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thedrifter
09-10-04, 06:16 AM
Patriot Day honors 9-11 anniversary
Submitted by: MCRD Parris Island
Story Identification #: 2004999144
Story by Cpl. Matt Barkalow



MCRD/ERR PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. (Sept. 10, 2004) -- "Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts ... these acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong."

These words spoken by President George W. Bush in his address to the nation on the evening of Sept. 11, 2001, described a series of events that transpired earlier that day that would prove to change America and its people.

Approximately 3,000 lives were lost as a result of the terrorist attacks against the United States that day, and many more lives were altered or impacted, either directly or indirectly.

In the months after this tragic day in American history, citizens of our nation flew American flags outside their homes, on their cars and in public memorials. It brought about a sense of national pride and unity that had not been seen since the days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor more than 60 years ago.

This event also changed operations within our military and saw Marines deploy to Afghanistan in support of the Global War on Terrorism. It is important to praise the sacrifices made by our servicemen and women.

Saturday, designated Patriot Day by President Bush, is the third anniversary of this life-altering event that, to many, is still fresh within their memories and prayers. Although there are no public memorials scheduled to commemorate Sept. 11 aboard the Depot, all are encouraged to observe this occasion and what it has meant to American society over the last three years.

In the words of President Bush, "none of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20049994320/$file/pentagonflag(L).jpg

Service members, firefighters and other workers drape the American flag over a section of the Pentagon Sept. 12, 2001. As a result of terrorist attacks at the Pentagon the day before, more than 120 people were killed at that site.
On Sept. 11, 2002, President George W. Bush proclaimed Sept. 11 as Patriot Day, a time to remember and honor those who perished in the terrorist attacks the year prior. All flags should be flown at half staff and observances should include remembrance services and candlelight vigils.
Photo by: Courtesy Photo

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/7C6E7A0B869F797885256F0A0048B322?opendocument

Ellie

thedrifter
09-10-04, 06:16 AM
Falling Bodies, a 9/11 Image Etched in Pain
By KEVIN FLYNN and JIM DWYER

Published: September 10, 2004


hree years later, they remain open questions, and many people wonder if firm answers would lead to more pain or less, to practical lessons for society or to just a spectacle for the morbidly curious.

How many people jumped from the upper floors of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11?

Why did so many more people jump from the north tower than the south?

What floors did they come from?

Who were they?

The attack on the World Trade Center was one of the most observed catastrophes in history, and those who fell or jumped from the towers were, briefly, its most public victims. They emerged one or two at a time from a blanket of smoke and fire that rendered mass death virtually invisible. Nearly all the others killed that day - whether high in the trade center, on board the hijacked airplanes or deep inside the Pentagon - were beyond the sight of survivors and witnesses.

Those who came through the windows of the towers provided the starkest, most harrowing evidence of the desperate conditions inside. Since then, though, they have largely vanished from consideration. Newspapers rarely publish images of the falling people. Evacuation studies concentrated on the accounts of survivors.

The 9/11 Commission, which has compiled the most detailed history of the day, mentioned those who jumped only as they affected the people on the streets below.

Even now, there has been less fact-finding than guesswork. Some researchers say more than 200 people most likely fell or jumped to their death. Others say the number is half that, or fewer. None have been officially identified.

For the families of those who died, these uncertainties are bound to a sprawling spectrum of contradictory sentiments, impulses, and reluctance about examining this specific wound. Some raised questions about the manner of a loved one's death in meetings at the medical examiner's office, during the identification process, and continue to ponder it; others never pursued the matter in any public fashion.

"I want to know everything," said Liz Alderman, whose son, Peter, was last seen at a breakfast conference in the north tower. Peter Alderman sent out an e-mail at 9:25 a.m., reporting intense smoke on the 106th floor. What happened after that remains a mystery.

"The most important thing I will never know," Ms. Alderman said. "I won't know how much he suffered and I won't know how he died. I travel back into that tower a lot and I try to imagine, but there is no imagining."

Still others say they have learned to live with such uncertainties. They are not convinced that exploring the question of who jumped, and from where, is likely to produce anything more than sorrow.

Bill Doyle, the outreach director for WTC United Family Group, whose son Joseph died in the north tower, said many people cannot bear the topic. "A lot of them are still suffering," he said. "They don't want to be reminded that someone might have jumped."

A number of families discussed the question in interviews, but asked not to be quoted, concerned with what children might think of a lost parent, or worried about causing distress to other families, or believing that any words would be inadequate.

