It's strange in a way to hear so many of the commentators saying that this is a second Pearl Harbour. In my mind this is way beyond that. Obviously comparisons are natural, but to imply that the two attacks are in the same league seems ridiculous.
I've seen a few quotes from people saying they find it disturbing that the only precedent we have for this is hollywood movies and other american fiction. It does feel incredibly like a marvel comics story with it's skyline leveling scale. It's almost as if the idea was lifted wholesale from american trash culture by the terrorists. Though I'm not sure if that makes them incredibly witty or just plain stupid for being sucked in by that which they seek to destroy.
Scary to think that this could have been even worse. It was in effect a weaponless act of terrorism in that the damage was caused to american property by american property. Imagine what we could be faced with if each aircraft had carried a payload of smuggled in biological weaponry for instance.
It's also brought home some of the inadequacies of the internet today. Every major news site was crippled by traffic, cnn resorted to a stripped down vanilla holding page with one picture and a couple of links half-way through the day in a desperate attempt to cut down on traffic. And a friend who's visiting his girlfriend in new york kindly neglected to bother posting news of his well-being on his own site so that I had to search around in someone elses blog to find confirmation of him being alive.
Oh yeah, and good to see George instilling confidence in us in a moment of crisis. It's at times like these that you hope the power *is* behind the throne and not sat on it.
...and what's up with the pentagon?? Is it built from raw fuel or something? It's been burning for hours..
If this was Bin Laden, which it certainly bears all the hallmarks of being. Are we sure we want to maintain our safe pasifist liberal western ideologies when people like this are in positions of "world" political influence. Afghan Islamic Fundamentalists are responsible for all this..
I do realise that it was our own governments who helped create the mess in Afghanistan and the Middle East in the first place, and that our governments foreign policies lead to and perpetuate these problems. But there comes a point where there is no possible justification for inaction..
Further to my bit about this being a weaponless crime. The planes were apparently hijacked at knife point. If only the passengers had known that this wasn't going to be a straight forward seige-style hijacking that they might get out alive from. Maybe they could have bum-rushed the knife people and escaped with a few stab wounds.
On the other hand, if the terrorists managed to pull off something of this scale they probably had enough control of the situation not to get caught out by a load of gung-ho passengers.
For anyone who's had these "words of Nostradamus" mailed to them:
"In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb" , "The third big war will begin when the big city is burning"
It turns out that the friend who I thought was in New York yesterday wasn't at all, but his girlfriend who I thought he was visiting was in the north tower of the WTC when the first plane crashed into the other.. she escaped with her life moments after.
Ananova has the story.
I just read Ambers story on her site. Its incredible that the things that stuck in her head were the spilled coffee and breakfasts. It says something about how the human mind works in situations like this. My heart goes out to Amber and Iain I cant imagine what it would be like to have that happen in my life..
16 comments
Random and unrelated:
It's strange in a way to hear so many of the commentators saying that this is a second Pearl Harbour. In my mind this is way beyond that. Obviously comparisons are natural, but to imply that the two attacks are in the same league seems ridiculous.
I've seen a few quotes from people saying they find it disturbing that the only precedent we have for this is hollywood movies and other american fiction. It does feel incredibly like a marvel comics story with it's skyline leveling scale. It's almost as if the idea was lifted wholesale from american trash culture by the terrorists. Though I'm not sure if that makes them incredibly witty or just plain stupid for being sucked in by that which they seek to destroy.
Scary to think that this could have been even worse. It was in effect a weaponless act of terrorism in that the damage was caused to american property by american property. Imagine what we could be faced with if each aircraft had carried a payload of smuggled in biological weaponry for instance.
It's also brought home some of the inadequacies of the internet today. Every major news site was crippled by traffic, cnn resorted to a stripped down vanilla holding page with one picture and a couple of links half-way through the day in a desperate attempt to cut down on traffic. And a friend who's visiting his girlfriend in new york kindly neglected to bother posting news of his well-being on his own site so that I had to search around in someone elses blog to find confirmation of him being alive.
