On writing on 9/11, on and on
I’m not going to lie: I have a hard time writing about 9/11.
This is (for the most part) a political blog, but politics seems like a very small topic for a day like today. 9/11 is a messy day, not just because it’s still full of sorrow and anger for so many people who lost loved ones that day or any of the hard days that followed, but because still it is not a closed case.
On a micro level, there are still discoveries, such as the note that a Connecticut man dropped from a window on the 84th floor of Two World Trade Center that day, and which reached his family just before last year’s decennial remembrance, and which finally made it into the press this week. A fresh wound for them and, albeit on a much smaller scale, for the rest of us, too.
On a macro level, there’s a war in Afghanistan that began shortly thereafter and continues to this day. There are still tens of thousands of Americans fighting in that war, being shot at by our enemies and our alleged friends. Their mission, their fate, are still deathly important to them and their families, and should be to the rest of us, too. But to talk about those things today feels off-putting, because it invariably means diving into the politics involved in making decisions about the war and thus getting away from the unity of the day, and it feels cheap, because it’s too easy to talk about those things today and ignore them for the other 364.25 days of the year. (I am far too guilty of that myself.)
On a personal level, I feel like most people are out of things to say by now, myself included. I was working in a carpet mill that day, a month away from starting my job with the Associated Press, and didn’t even hear about the attacks until someone from the office part of the building told me in the break room at lunchtime. I still didn’t comprehend what had happened for another four hours, when I finally got a chance to see a television and the images of what had happened and was still happening, images and events that were nearly impossible to imagine before 9/11 and impossible to forget ever since.
What I remember most is the visceral reaction I and everyone else had, and that was best captured by people who spent that day capturing it instead of shuttling rugs around a mill. To this day, I prefer re-reading what was written then to almost anything written more recently. If you’ve never read Dan McLaughlin’s eyewitness account from back then, today’s the day to read it. For a longer treatment, Tom Junod’s 2009 exploration of the “falling man” photograph is haunting. Feel free to share others in the comment thread.
And feel free to share your own memories and thoughts, even the political ones. Heck, this is still a mostly free country. Just because I had to get this off my chest before getting on with the rest of my day doesn’t mean you have to do the same.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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263 comments Add your comment
@@
September 11th, 2012
2:25 pm
DANG slanties!!!
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
September 11th, 2012
2:29 pm
I can never forgive the perpetrators for the cowardice of attacking a defenseless unprepared civilian target. Don’t mention understanding, pity, or mercy when talking about the justice administered to them.
Thanks to the military of this great country, most of those cowards that planned this, have been prevented from ever doing something so depraved again. God Bless the USA.
JDW
September 11th, 2012
2:29 pm
@@@…”What…the weight of your butt pulled you over the edge?”
Not over the edge yet…as of now I think he was incompetent not negligent…though a bit more of this stuff and I will go on over the edge.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/the-bush-white-house-was-deaf-to-9-11-warnings.html
@@
September 11th, 2012
2:34 pm
JDW:
Haven’t you heard…profiling is taboo among the left?
Would’ve had to ground all Arabs, pulling them in for interrogation based on the vagueries within the intelligence reports.
Imagine the outrage from your side.
kayaker 71
September 11th, 2012
2:37 pm
Let us never forget who perpetrated these attacks. They were Muslim fanatics who were, to a large part, Arab….. and from our “good friends and allies”, the Saudis. The same Saudis that run training camps for suicide bombers through their “Wahhabi” indoctrination school financed with government money. I sometimes think that we are in the wrong country in the ME.
InAtl
September 11th, 2012
3:01 pm
Gravy Train says: “Wow. I can’t believe Kyle isn’t somehow trying to use this as an opportunity to take yet another shot at the President”
…..and then proceeds to take yet another shot at Bush.
Gravy, getalife, East Lake Ira, Fair and Balanced, SHAME on you! You’ve really shown your lack of class and character for all to see today.