Gauging the Fires

As part of the major federal investigation into the collapse of the towers, investigators from the National Institute of Standards and Technology are reviewing amateur and professional videotapes that recorded many of the people who jumped or fell. "What data we have in this area are being used to better understand the movement and behavior of the fire and smoke in the towers, and that analysis will be in our final report in December," said Michael Newman, a spokesman for the agency.The researchers are not trying to track individual identities, but to gauge the strength and speed of the fires. The number, location and time that people jumped could provide important clues on where the heat had grown particularly intense, according to Glenn Corbett, a professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Those who dropped from the windows provide powerful testimony on another major line of inquiry: the adequacy of the exits. Each floor had three exits to serve an acre of space -- or roughly the area occupied by a football field, perched more than 1,000 feet above the ground. In the north tower, all three stairways became impassable from the 92nd floor and up after the plane hit. As for the south tower, two of the three stairways were destroyed around the 78th floor.

"In the south tower, did they jump because they didn't know the stairwell existed, or because the path to the stairwell was blocked?" said Dr. Robyn Gershon, director of an evacuation study being done by Columbia University. "If the communications that day had been better, what might have been different?"

More than 1,000 people who survived the plane crashes, many on floors distant from the impact, had no way out.

Federal authorities reported that during the designing of the towers, the Port Authority dropped plans to use an earlier building code that would have required six stairways in each tower, and turned for economic reasons to the more lax requirements of a later code that required only three stairways. By building fewer staircases, it could make more of each floor available for rent.

Apart from the implications for public safety and policy, it is not difficult to understand why people have been loath to confront the topic.

Police helicopter pilots have described feeling helpless as they hovered along the buildings, watching the people who piled four and five deep into the windows, 1,300 feet in the air. Some held hands as they jumped. Others went alone. As the numbers grew, said Joseph Pfeifer, a fire battalion chief in the north tower lobby, he tried to make an announcement over the building's public address system, not realizing it had been destroyed.

"Please don't jump," he said. "We're coming up for you."

Almost instinctually on Sept. 11, people recognized that they had an unfortunate view into an intensely private matter, an unseemly intrusion not just into someone's death, but into the moment of their dying. American broadcast networks generally avoided showing people falling. A sculpture that depicted a victim, known as "Tumbling Woman," was removed from display at Rockefeller Center after one week.

Some commentators later remarked that those who had fallen had made one brave final decision to take control of how they would perish. Researchers say many people had no choice. Witness accounts suggest that some people were blown out. Others fell in the crush at the windows as they struggled for air. Still others simply recoiled, reflexively, from the intense heat.

A spokeswoman for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said the city agency had not classified any of the dead as "jumpers," a term used when people jump to their deaths, because the people were forced from the buildings.

"This should not be really thought of as a choice," said Louis Garcia, New York City's chief fire marshal. "If you put people at a window and introduce that kind of heat, there's a good chance most people would feel compelled to jump."

continued.....

thedrifter
09-10-04, 06:17 AM
Temperatures in pockets of the buildings rose to more than 1,000 degrees, sufficient to weaken steel, according to researchers. The first people jumped or fell from the upper floors of the north tower just minutes after the impact of American Airlines Flight 11. The heat reached people on the upper floors long before the flames. Some of those trapped reported that the floor itself had grown so hot they had to stand on their desks, according to a fire official.

"The heat was absolutely phenomenal," said Dr. Guylene Proulx, who studies human behavior in fires for the National Research Council of Canada. "If you have ever burned your finger, you know how much that hurts and how you pull away. In the trade center, it was such a hot fire. It was impossible to think you might survive. Why suffer a minute longer when it is so unbearable? It may have appeared to be the best thing to stop the pain, when the window is shattered and the opening is there."

Last week researchers who study human behavior in fire gathered for a three-day conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland. While five of the major papers presented at the conference dealt with the fires in the towers, none of them touched on the subject of people who fell or jumped, said Dr. Proulx. "The focus is on the survivors and what made them successful or impeded their evacuation," she said.

Dr. Proulx noted that people rarely die by falling or jumping from high-rise fires. Far more common, she said, is that people will find a refuge where the heat can be endured. And indeed, in scores of phone calls that continued until the last minutes, people reported that they had gathered in conference rooms or offices that were protected from fire by walls. In areas with few or no walls, the flames burned for about 20 minutes before moving to the next space, the National Institute of Standards and Technology reported in June: "This spread was generally continuous because of the even distribution of combustibles throughout the floors and the lack of interior partitions."

