09-12-2015, 10:48 PM
Thanks guys,
I was at work in DC that morning. I "surfaced" from my basement office, walked out the door onto E ST, and there was panic in the streets. One woman dashed across the street, between "getaway" cars, ran up to me and asked, "what do I do? what I do?" "Please", I answered, "don't run into traffic or you're going to get hurt."
Moments later there were a few earth trembling booms, and she went into complete hysterics along with most in the crowd. "Where are they all running to?", I thought. (Later on I found out that the booms were intercept military aircraft en-route to intercept FLT #93 inbound from Pennsylvania. Of course, that plane was crashed into an open field.
The Pentagon had already been hit, so I decided to go with a co-worker onto the roof-top of our building. We brought along a video camera, with enough cable to connect to a feed in our basement. From that location we could transmit to CNN, NBC, and a "pool feed".
Upon reaching the roof we could see the Pentagon, across the Potomac, with great black clouds of smoke roiling, and orange spits of flames... Below us was a mass of traffic on I-395 trying to escape DC, but it was hopelessly clogged. That's when the black SUVs came ramming through, led by screaming sirens from city police and Secret Service vehicles. Those vehicles pushed all traffic out of the way for the stream of black SUVs. Inside the SUVs were the members of the US Congress fleeing like rats toward the safety of Weather Mountain, in the foothills of Virginia (about 50 miles away).
At this point we fired up the camera and focused on the Pentagon: a clean shot from the rooftop. Then we zoomed in on the "exodus". No one ever saw Congress abandon ship because we never connected our video feed: having done so would have certainly resulted in our firing, with extreme prejudice.
We packed it in and went back to our master control room area. There, we watched the major networks, and we just stayed put. It was pointless to try to leave, and I had no feelings of fear for my life, anyway.
At about 3pm that afternoon, a co-worker and I decided to head home. Our route across the Potomac, into Virginia, on I-395 was completely clear now. The only other "traffic" were law enforcement vehicles along the shoulder of the highway. As we crossed over the 14th ST bridge into Virginia we had a clear view, from about 1000 feet, of the Pentagon. I rolled down my window. The smell is something I will never forget: Hell's own BBQ. There was no trace of a plane, only a long black smudge that led to a deep gash in the side of the Pentagon. As we slowed down (in stunned disbelief) police along the highway shoulder sternly waved at us to "keep it moving!" And we did...
--- There ya go. It's already playing like a newsreel in my head, and soon enough the school kids will be required to memorize certain "important" facts about America on 9-11-01. Many of those students will flunk that history test and probably wonder aloud, "why do we have to learn this crap??"
It is said that the victorious write the history, but the only "winners" that day were the kamikaze pilots, and they all died, too.
[/quote]
Time, who heals all wounds, never figured on history tests (and underestimates politicians).
[/quote]
Hey Ray-
I don't trust any politician. Not even the ones I like.
Exactly at the time when America needed support from around the world, what do we do?
We do what we always do: look to place blame, and kick some ass. We "shock & awe" IRAQ. Wait a minute. IRAQ?? Wasn't the real "bad guy" a SAUDI, that guy named bin Laden? The same guy we backed in the (successful) effort to oust the Russians from Afghanistan?
Doesn't matter. SADAM had made a fool of BUSH SR, and now BUSH JR was going to avenge daddy. So, after thousands of lives lost (mostly innocent Iraqis) and a country blown to Hell, we look up and say, "what the f***?" OH... the bad guys are really in Afghanistan? Let's take our war over there (where no invading country has ever succeeded).
Meanwhile, as I visit my dad at Arlington Nat'l Cemetery, SEC 60 begins to fill up, and then overflow, with more, and more young "visitors". Permanent visitors. G** d**n it!! I'm already against the next war, as they say.
I was at work in DC that morning. I "surfaced" from my basement office, walked out the door onto E ST, and there was panic in the streets. One woman dashed across the street, between "getaway" cars, ran up to me and asked, "what do I do? what I do?" "Please", I answered, "don't run into traffic or you're going to get hurt."
Moments later there were a few earth trembling booms, and she went into complete hysterics along with most in the crowd. "Where are they all running to?", I thought. (Later on I found out that the booms were intercept military aircraft en-route to intercept FLT #93 inbound from Pennsylvania. Of course, that plane was crashed into an open field.
The Pentagon had already been hit, so I decided to go with a co-worker onto the roof-top of our building. We brought along a video camera, with enough cable to connect to a feed in our basement. From that location we could transmit to CNN, NBC, and a "pool feed".
Upon reaching the roof we could see the Pentagon, across the Potomac, with great black clouds of smoke roiling, and orange spits of flames... Below us was a mass of traffic on I-395 trying to escape DC, but it was hopelessly clogged. That's when the black SUVs came ramming through, led by screaming sirens from city police and Secret Service vehicles. Those vehicles pushed all traffic out of the way for the stream of black SUVs. Inside the SUVs were the members of the US Congress fleeing like rats toward the safety of Weather Mountain, in the foothills of Virginia (about 50 miles away).
At this point we fired up the camera and focused on the Pentagon: a clean shot from the rooftop. Then we zoomed in on the "exodus". No one ever saw Congress abandon ship because we never connected our video feed: having done so would have certainly resulted in our firing, with extreme prejudice.
We packed it in and went back to our master control room area. There, we watched the major networks, and we just stayed put. It was pointless to try to leave, and I had no feelings of fear for my life, anyway.
At about 3pm that afternoon, a co-worker and I decided to head home. Our route across the Potomac, into Virginia, on I-395 was completely clear now. The only other "traffic" were law enforcement vehicles along the shoulder of the highway. As we crossed over the 14th ST bridge into Virginia we had a clear view, from about 1000 feet, of the Pentagon. I rolled down my window. The smell is something I will never forget: Hell's own BBQ. There was no trace of a plane, only a long black smudge that led to a deep gash in the side of the Pentagon. As we slowed down (in stunned disbelief) police along the highway shoulder sternly waved at us to "keep it moving!" And we did...
--- There ya go. It's already playing like a newsreel in my head, and soon enough the school kids will be required to memorize certain "important" facts about America on 9-11-01. Many of those students will flunk that history test and probably wonder aloud, "why do we have to learn this crap??"
It is said that the victorious write the history, but the only "winners" that day were the kamikaze pilots, and they all died, too.
[/quote]
Time, who heals all wounds, never figured on history tests (and underestimates politicians).
[/quote]
Hey Ray-
I don't trust any politician. Not even the ones I like.
Exactly at the time when America needed support from around the world, what do we do?
We do what we always do: look to place blame, and kick some ass. We "shock & awe" IRAQ. Wait a minute. IRAQ?? Wasn't the real "bad guy" a SAUDI, that guy named bin Laden? The same guy we backed in the (successful) effort to oust the Russians from Afghanistan?
Doesn't matter. SADAM had made a fool of BUSH SR, and now BUSH JR was going to avenge daddy. So, after thousands of lives lost (mostly innocent Iraqis) and a country blown to Hell, we look up and say, "what the f***?" OH... the bad guys are really in Afghanistan? Let's take our war over there (where no invading country has ever succeeded).
Meanwhile, as I visit my dad at Arlington Nat'l Cemetery, SEC 60 begins to fill up, and then overflow, with more, and more young "visitors". Permanent visitors. G** d**n it!! I'm already against the next war, as they say.