I don’t remember any rain in Atlanta on 9-11. In fact, I went to tennis practice, and when my husband showed up and informed us that the first tower had collapsed, we all left the court in a state of shock. We tried to decide if we should try to shield our four-year-old from the news, but there was really no way to do it; the story was everywhere all the time. I had nightmares off and on for weeks. One really sobering incident happened to me later that year. I’m a court reporter and had a witness show up to a deposition with a small child (which is not at all kosher for that setting). I made the best of it and did my best to redirect the child every time they’d come over and touch my steno machine. After the deposition the witness apologized for the child being there and told us that both her parents had been killed in the WTC. Boy, did I feel bad about all the irritation I had been feeling. Gave me a new perspective for sure. Prayers today for all those affected by that terrible attack.
JDW
September 11th, 2012
3:05 pm
@@@…”Haven’t you heard…profiling is taboo among the left? Would’ve had to ground all Arabs, pulling them in for interrogation based on the vagueries within the intelligence reports.”
Not making much sense there @@. I suggest you actually READ the link and get back to me. All we would have needed to do is have the good sense to keep them in custody once captured.
Bruno
September 11th, 2012
3:12 pm
Just my opinion, but I prefer to look forward in life, not backwards.
I’m sorry for the loss of life on that day, but I don’t see a lot of value in endless memorials. Rebuild the towers and move on.
HDB
September 11th, 2012
3:16 pm
Reflecting on today…as one who was on the INSIDE of the tndustry….
I can remember preparing to go to work at United Airlines when I turned on the news and saw Tower 1 in flames! First, I thought it was a small plane…but the hole was a bit larger than I thought; when the second plane hit, I could tell it was one of ours, Calling into the office, I discovered that the corporation was on lockdown because “two of our planes are missing”! Told my co-worker…”I know where ONE of them is!” From that point, air travel has not been the same! 25,000 people lost their jobs two weeks ;ater; many have yet to recover from what happened!
What really hurts is the good will from the rest of the world that this nation wasted! If our leaders had taken that good will to go after OBL rather than Saddam, we would have taken another step towards peace….and the US would have garnered a greater deal of respect!!
@@
September 11th, 2012
3:21 pm
JDW:
I’ve read the op-ed.
So now it’s O.K. to detain suspects without just cause…detaining them for an indefinite period of time!!??!! No specific date was given
I wish you people would make up your minds.
I’ll not engage in your blame game TODAY.
I’m passing you by.
InAtl
September 11th, 2012
3:23 pm
East Lake, stay classy. At least most of us now remember why we skip over your lame postings.
Kyle Wingfield
September 11th, 2012
3:25 pm
Everyone hyping that NYT op-ed today ought to read this response before going all quasi-Truther on us.
Kyle Wingfield
September 11th, 2012
3:26 pm
East Lake: One more response like that, and you’ll be off this blog for a long time.
massachusetts refugee
September 11th, 2012
3:28 pm
nicely written, kyle. this is still the saddest day of my 61 years that doesn’t involve immediate family. while a repeat seems unlikely (hey you, take off your shoes), we must remain vigilant. peace.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
September 11th, 2012
3:32 pm
getalife: We united after 9/11 then a Dem won and there was no unity after a collapse and getting obl.
———————-
You lie.
The unity ended when Democrats realized unity would help re-elect Our President Bush.
Aquagirl
September 11th, 2012
3:34 pm
The terrorists’ attack succeeded because we were a fat, complacent, and immature nation. Most people’s sacrifice has been a couple of gropings by the TSA and a $5.99 yellow ribbon for their gas-guzzling SUV. We’re still fat, complacent, and immature. In a way that’s sadder than 9/11 ever could be.
InAtl
September 11th, 2012
3:34 pm
And as I pointed out on another post, NYT’s own public editor, Arthur Brisbane, very recently pointed out that their “progressivism bleeds through the paper.” Something most of us noticed a long time ago.
@@
September 11th, 2012
3:43 pm
Kyle must’ve been at “Commentary” ’bout the same time I was, although I was reading a different article.
Anyhoo, I’ve always suspected Eichenwald’s motives ever since he paid $2,000 to gain access into the seedy world of child pornography.
Perhaps JDW could let his imagination run WILD with THAT one.
schnirt
cc
September 11th, 2012
3:45 pm
@@ – 12:55 pm:
I agree with you. We need to let it go for today. Even after all this time, the memories are still too fresh, the feelings of anguish and despair remain and the anger still burns brightly.