While the institute has made public more than 1,000 pages of documents from its continuing investigation, it has not yet had any public discussion of the people who dropped from the building. "There will be reference to it in the final report," Mr. Newman said, acknowledging the delicacy of the topic. "I don't know how exact the count will be."

On March 25, 1911, at one of the worst fires of the early 20th century, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory blaze in Greenwich Village, young women and men jumped to their deaths from windows on the ninth floor because they were unable to reach or open any of the three exits. Witness accounts of the desperate scenes transformed American politics.

Even so, officials never specified how many of the 146 victims died in falls. "There was not even a reliable list of the dead," David Von Drehle writes in "Triangle," (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003) an acclaimed account of the fire and its aftermath. William Gunn Shepherd, a reporter who happened to be in Washington Square when the fire started, counted 54 people who had jumped or fallen to the sidewalk.

Seeking the Cause

In catastrophic high-rise fires, investigators typically seek the cause of death, whether from burns, smoke or falling. Of the 85 people killed in 1980 at a fire at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, for example, one jumped from the building, according to a report by the medical examiner for Clark County, Nev. The fire at the Schomburg Plaza apartment complex in Harlem in March 1987 killed seven people, including three young people who fell from their apartment on the 33rd floor.

Several organizations have tried to estimate the number of people who fell or jumped on Sept. 11. In 2002, reporters for The New York Times, using a collection of videotapes, counted 50 people who fell or jumped. That tally did not include falling shapes that could not be identified with confidence as human. Later that year, USA Today, using a method that included eyewitness accounts, said the number was probably greater than 200.

A vast majority of those who fell or jumped came from the north tower, perhaps because many more people were trapped on far fewer floors than in the south tower. The north tower was hit first, from the 93rd to the 99th floor, about 15 floors higher than the south tower.

The 16 minutes between plane strikes gave large numbers of people from the south tower time to flee, an opportunity that many took, survivors said, after being frightened by the sight of people falling from the north tower. In addition, the south tower, though hit second, collapsed first, just 57 minutes after being struck, before deterioration had spread as widely.

In both towers, the people and debris that fell forced officials to reroute the evacuation, away from the plaza between the buildings. Two of the three stairwells in each building ended at the mezzanine level, where people were supposed to exit onto the plaza. With the plaza no longer a safe option, officials were forced to direct thousands of people down an additional level to the underground shopping concourse. Once there, they were steered by police officers and security guards along the improvised escape route.

Whatever form future research takes, it is unlikely to try to identify those who died by falling from the buildings. No one survived from the floors where people jumped. Photographs were typically taken from too far away to capture faces. The medical examiner's office said it was hard to distinguish the sorts of injuries suffered in a fall from those received by people who were crushed in a collapse.

Families on their own, however, have pored over the pictures that show people marooned on the upper floors. At times, they have seized on a feature of dress or mannerism as a clue to identity. In the months after Sept. 11, The Times published a picture of people visible at broken windows in the north tower. Two women who saw the picture said they believed strongly that a man in the photograph, the same man, was their husband.

Two years ago, Mr. Doyle recalled, he tried to help two other women who felt they, too, had recognized their husbands in a picture of the north tower's upper floors. Mr. Doyle happened to know the photographer and he took the women to a studio in Chinatown, where they studied a blown-up version. They did not know the men, after all.

"I don't know what these wives would have done," he said, "if that had been their husbands hanging out the window."

Suzanne McCabe, whose brother, Michael, worked on the 104th floor of the north tower, says she has no idea what happened to him. She has heard he may have tried to get to the roof. She says she tries to absorb new information at a measured pace. For her, detailed knowledge about what happened to her brother, even painful knowledge, would ultimately serve as balm. "The truth hurts," she said, "but it also heals."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/10/nyregion/10jumpers.html?hp=&pagewanted=all&position=


Ellie

thedrifter
09-10-04, 01:14 PM
Oliver North: Fighting Terror on the Home Front

September 9, 2004

Washington, D.C. - Three years ago this week, 19 radical Islamic Jihadists seized four airplanes and killed 2,996 people in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The terrorists' goal was to kill so many Americans that we would retreat from the world stage, waving the white flag of defeat. It was the same goal that motivated Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto on December 7, 1941 when his 351 aircraft bombed Pearl Harbor and killed 2,388 Americans. Both events had many of the same effects: We went immediately to war, dispatched our armed forces to fight our enemies overseas, and mobilized to protect our home front. The parallels don't stop there.

