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Plane Crashes Into World Trade Centre

Evil_Mush

Juniors
Messages
982
I was in my second year of uni in 2001, and literally the week or two beforehand my Marketing lecturer (who happened to also be American) was talking about how every generation experiences some sort of life-changing event, whether it be man walking on the moon, or a president being assassinated or stuff like that.

Then on the night, I was getting on the piss with some mates, and as the night petered out at around 1am or so there were two of us left in the lounge and decided to flick the TV on and seeing the smoking towers (after the planes hit but before they collapsed) we thought it was a movie in our drunken haze, then as the reality of the situation hit that talk from the Marketing lecture was the first thing to come to mind. Skipped uni the next day and just watched updates all day in a dumbfounded state. Naturally the next Marketing lecture was very sombre indeed as the lecturer recalled that talk.
 

The Eagle

Juniors
Messages
1,634
And I just still can't grasp this magnitude of insanity, I remember after watching raw live on fox sports my mates nephew calls and tells us the first plane looks like an attack, moments later watching live the second plane hits, I say it must be a replay then notice both buildings have huge holes in them, suddenly our world had changed

I remember slinking off to the toilet after the passengers pulled down the last of them and crying as quietly as possible....I was 19 at the time,reliving it on YouTube was a mistake,I feel bloodlust
 

legend

Coach
Messages
15,150
I remember posting in this thread as it was unfolding. All the regulars made this an amazing discussion through the raw emotion of what happened that day.
 

alien

Referee
Messages
20,279
September 10 2016 - 1:40PM
'Somebody is going to pay': Handwritten notes from Air Force One speak of 9/11 drama
  • Steve Holland
Washington: The notes are handwritten on a legal pad and provide a verbatim account of the shock aboard Air Force One on September 11, 2001.

They were scribbled by Ari Fleischer, press secretary for US President George W. Bush, and he is releasing them to mark the 15th anniversary on Sunday of the worst attack on American soil since Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbour.

There are six pages in all, the only original verbatim text of what Mr Bush said on the presidential plane as he and his senior aides absorbed the news.

"We're at war," Bush told Vice President Dick Cheney. Hanging up and turning to his aides, he added: "When we find out who did this, they're not going to like me as president. Somebody's going to pay."

Mr Fleischer adopted the role of presidential note taker as Air Force One lifted off from Florida after the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon were attacked by hijacked passenger jets.

"I always took notes. It's how you do your job," Mr Fleischer said. "But on September 11 it was instantly clear how much more important it was to have a record of what the president did and said. I basically glued myself to his side almost the entire day and remained in his cabin on Air Force One to listen and take notes."

Much of the material has been part of the public record. Mr Fleischer has used them for annual tweets about September 11 and in speeches and made them available to the commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks. But he has not previously released them in full to the public.

The story that unfolds in Mr Fleischer's penmanship begins with the raw emotions Bush and his aides experienced, the president already itching to retaliate.

1473494469645.jpg

The attack on the World Trade Center, New York, on September 11, 2001. Photo: Getty Images

"I can't wait to find out who did it," Mr Bush said. "It's going to take a while and we're not going to have a little slap on the wrist crap."

There is a dramatic period in which Bush tries to overcome opposition from the Secret Service to letting him return to Washington. The plane first took him to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, then Offutt air base in Nebraska. He got back to Washington that night.

1473478859505.jpg

A visitor reaches out to touch a name engraved on the September 11 memorial in New York. Photo: AP

"I want to get home as soon as possible," Bush said. "I don't want whoever this is holding me outside Washington."

An aide responded: "Our people are saying it's too unsteady still."

1473478859505.jpg

Carrying Barney, then US President George W. Bush steps down from Air Force One in 2003. Photo: AP

Mr Bush said that was the message he was hearing from Mr Cheney as well.

Bush chief of staff Andy Card said: "The right thing is to let the dust settle".

Mr Fleischer's notes include an eerie reference to a communication heard on the plane from the ground that "Angel is next". Because Air Force One's codename at the time was "angel", there was worry onboard that the plane was a target.