Just this one blog . . . just for today . . . let the politics go for today.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
September 11th, 2012
3:47 pm
HDB
What really hurts is the good will from the rest of the world that this nation wasted! If our leaders had taken that good will to go after OBL rather than Saddam, we would have taken another step towards peace….and the US would have garnered a greater deal of respect!!
I wish that were true, but Gadhafi was still fomenting in Libya, Assad was still abusing and killing his people in Syria, Mubarek was still going to be overthrown in Egypt, Iran and Israel would still be fighting over Lebanon, Iran would still be attempting to get a nuclear weapon they could use to rid the ME of the Jews. Don’t think our not going after Saddam would have helped.
@@
September 11th, 2012
3:51 pm
Cairo (CNN) — Angry protesters climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday and hauled down the American flag, replacing it with a black standard with Islamic emblems, apparently in protest of the production of a film thought to insult the Prophet Mohammed.
The incident prompted a volley of warning shots to be fired as a large crowd gathered outside, said CNN producer Mohammed Fahmy, who was on the scene.
The replacement flag read, “There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his messenger.”
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/11/world/meast/egpyt-us-embassy-protests/index.html
The Arab Spring of Discontent?
cc
September 11th, 2012
3:51 pm
Kyle:
Great column. Thanks!
JDW
September 11th, 2012
4:01 pm
@Kyle…the 9/11 report clearly details multiple warning that were ignored by the Bush Administration including those from Clinton, Clarke, Pavitt, and Tenet. The Report further concludes that “the system was blinking red” and that “an al Qaeda attack was imminent”.
As I said before the Bush Administration might not have been negligent but they were damn sure incompetent. It is not so much that they failed to stop the attack as it is they failed to have even a high level principals meeting until September at Bush’s ranch. It the systems is “blinking red” a competent Administration DOES SOMETHING! They may fail but they act.
JDW
September 11th, 2012
4:03 pm
@@@…if you will read you will note that Eichenwald is not a key player in my thinking…ignored warnings from others more than fill that bill.
Dusty
September 11th, 2012
4:04 pm
Well, there have been some very wise and wonderful posts here today. Kyle gave us his honest review and others here have told us of both the sadness of loss and the joy of finding loved ones not lost.
I seem to have a place in my mind that I don’t like to visit for too long a time. The first thing there is the Kennedy assassination. That was like having a blow to the middle and the lights going out. One so young and happy to lead us and gone in the flick of a trigger from a fanatic killer.
Next part in remembrance is the explosion of the Challenger in midsky. I was standing in a store with a large TV for viewing. That terrible sight unfolded on screen as I watched horrified. .Not the brave, the explorers, the undaunted, not them! But they were gone.
Then came 9/11, disaster doubled and tripled into the thousands while we watched life as we know it depart and crumble carrying our magnificient monoliths away and with them mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, breaking the heart of America.
I don’t like to consider that sadness too long. We have recovered, rebuilt, and remembered and we move on to establish the goals of many who left us that day. We keep hope for a “better day”. We can be thankful for that hope and still have the freedom to find it.
David R. Boag, DDS
September 11th, 2012
4:17 pm
Getalife @ 11:59 am,
Who is the divider on the blog today? If you are looking at everyone else on the blog, and you don’t know who it is, it’s probably you. Kyle writes a really nice non-confrontational, introspective piece, and even with that tone, you just can’t stop yourself, can you?
Or can you? Maybe just for today. How about it?
David R. Boag, DDS
September 11th, 2012
4:22 pm
You too, Finn @ 12:09. Who are the dividers today?
Seriously guys. If you can’t control yourselves even for a day like today, it says a lot about you, none of it good.
Come on now. If you can’t truce it for one day, then I think we know where the problem is.
Jeffrey
September 11th, 2012
4:23 pm
Kyle, I can’t believe it was lunchtime before you found out That would be impossible today. I heard on 99x and then the small company I worked at let us all go back to watch the events on tv. That always stood out because we never turned on a tv at work just that one day.
@@
September 11th, 2012
4:24 pm
JDW:
@@@…if you will read
NO, DUDE(tte)…it’s time for YOU to read!!!!!!
I’m passing you by.
END OF DISCUSSION!!!!!!
JamVet
September 11th, 2012
4:27 pm
You lie.
The unity ended when Democrats realized unity would help re-elect Our President Bush.
What a pathetic “memory”.