Both the December 7, 1941 surprise attack and that of September 11, 2001, rallied the American people to coalesce in the face of a terrifying threat for which we were unprepared. Both prompted Congressional investigations, a dramatic shift in government priorities and wartime reorganizations. But unlike Pearl Harbor, the September 11 assault failed to unify America's political leadership over how to protect our homeland.

During World War II, more than 150,000 "enemy aliens" - Japanese, Germans and Italians living in the United States - were rounded up and interned. The FBI and our military were granted broad powers to arrest and detain people. Those accused of being enemy spies or saboteurs were tried by military tribunals, convicted, and in most cases, executed in short order. Air raid drills, bomb shelters, rationing, blackout curtains, "sand-bag brigades" and reminders that "loose lips sink ships" were routine for American civilians and endorsed by politicians of every political stripe throughout World War II. Not so for the War on Terror.

In an effort to redress gaping holes in our nation's domestic security, in June 2002, President George W. Bush asked for authority to create a new Cabinet department accountable for protecting the homeland and improving the safety of American citizens in this new war. On November 25, 2002, after months of acrimonious and partisan debate over union rights and meaningless "riders," the Congress finally passed the Homeland Security Act.

Just two months later, in the largest government reorganization since the Department of Defense was created in 1947, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) went into operation - placing responsibility for the activities of 22 Federal agencies and 183,000 government employees on the shoulders of one person - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. Since then, Mr. Ridge, former governor of Pennsylvania and decorated Vietnam combat veteran, has been in the crosshairs of a hostile media and the minority party in Congress. And now that we're in the midst of a presidential election, the sniping has become a barrage.

Is the criticism fair? Has the Department of Homeland Security made us any safer? Is the color-coded terrorism risk alert system being used for political purposes as some allege? Have the numerous problems of coordination, communication and cooperation identified by the 9-11 Commission been fixed? Are taxpayers getting their money's worth from the $33 billion DHS budget ($41 billion next year)?




These are some of the questions that Fox News assigned me to answer on this third anniversary of the 9-11 attack. Secretary Ridge opened the door to our War Stories producers and camera teams, granting unprecedented access to investigate literally any aspect of DHS activities, with only one pre-condition: that we would not reveal any tactic or procedure that might increase our vulnerability. That's the same guideline we use in covering U.S. combat units in Iraq and Afghanistan, so we agreed - and spent the last three weeks crisscrossing America to prepare a detailed report card on how well we're being protected from those who seek to kill us.

For a complete exposition on what dozens of federal, state and local officials told and showed us, watch the documentary special, "The War on Terror: The American Home Front" (Fox News Channel, Sunday, 8:00 PM EDT). Here it is in brief:

- Contrary to press reports, the Homeland Security Operations Center is today a streamlined, high tech, facility, staffed 24/7, where all relevant terror intelligence is fused and disseminated to those who can act on it - even local law enforcement.

- New terror attacks have been thwarted - numerous times - though little is reported about these "success stories."

- The merger of diverse agencies like the Coast Guard, Customs Service, Immigration, Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration and Border Patrol has improved protection of our 7,500 mile-long borders, air, ground and mass transit systems, ports of entry, waterways, freight railways and computer infrastructure.

- We have stockpiled a billion doses of antibiotics and vaccines, including enough smallpox vaccine for every man, woman and child in America, and DHS has created a "national medicine cabinet" that can be shipped anywhere in the United States in 12 hours.

- DHS has spent $500 million improving infrastructure security; $350 million to develop nuclear and bioterrorism defenses; $373 million on new border security equipment, and $13.1 billion to equip the nation's first responders for terrorism preparedness.

- "Curb to cockpit," air safety has been enhanced by 6,200 hardened cockpit doors, 6,800 new passenger screening devices, thousands of Air Marshals and pilots packing heat.

- More than 500,000 "first responders" have received new training and equipment to mitigate the consequences of a terror attack.

- American civilians are calling in "terror tips" and assembling their own "Preparedness kits."

- Some of the best minds in America - scientists I call "MacGyvers with Ph.D.s" - are working on high tech solutions to explosive detection, WMD protection and the challenges of disarming terror devices.

