among other things, it makes what is already a target into more of one, and there is so much activity with that program it is hard to keep tabs on what is going on…) but you have to go on with your life and business…</p>
<p>I also have to admit having experienced that day in NYC, lost two close colleagues there and know or know of 25 other people who died there,had 200 colleagues working in the towers (who thankfully all got out), that personally I think the way that the media and others are dealing with 9/11 and such this year isn’t helpful. I think there is value in some of the programming and such, but everyone and his brother seems to be running 9/11 stuff (least here in the NY area) almost nonstop, from NPR to cable channels and so forth, and I really wonder if that is such a good thing. I question whether that helps people still mourning the tragedy or keeps it in people’s minds in a constructive way, or if it just is going to feed into fear and hysteria. I saw how powerful 9/11 was, I saw the kind of panic among coworkers even though we worked in midtown east in a building few terrorists would notice and among other people, and I really wonder if all the ramped up programming is going to make things worse, bring us back to that state…among other things, what I really fear is those using the emotions of this for politcal gain, to once again pray on people’s fears and so forth (and no, I am not going to point fingers at anyone or any party or whatever, they all didd and do this). At a time when we need to make some tough choices, when we face a lot of questions about our future, what I am really afraid of is this will put us into a place where we do things out of fear and hysteria, rather then thinking about things, and where the unscrupulous can use it for their own gain. History is full of things like this, and I really worry that the hype of the 10th anniversary is going to turn into something like this. </p>
<p>That said, I try to remember the good on 9/11, the amazing bravery of the responders and more then a few ordinary people, to those from all over who tried to help, and to someone like the security director of Morgan Stanley who is credited with saving the lives of 2700 employees (he refused to heed the official instructions to stay in the building, and got his people out) then went back into the building to make sure no one was left, and perished…that is what I remember, and what I have tried to take out of 9/11 was that out of something that I still fully don’t grasp I think, that when it really got dark, a lot of people showed that underneath all the rhetoric, the us versus them, and so forth, people still have it in themselves to rise above the darkness…and that gives me the hope and confidence to want to face the future and get through a very difficult time.</p>
<p>I’m offended that it is incessantly rammed down our throats by the whores in the media. Ten years ago I watched it on t.v. and was there just after the buildings fell. Friends and co-workers died and the anger will never subside. The horror of that day will and should never be forgotten, but I choose not to watch and relive it. Generations to come should be made aware of what happened to our country on that fateful day, but the inundation of the coverage is over the top for me.</p>
<p>I’d rather watch a live feed of fanatical muslim radicals being tortured. And no, I don’t think that is too extreme.</p>
<p>No, not too extreme if you had to watch one or the other. Not that I’d want to watch either.</p>
<p>Things certainly have changed since 9/11. Before that, airline pilots were instructed to pacify hijackers, calm them, give them what they wanted so they didn’t hurt anyone. Now we are instructed to protect the cockpit with deadly force, if needed. You kill or die before a hijacker gains entry, no matter what it takes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It probably depends on the type of coverage. There is evidence that seeing traumatic images replayed can retraumatize people. Some coverage is replaying images of the crashes, the collapse of the towers, etc. and that is probably not helpful to those who lost someone or really to anyone, although I think it might be important for the next generation to understand the impact of the events of that day. But I watched some coverage about flight 93 and thought that it was done in such a way that the families of those passengers could feel pride in their loved ones. I think that, in general, it’s hard enough to try to move forward after tragedy without the worst day of your life being replayed over and over again.</p>
<p>I have no problem at all about the covergae given to this …having had 15 fellow residents lose their lives, and watch from a high elevation the smoke from the twin towers, i am distraught to this day…I recall clutching my youngest child, 18 months at the time, and telling her it would be all right,with no confidence it would be…remember not being able to contact my wife in NYC, remember the quiet skies, remember the airspace was shut down,and armed forces were flying overhead…</p>
<p>Generally speaking I haven’t been bothered by the coverage-- upset but not offended. It’s been hard to watch a lot of the things they’ve been playing and I can definitely relate to the sense of being retraumatized-- especially since I was a child on 9/11/01 and I’m not anymore and it’s drastically different to “relive” it now–but it’s sometimes too easy for me to forget the stories of the individuals when the one communal tragedy is so massive. I like that the coverage has been making me think of those individual stories, like the heroism of the passengers of Flight 93. I think that’s important even if it is upsetting. </p>
<p>However, they played audio footage of the hijackers talking to the passengers on my radio show on friday morning. I wasn’t okay with that. I reacted similarly when yahoo news had a picture of Seung-Hui Cho pointing a gun at the camera on their homepage after the Virginia Tech massacre, I guess it was a photo from the package he mailed to media before the shooting-- that upset me so much I had to leave school for the day, I still remember it to this day. I think that’s crossing a line. I’m not okay with seeing dead bodies, which are on the news seemingly all the time these days without warning, and I am not okay with being put in the position of the victims-- hearing the hijackers voices as they threaten the passengers, seeing Seung-Hui Cho seemingly point a gun at me-- those things are not necessary and not okay. Not in my book. That voice that I heard on the radio on friday will be seared into my mind forever.</p>
<p>My D, who is now 22 and certified to teach history, watched the “as it happened” coverage tonight because we didn’t allow the kids to watch it that day because I was in Manhattan and they didn’t know where I was for many hours. She found it very helpful to see in terms of her professional responsibilities. But heartbreaking.</p>
<p>I don’t like the way the media seems to prentend and manipulate. What I mean is, I saw a program this evening. They broadcast the few second before impact and then gave us a blank screen and then went to frames of the ‘craters’ and billowing smoke in the face of the buildings. Are we supposed to feel like the event wasn’t all that bad because they edited the actual impact of the planes crashing into the towers?</p>
<p>Some programs are showing it all. But, the abrupt transitions to commercials- outrageous. One scene focused on parents speaking of their last conversaton with their son, followed immediately by the polygamist husband advertising his tv show. Not even a fade out.</p>
<p>I haven’t watched any of the coverage and don’t really plan to. I saw the second tower fall with my own eyes – not on television – and have no desire to see it again, or to go out of my way to be reminded of it.</p>
<p>I know what you mean, Donna. I watched it happening on television, and ten years later, I absolutely cannot bear to watch it again. And I’m 3,000 miles away. I cannot even imagine how horrific it would have been to watch it in person. I can’t believe the pain you New Yorkers have gone through, how can that ever leave someone.</p>
<p>I was wondering the same thing, busdriver. If I had actually seen the towers fall, I think I’d be scarred for life. How does one ever attain peace of mind again after witnessing such a thing?</p>
<p>That thought crossed my mind, Poetsheart (only for all of us, not just those who were there in person). I so miss that peace of mind, that innocence about how mass tragedy can be right around the corner. I feel somewhat guilty about this, because the way we live post-9/11 is a little more like how most of the poor souls on the rest of this planet have lived all along.</p>
<p>^^ And it makes me sad that for our colleges kids, who were in elementary school at the time, this is just the way the world is.</p>
<p>I am reticent to say this (type this), but I am a little nervous about tomorrow. Praying the day goes by peacefully.</p>
<p>I hope on this day of remembrance we think back to that time and realize how far off the mark we have strayed in ten years.</p>