I cried with joy when I learned that he was not hurt or killed. Which would have made things a thousand times worse for this country. And I also sang his praises long, loud and clear when he initially crushed those b@st@rds in Afghanistan.
But then…. (we all know the rest.)
Kyle Wingfield
September 11th, 2012
4:34 pm
Jeffrey: Yeah, it definitely would be different today, with smartphones and whatnot. Although, I had a cellphone back then and (the memory’s straining a bit at this point) I *think* I wasn’t allowed to have it on while in the plant. So maybe, in my case, it wouldn’t have been.
@@
September 11th, 2012
4:38 pm
“I don’t think downtown should be in the business of selecting teachers. . .local school principals should select if you’re going to hold them accountable,” Emanuel said. “It’s just like holding a coach accountable for a team’s results. They create the team.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/clout/chi-emanuel-faces-striking-teachers-while-selling-strike-message-20120911,0,5921962.story
And I don’t think the federal government should be in the business of picking winners and losers in the business world.
Michael H. Smith
September 11th, 2012
4:46 pm
Somethings you tell yourself you never want to forget. With the passage of time you wish had not told yourself to remember, for now somethings you only wish you could forgot.
MarkV
September 11th, 2012
4:50 pm
I watched the 9/11 events on live TV while on a trip abroad, and I can never forget the feeling – the mixture of disbelief, desperation, outrage, sadness, determination, and many others. To me also it ranks side by side with the Kennedy assassination
After reading Kurt Eichewald’s column in NYT, I find the most significant words at the end in the answer about whether the attack could have been stopped: “We can’t ever know.” But I find a different meaning of those words. We can never know all the events, actions, inactions and circumstances that might have changed the course of this and other histories. And I find the efforts to use the 9/11 tragedy as a political tool – from either side – rather indecent. The most political I could go with this issue would be to remind everybody to be careful about putting blame on others just because something happens on their watch.
Dearie
September 11th, 2012
4:50 pm
Great column!
Michael H. Smith
September 11th, 2012
4:56 pm
If when you write a blog on what do you think could have been done to avoid the attacks of 9/11 Kyle I’ll be glad to weigh in but now is neither the time or place, so I’ll bid all a pleasant evening.
Interested Observer
September 11th, 2012
4:56 pm
Kyle linked to a response about the piece describing the Bush Administrations’ lack of vigilance in the weeks and months leading up to 9/11. The original piece stated that “some in the administration considered the [terrorist attacks] warning to be just bluster.” Among many bad defenses, the best defense that the above article had to offer was, “this is undoubtedly earth-shattering news to those who didn’t bother to read the 9/11 Commission Report (published in 2004), in which these warnings were first disclosed.”
This argument seems to say, “They screwed up, but we already knew that, so why should we care?” Seems to me that we should care.
Actually, however, we didn’t already know what the Times article reports. The Times article informs us that the neo-cons in the Bush administration did not take the threat of terrorist attacks seriously, despite cries from the CIA to do so, because Bush and friends thought that bin Laden was faking the threat of a possible attack specifically to draw their attention away from Iraq. Seriously. That’s what it says.
If true (key words), then this is disturbing on so many levels. The level of incompetence, negligence, and pure stupidity among Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and friends would way beyond anything than most of us can fathom.
Dusty
September 11th, 2012
4:56 pm
Well, if we must fuss about something, I’ll add my two cents: DO NOT GO TO EMORY BY WAY OF NORTH DECATUR ROAD!
Have you ever been sailing along and all of a sudden: Voila! a big orange sign with big arrows! ONE LANE TRAFFIC AHEAD! and suddenlhy you are in a two lane mad car stampede of slow moving thousands (I exaggerate slightly!) One line moves a few feet. Then the other line moves a few feet. All that when you have miles to go.
Then there were the big yellow snorting digging racing tooting dumping machines and the magnificent discharge of cement trucks.a thrill with many moments to enjoy!
Maybe it is the REVENGE OF TSPLOST!! THE DAUNTLESS DOT!!! The Hard Hat Avenger!
Ok..I made it. I’ll do better next time. I think I will try Briarcliff Road. Anybody know where the demon yellow trucks are headed next?
(Now Kyle will probably give me a “ticket” for blocking traffic here. )
Dusty
September 11th, 2012
5:03 pm
MarkV 4:50
I liked that.