Bottom line: In the three years since September 11, thanks to the DHS, we're a lot safer. Is it perfect? No. But as Secretary Ridge told me last week, "We have to be right - in every decision we make - at the borders, at the airports, over a billion times a year. The terrorists only have to be right once."

http://www.military.com/NewContent1/0,14361,FreedomAlliance_090904,00.htm


Ellie

thedrifter
09-10-04, 03:08 PM
September 10, 2004

New ships to honor Sept. 11, 2001 attack sites

Associated Press


The Navy announced it will name two planned ships after the places where two of the planes hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001, crashed. The USS Arlington will be named for Arlington, Va., where the Pentagon is. The USS Somerset will be named for the county in Pennsylvania where it is believed hijackers deliberately crashed their plane after passengers rose up against them.
The ships are amphibious transport docks, the eighth and ninth of the San Antonio class. Each will have a crew of 363 people and will be capable of carrying 699 Marines.

The Arlington and Somerset will be built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in New Orleans, the Navy said.

“The courage and heroism of the people aboard those flights, and in the Pentagon, will never be forgotten by the American people, and as these ships engage in combating terrorism, they will leave a legacy that will never be forgotten by those wishing to do harm to this country,” said Navy Secretary Gordon England in announcing the names of the vessels.

An earlier ship of the same class was named USS New York after the site of the World Trade Center attacks.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-347185.php


Ellie

thedrifter
09-10-04, 10:10 PM
September 10, 2004
Freedom Flag To Be Flown At 1,000+ Schools, From Virginia To Australia, Sept. 10th
Flag design becomes official state icon and worldwide symbol

by Chip Harris
Special to Henderson Hall News


RICHMOND, Va. - The Freedom Flag, Virginia's official state symbol of remembrance for 9/11 created by Richard Melito of Richmond, will be raised at more than 1000 schools internationally on the eve of the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11.

"Young people need to be reminded how fragile our freedom truly is,"said Richard Melito, president of the Freedom Flag Foundation. "Our efforts to make this flag a state symbol of remembrance in Virginia, andhopefully soon an official national symbol for the U.S., is our way of promoting education about our freedoms and honoring those people who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks three years ago."

The confirmed listing of schools and businesses that will raise the Freedom Flag on Friday, September 10, includes 750 in Virginia and 250 more in Washington D.C., New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Iowa, South Carolina, North Carolina and Nevada. The Foundation has also received confirmation from around the globe that the flag will fly at schools in London, Afghanistan, Canada and Australia.

The Freedom Flag Foundation was established in May, 2002 as a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization to help support the Freedom Flag's use as an educational tool and to work toward securing the flag as a national symbol of remembrance.

"We promised as a nation to 'never forget' and we're committed to honoring that promise by creating a Patriot Day tradition in schools of flying the Freedom Flag just below the American Flag," said Chip Harris, executive director of The Freedom Flag Foundation. "It's important that we keep the memories of the victims and heroes of 9/11 within our nation's conscience," he said.

Virginia Power, one of the nation's largest energy producers, will fly the Freedom Flag on both the plaza and roof of its 22-story corporate offices in downtown Richmond. For more information about Dominion's participation, go to http://www.dom.com/news/dom2003/pr0910.jsp .

In the Richmond, Virginia area, there will be a ceremonial Freedom Flag raising at Hanover High School at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, September 10 featuring such notable speakers as Dr. Randy Barrack, Executive Director of the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals and Dr. Jo Lynne DeMary, State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Commonwealth of Virginia. The public and the media are invited to attend.

There will also be a memorial dedication and Freedom Flag presentation at Freedom High School in Woodbridge, Virginia on Saturday, September 11 at 8:30 a.m.

For more information, please visit www.freedomflagfoundation.us

About The Freedom Flag Foundation:

The Freedom Flag Foundation was formed in the Commonwealth of Virginia on May 15, 2002. Its mission is to establish the Freedom Flag as a national symbol of remembrance for September 11, 2001, and tosupport the educational efforts of teaching future generations about thetragic events and many lives lost on that date.