Oh yeah, and good to see George instilling confidence in us in a moment of crisis. It's at times like these that you hope the power *is* behind the throne and not sat on it.
...and what's up with the pentagon?? Is it built from raw fuel or something? It's been burning for hours..
Posted by Anonymous on 11 Sep 2001 at 11:00 PM
Revenge should be the last thing on Bush's mind, so why he's thinking about it already, I do not know.
Surely this was an act of revenge for whoever carried it out. Any further action is bound to start a war. A terrible terrible day.
Posted by Anonymous on 12 Sep 2001 at 02:11 AM
If this was Bin Laden, which it certainly bears all the hallmarks of being. Are we sure we want to maintain our safe pasifist liberal western ideologies when people like this are in positions of "world" political influence. Afghan Islamic Fundamentalists are responsible for all this..
I do realise that it was our own governments who helped create the mess in Afghanistan and the Middle East in the first place, and that our governments foreign policies lead to and perpetuate these problems. But there comes a point where there is no possible justification for inaction..
Posted by Dan on 12 Sep 2001 at 09:24 AM
Further to my bit about this being a weaponless crime. The planes were apparently hijacked at knife point. If only the passengers had known that this wasn't going to be a straight forward seige-style hijacking that they might get out alive from. Maybe they could have bum-rushed the knife people and escaped with a few stab wounds.
On the other hand, if the terrorists managed to pull off something of this scale they probably had enough control of the situation not to get caught out by a load of gung-ho passengers.
Posted by Anonymous on 12 Sep 2001 at 10:16 AM
I haven't heard the news mention this, but one of my friends mentioned the significance of the date. September 11, 9-11, the US emergency number!
The comparisons with Independence Day are huge. Maybe it was aliens!
Posted by Anonymous on 12 Sep 2001 at 02:13 AM
September 11, 2000 - 9am. Is this too obvious to be connected???
Posted by Anonymous on 12 Sep 2001 at 09:31 AM
There's some fantastic personal coverage on this site..
Posted by Dan on 12 Sep 2001 at 10:57 AM
The Guardian has more personal reflections from survivors..
Posted by Anonymous on 12 Sep 2001 at 01:20 PM
For anyone who's had these "words of Nostradamus" mailed to them:
"In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb" , "The third big war will begin when the big city is burning"
Kevin Fox has the truth of the matter.
Posted by Anonymous on 12 Sep 2001 at 01:20 PM
The Village Voice is carrying a piece on the reaction of New York's Arab community..
Posted by Dan on 12 Sep 2001 at 01:35 PM
It turns out that the friend who I thought was in New York yesterday wasn't at all, but his girlfriend who I thought he was visiting was in the north tower of the WTC when the first plane crashed into the other.. she escaped with her life moments after.
Ananova has the story.
Posted by Anonymous on 12 Sep 2001 at 05:11 PM
I just read Ambers story on her site. Its incredible that the things that stuck in her head were the spilled coffee and breakfasts. It says something about how the human mind works in situations like this. My heart goes out to Amber and Iain I cant imagine what it would be like to have that happen in my life..
Posted by Dan on 13 Sep 2001 at 09:45 AM
*silence*
Posted by Jonny Ram on 13 Sep 2001 at 02:31 PM
eastwest.nu have updated with a load of phots from the streets of Manhattan yesterday. Particularly moving are the posters of the missing..
Posted by Dan on 13 Sep 2001 at 09:49 AM
fivefoot6.com/911..A 24-hour exposure snapshot of the blogging community as it existed over the course of September 12th, 2001..
Posted by Dan on 13 Sep 2001 at 05:04 PM
Mike Shade has put up a really nice gallery of photos here..
Posted by Dan on 13 Sep 2001 at 05:21 PM