Flashback: My 9/11 Recollections
While I'm thinking of 9/11, let me re-share with you my recollections of 9/11 that I originally wrote four years ago here on LiveJournal.
I was just sitting down, about to go online when it happened. On 8:55 that morning, I saw and heard a Breaking News sounder on MSNBC, and then saw two anchors, Gregg Jarrett and Chris Jansing. Gregg was putzing around with a battery device that keeps his wireless mic working, which was a huge sign that they had to rush on the air with something.
Then I saw this huge gaping hole in one of the WTC towers. I knew this was a big story, but didn't make the obvious conclusions just yet. My aunt at the time worked in Midtown Manhattan, so I called my mom at her work to tell her what happened. As I'm doing this, I see an expolsion of some sort, but didn't instantly make out what it was. Was it perhaps an after effect from the crash? Well, then they show the replay, and my jaw dropped open, staying that way for what seemed 5 minutes or so. This obviously wasn't an accident. I can only think one thing:
What the hell is going on?
The rest of that morning was a blur. But, when the first tower went down later on that hour, I sensed it was only a matter time before the other went. I'm not a religious person, but when I saw the second tower go, I knelt on a knee and crossed myself.
What I felt in the hours and days afterward aren't important, as they were echoed by so many others. The first moment that got me emotional was late that first night that among those who died where children going to some sort of field trip that involved going on one of those four ill-fated planes.
To this day, I have a hard time blaming our president for cracking down hard on Iraq. You can't wait to let people with cruel intentions punch you in the mouth, regardless of their involvement or lack thereof that fateful day. But make no mistake: Osama Bin Laden is a pitiful bastard, and his day is coming, no doubt in my mind about it.
Needless to say, I feel a lot different about our involvement in Iraq now then I did back then. All these years later, Osama's still on the lam somewhere in this world. We still haven't caught him yet.
And we didn't know, even in 2004, that this president's evidence to get us into war with Iraq was totally false.
Did we really fully investigate 9/11, or was it a dog and pony show like many believe the Warren Commission did with the assassination of John F. Kennedy? Will we ever get the truth? I'm not a prophet, so I don't know. I think all Americans should demand the truth. To understand the present, you must understand the past.