http://www.dcmilitary.com/marines/hendersonhall/9_35/national_news/31052-1.html

Ellie

MillRatUSMC
09-11-04, 01:50 AM
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/
On this day in 2001 a few hours from now an evil visited our shores.
Many innocents died on this day at the hand of evil.
The main architect behind that attack is alive in either Pakistan or Afghanistan.
I wrote something the other day, it had to do with bin linden being alive, he almost a beacon of hope to many in that part of the world.
As long as he alive and not captured, he makes mockery of all well intended measures.
He's living prove that our technology can be overcomed.
Just like the Ho Chi Minh trail was to the Communist's North Vietnam.
We pray for all whose died on this day in 2001 in New York City Twin Towers , the Pentagon and Flight 93 in Pennsylvania...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

thedrifter
09-11-04, 07:06 AM
New Yorkers reflect, remember 9-11 with help of Quantico Marine Band <br />
Submitted by: New York City Public Affairs <br />
Story Identification #: 2004910181619 <br />
Story by Cpl. Beth Zimmerman <br />
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NEW YORK...

thedrifter
09-11-04, 09:54 AM
Parents To Read 9/11 Names
Associated Press
September 11, 2004

NEW YORK - On the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, dignitaries, community leaders and relatives of victims stood at ground zero and gave voice to the names of the dead. Last year, the children of victims took up that task. And on Saturday, once again, the names of the 2,749 people lost in the World Trade Center attack were to be read aloud - this time by parents and grandparents of those lost in the attacks three years ago.

Like both times before, the ceremony will pause four times for moments of silence, marking the exact minute of each plane crash and tower collapse.

Nancy Brandemarti, who has never attended the ground zero remembrance, will read a poem for her son, Nicky Brandemarti, a financial analyst who died just weeks before his 22nd birthday.

"Every day is hard, but this day is a little bit harder," she said. "This day is just a day to think about him."

After the first moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., names will be read in alphabetical order, pausing at 9:03, 9:59 and 10:29 a.m.

At the Pentagon, where 184 people were killed that day by another hijacked plane, officials were to lay a wreath and observe a moment of silence. In Pennsylvania, bells will toll across the state at the minute the fourth plane went down, killing the 40 passengers and crew killed aboard Flight 93.

Nationwide, communities will observe Sept. 11 in their own ways, with services at local firehouses, memorial dedications, bell-ringing events and flag ceremonies.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was scheduled to participate in the ground zero remembrance, said parents and grandparents were asked to lead the ceremony because the city wants to "acknowledge their great sacrifice and thank them for helping all of us to shoulder the loss." His predecessor, Rudolph Giuliani, New York Gov. George Pataki and New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey were also expected to deliver readings.

During the ceremony, families will be able to walk down a ramp to the footprints of the towers. The area, seven stories below street level, is considered sacred ground by many. It was there that rescue workers combed the debris with rakes, painstakingly searching for the tiniest fragments of human remains.

Three years later, work still continues to identify the 20,000 pieces of human remains that were recovered. The medical examiner's office has identified about 1,570 victims, or just 60 percent. They do not expect to match the remains of every victim because some remains were too badly damaged to yield readable DNA, and some people were essentially vaporized in the fiery collapse.

Meanwhile, much has changed at the 16-acre site.

By the first anniversary, the debris of the 110-story towers had been cleared, but there was little activity there other than construction that had begun to replace commuter train tracks. By the second anniversary, the train station was nearly complete, and it opened last November.

The redevelopment of the site has seen another major step in the last year - the laying of the cornerstone for the 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower, the skyscraper expected to be completed by 2009. The 20-ton slab of granite was laid at the site in a July 4 ceremony this summer.

Victims were to be honored at several other events in New York City on Saturday, including a Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral for fallen firefighters and the dedication of a memorial to Staten Island victims at the ferry terminal across the harbor from the trade center site.

At sundown, light beams that evoke the twin towers will be projected upward from a lot near the site, to remain on through the night. The memorial lights were first seen on March 11, 2002, to mark six months since the attack, with a plan to light them each year for the anniversary.

Ellie

thedrifter
09-11-04, 02:01 PM
09-10-2004

Reflections on a Post-9/11 World







By Matthew Dodd



“Gosh, has it been three years? On the one hand it seems like only yesterday, and on the other hand it seems like it has been a lifetime ago.”



I blurted out those thoughts to my wife when she commented to me a few days ago that we were coming up on the third anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that killed thousands of innocent Americans. Since that day, I have been thinking a lot about my life, my family, my country and our world. Let me share my perspectives.



During the recent Republican National Convention, one sound bite that has particularly stuck with me is that we are living in a post-9/11 world. We are no longer living in a pre-9/11 world. We can never go back to that pre-9/11 world. For me, our world here in the United States may look and sound a lot like the pre-9/11 world that was ripped away from us, but it will never truly feel like the pre-9/11 world that we all knew.