He said an armed guard was stationed outside the door leading to the Air Force One cockpit, just in case someone was a threat on the plane itself.

A month later, Mr Bush and his team were told the reference to "angel" was a miscommunication from the ground. One offshoot of the 9/11 attacks was a major renovation of Air Force One's communications abilities.

The president, who had only been in office for eight months, had another priority in mind as well: making sure his family was safe. Mr Bush's wife, Laura, and their two daughters were whisked to secure locations.

"Barney?" Mr Bush said, inquiring about his beloved Scottish terrier.

"He's nipping at the heels of Osama bin Laden now," Mr Card joked.

On Friday, the US Congress approved a bill to allow families of those killed in the attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for any role in the terrorist plot.

The measure was never debated on the House or Senate floors. It reflects a growing desire to re-examine Washington's alliance with the kingdom, which for decades has been a cornerstone of US foreign policy in the Middle East.

Other measures, like a bipartisan one that would seek to block the sale of some tanks to the kingdom, are also on the horizon.

American politicians were under intense pressure from families of the victims, who wanted the legislation passed before the anniversary. That may account for the bill jumping from a committee room to an expedited vote on the House floor.

But President Barack Obama said he was strongly opposed to the measure and the White House has signalled that he would veto it.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/somebod...e-one-speak-of-911-drama-20160910-grdbnv.html
 

King hit

Coach
Messages
13,757
Can't believe there is a thread here about this. Truly one of the worst days in history, it's why we kill these people and everything they stand for. I remember when this happened and I can still see the papers the next day.

When my parents first went overseas together they visited New York City and went inside the World Trade Center towers and took photos inside them, and had lunch in the foyer that was in between the buildings outside. I remember when 9/11 happened, i saw it on the news and my parents mistook it for a movie.
 

Shaun Hewitt

First Grade
Messages
6,352
One of those occasions where you always remember where you were when it happened.
Me? I was in year 8 (intermediate school in NZ). Needless to say, it was all we could talk about and speculate why it's all happened. Being 13 at the time, I must admit I didn't really understand what had happened. We were all speculating if it were gonna be an all out world war.

It was the only time, I remember the school library being fully packed out during lunch time, they'd wheeled in the TV and were playing the news. It was so bizarre
 

Wizardman

First Grade
Messages
8,505
Im ashamed to say that I have a cousin that firmly believes is a hoax/demolition job. I want to tell him that he is a f**king imbecile but Im too polite. Makes me angry because a lot of damage was done to the world that day, yet people like him are pointing the finger at the wrong people.
 

Apey

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
26,754
Man what happened to the start of this thread. Jumbled in the last move? All the posts are out of chronological order.
 
Messages
8,480
Can’t quite believe it has been 20 years.

Same mate. Was up all night watching it unfold...

Mate who was working for me at the time rang just as I was going to bed said "put the TV on NOW"... asked him ok what channel??

He replied "ANY CHANNEL"..

Up all night, went to work next day, the whole office was in sheer disbelief..

20 years ago..
 
Messages
14,481
Same mate. Was up all night watching it unfold...

Mate who was working for me at the time rang just as I was going to bed said "put the TV on NOW"... asked him ok what channel??

He replied "ANY CHANNEL"..

Up all night, went to work next day, the whole office was in sheer disbelief..

20 years ago..
My gf (now wife) and I were about to go to bed when Sandra Sully announced an accident at WTC. Next minute, the world changed.
 

Shaun Hewitt

First Grade
Messages
6,352
I always look back at this as the day I lost my innocence in the world.
I was 13 at the time. I didn't really understand what was going on. I didn't know who the Al-Qaeda were, I didn't really know what the World Trade Centres were.
All I saw was the destruction, the emotion. Then came the dread of what it would have been like inside those planes, or being trapped in those buildings.

Seems every year around September 11, I always find something related to watch, whether its a document on netflix/youtube or a film such as United 93 or Flight 93.

It's an event that in no way, at all, am I connected with in any way (I'm not American, I wasn't there, I didn't know anyone personally affected)....yet it's one I always seem drawn to.

It was the day that the world changed for me.
 

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