@@
September 11th, 2012
5:05 pm
I’ve been there, Dusty.
Have you ever been sailing along and all of a sudden: Voila! a big orange sign with big arrows! ONE LANE TRAFFIC AHEAD!
I don’t wait for someone to give me a spot…I take it!
Haven’t been hit yet. Alot of horn blowing…I just give ‘em a “THANK YOU” wave.
InAtl
September 11th, 2012
5:06 pm
@Interested Observer: “The Times article informs us that the neo-cons in the Bush administration did not take the threat of terrorist attacks seriously, despite cries from the CIA to do so, because Bush and friends thought that bin Laden was faking the threat of a possible attack specifically to draw their attention away from Iraq. Seriously. That’s what it says. ”
So that means it must be true? Anytime I see the word “neocons,” I laugh and realize someone is not making a serious point. Did you not see Kyle’s link to the rebuttal to the ridiculous, ill-timed and inflammatory Times hit piece?
markie mark
September 11th, 2012
5:07 pm
wow…I think the Falling Man story is the saddest thing I ever read…..I had no clue that many people jumped……damn, just damn
@@
September 11th, 2012
5:07 pm
Oops!
I just give ‘em a “THANK YOU” wave.
With all five fingers in case anyone is wonderin’.
InAtl
September 11th, 2012
5:12 pm
Kyle, I’ve made two posts that disappeared. What’s up with that?
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
September 11th, 2012
5:14 pm
Interested Observer: If true (key words), then this is disturbing on so many levels. The level of incompetence, negligence, and pure stupidity among Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and friends would way beyond anything than most of us can fathom.
—————–
But you don’t find it disturbing that Clinton could have easily disrupted al Qaeda by taking out bin Laden on the several occasions he easily could have, and you don’t find it disturbing that al Qaeda planned, trained for, and began carrying out the 9/11 attacks on his watch, and Clinton did nothing? Even after the Cole bombing?
Your post on this is pure partisan hypocrisy.
Seems to me that al Qaeda was at war with us for some time before we took them seriously. Our President Bush inherited this mess and had no actionable information to act on that would have enabled Him to prevent the attacks. “Al Qaeda determined to attack? Put the country in lockdown!”
He did a great job reforming our intelligence-gathering and anti-terror efforts in response to 9/11, which we are benefiting from today. He brought democracy to 50 million people who didn’t have it before. The Arab Spring is an echo of those efforts and will, in time, make most or all of the Middle East freer and more peaceful.
getalife
September 11th, 2012
5:16 pm
Told ya they could not give it a rest.
getalife
September 11th, 2012
5:18 pm
At least, Romney did give it a rest today.
So did our President.
Interested Observer
September 11th, 2012
5:27 pm
RE: “But you don’t find it disturbing that Clinton could have easily disrupted al Qaeda by taking out bin Laden on the several occasions…
People have short memories. Clinton tried to kill bin Laden, and Republicans criticized him at the time for doing so.
Rep. Dick Armey, GOP majority leader: “The suspicion some people have about the president’s motives in this attack [on bin Laden] is itself a powerful argument for impeachment,” Armey said in a statement. “After months of lies, the president has given millions of people around the world reason to doubt that he has sent Americans into battle for the right reasons.”
GOP Sen. Dan Coats: Coats, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement, “While there is clearly much more we need to learn about this attack [on bin Laden] and why it was ordered today, given the president’s personal difficulties this week, it is legitimate to question the timing of this action.”
Wall Street Journal editorial: “It is dangerous for an American president to launch a military strike, however justified, at a time when many will conclude he acted only out of narrow self-interest to forestall or postpone his own impeachment.”
The list goes on and on.
Kyle Wingfield
September 11th, 2012
5:29 pm
InAtl: I’ve pushed it through.
@@
September 11th, 2012
5:30 pm
Getalife:
You and what-his-name up ^^^ there started it.
I will say that since 2001, we’ve lost three of those special needs children. Complications with their disabilities/syndromes will often cut their lives short.
While I mourn their loss, it’s their sheer determination to overcome obstacles that inspires me.
I consider myself fortunate for having known them.
No doubt, anyone attached to the victims of September 11, 2001 feel the same way.
I hold it true, whate’er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.–Lord Tennyson–In Memoriam