I am fundamentally the same pre-9/11 person I was, but I have noticed changes in the way I think about some things and how I respond to my environment since 9/11. These changes are what they are, and they help define who I am in this post-9/11 world.



I am much more emotional than I was before 9/11. I find myself getting choked up or teary-eyed a lot more when I read or hear stories about families unexpectedly losing loved ones. I am especially a lot more sensitive and empathic when those stories involve parents of small children. I believe 9/11 has deepened and strengthened the bond I feel with and for my toddler son, and for his mother, my wife.



I now look at and notice buildings and infrastructure that I used to take for granted. Instead of admiring them, I think in terms of them being potential terrorist targets. I also pay attention to large crowds and wonder about exits and escape routes. “If I were a terrorist, would I consider them a good target?” is a question I now often ponder.



I remember as a youth I would almost completely ignore the sounds and alerts of the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) when I heard them on the radio and television. Not any more. Now, whenever I hear them, I stop what I am doing and listen very closely to what they are saying. I no longer get upset when I hear that the stations are conducting tests of the EBS. What used to be an annoyance is now a source of comfort.



I have the same reactions when I hear television announcers say, “We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this special report.” I have no medical evidence to back it up, but I believe my pulse and blood pressure go up a bit in those situations.



In public areas, I try to pay attention to my surroundings more and notice anyone or anything that appears suspicious or out of place. I have interrupted my public transportation commute to and from work to report to authorities abandoned bags and packages. I also notice the presence or lack of presence of security personnel. When I do see security personnel, I often observe them to assess whether they will be more a part of the problem or a part of the solution in a crisis.



With my toddler son exploring and discovering his world, he has a boy’s natural attraction to police cars and fire trucks, especially with their lights flashing and sirens blaring. I have always respected police, firemen and emergency medical personnel, but now when my son excitedly points them out to me, there is a lot more meaning behind my words when I explain to him that “They are good people, they are our friends, they help people.”



Even now, while typing these words my mind conjured up images and memories of the heroic police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel who sacrificed so much for so many on 9/11 and the uncertain minutes, hours, days, weeks and months following the attacks. My respect for these everyday heroes has evolved into a deep admiration. It is as special for me as it is for my son when I get the chance to take him to visit a firehouse or a police station just to be around such special people.



Every time I drive by the Pentagon I inevitably think about what happened there on 9/11. Ever since 9/11, my eyes and ears are much more attuned to the sights and sounds of planes flying around the Pentagon. I have noticed others anxiously looking skyward with me and heard others anxiously relieved say, “Whew, that one seemed a little close to me.” Being stationed at the Pentagon when it was attacked taught me that anything can happen, anywhere at anytime.



Having seen and experienced terrorism in my immediate world, I believe I have a greater appreciation for the draining struggles of societies who have been plagued with terrorism’s violence for years and years. Places like Northern Ireland and the Middle East have generations of people who have lived normal lives despite the constant threat of terrorist violence. I am sure that most of the people in those places would have a tough time relating to my pre-9/11 perspectives and experiences. I am not sure who is worse off – them for not knowing what it was like for us pre-9/11, or us for knowing the difference they cannot possibly know.



President George W. Bush recently commented on whether the war on terrorism could be won. In this post-9/11 world, I believe the president should have first clarified what it meant to “win” the war on terrorism.



If winning means that you completely destroy all terrorist threats and rid the world of terrorists, then I believe the answer would be not just “No,” but a resounding, “Hell No!” From what I saw on 9/11 and all that I have learned since then, I believe that terrorism is here in this world to stay. It will never completely go away. So, if purists want to define winning the war on terrorism in these either/or terms – either you win completely or you lose completely – then we might as well get used to losing for it would be a fight we simply cannot win.



To me, winning means recognizing and taking seriously the real and violent threat of terrorism, and then committing to the long-term, proactive, aggressive, and holistic approach to confronting terrorism wherever it exists and metastasizes in order to deter, prevent, or minimize the direct threat to our homeland and our citizens. If you define winning the war on terrorism in these realistic terms, then I believe the answer must be a resounding, “Hell Yeah!”



As the terrorist attacks of 9/11 slip deeper into our history books, let us never forget that each September 11 will forever remind thousands of families of an event that permanently changed their worlds without warning and without remorse. Our fellow citizens expect no more and they deserve no less.



Lt. Col. Matthew Dodd USMC is a Senior Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at mattdodd1775@hotmail.com. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.

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Ellie

thedrifter
09-11-04, 05:10 PM
Bell tolls for victims of terror
September 11,2004
ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF

The morning colors ceremony and raising of the American Flag is a scene repeated at all U.S. military bases around the world. In many ways, it's somewhat routine.

Friday morning wasn't routine.

About 300 Marines and sailors gathered at Camp Lejeune for a memorial service to remember those killed three years ago on Sept. 11 and those who've died since in the war on terrorism that event sparked.

Col. John Wissler, 2nd FSSG operations officer, was director of the Strategic Initiatives Group in the Pentagon on 9/11. He was supposed to meet with his good friend, Navy Capt. Bob Dolan, at what became "ground zero" that morning.

By a twist of fate, Wissler's life was spared. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wanted to discuss national defense with Wissler's boss, then-Marine commandant Gen. James L. Jones. Wissler was tasked with preparing the paperwork - so he canceled on his friend, who was killed when American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon. That event occurred shortly after airliners hijacked by terrorists were deliberately flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York - toppling both and killing more than 2,000.

"(Marines) see the sense of sacrifice," Wissler said. "They have a sense of freedom, (and) it gives them a true sense of purpose. A lot of them joined the Marine Corps as a result of 9/11."

Friday morning was steamy and overcast, but moments before the ceremony began the sun peered from behind the clouds. One Marine stood at the base of a flagpole as a team of three - one of whom carried the flag folded into a tight triangle - marched single file toward her.

At precisely 8 a.m., the bell chimed four times, and up went the flag.

"It's only fitting that we commemorate Sept. 11, and it's important that we reflect on it as the greatest generation reflected on Dec. 7, 1941," said 2nd FSSG's Headquarters and Service Battalion commander Lt. Col. John Gambrino, 41, of Saint Cloud, Minn.

"For our generation, you'll probably remember 9/11 for the rest of your lives. As Americans, we fight for a cause - and it's a cause for liberty and freedom."

As some read aloud from the Bible, the faint sound of gunfire snapped in the distance as other Marines - likely preparing to deploy for the war on terrorism - practiced marksmanship at a nearby pistol range.

The bell chimed five more times for the 3,000 killed Sept. 11 and for the 1,400 U.S. service members killed subsequently in Afghanistan and Iraq. The solemn notes of "Taps" then drifted across the compound.


Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or 353-1171, Ext. 236.


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Ellie

thedrifter
09-12-04, 06:12 AM
Sept. 11 remains day of mourning
September 11,2004
DAILY NEWS STAFF

On Sept. 11, 2001, the terrible events occurring in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania seemed worlds away - unbelievable images coming our way on television.

It took a while for the full effects to settle in.

But three years later, we can look back on 9-11 and see how much it truly changed America, right down to our own lives here in Onslow County and the surrounding area.

The nation's first military response occurred in Afghanistan. And while you can't directly connect the dots between the Twin Towers' terrorists and the war in Iraq, it does not take a great leap of faith to conclude that 9-11 was the final straw in President Bush's decision to invade that country.

With that invasion has come a polarizing of America. We're now a nation divided.

We're pointing fingers at each other anew. If you're for Bush, you're a warmonger. If you're for Kerry, you're a traitor.

You either like Michael Moore, or you like Rush Limbaugh.

You're a stupid liberal, or a stupid conservative.

As the November elections approach, it will be more of the same.

And 9-11 seems to have triggered it all.

Let's stop the bickering and nastiness, just for today - a single day - and remember:

The horror of seeing first one, then another, airliner crash into the World Trade Center.

The horror of seeing people in the center having to choose how they would die - burned alive or leaping from windows.

The horror of seeing the two towers crumble and collapse.

Let us not forget:

The 2,626 innocent people inside the World Trade Center who were slaughtered in a single day by religious fanatics.

The 319 firefighters and 51 police officers killed in the line of duty that day.

The 35 flight attendants and pilots who died.

The 245 airline passengers who died.

The 125 Pentagon workers killed that day.

The Cold War may be over, but because we are Americans, we will always have enemies. There are those who want our destruction because our nation is mostly Christian. There are those who want to destroy us because we govern ourselves. And there are those who hate us simply because they hate what they do not understand.

For today, let us mourn the friends, and the freedoms, that we lost on that fateful day three years ago.

And let us mourn together.


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Ellie