Where were you..........

[dustin]

...believe it was over after the Pentagon got hit and 93 went down in PA.

I remember waiting to see the White House or the Capital go up. I remember waiting for the next one with a sense of inevitability. I guess 93 was heading for Capital hill? Had to be. White House would be pretty tough to hit.

I was kinda shocked when nothing else happened.

Me too. I kept expecting to hear that something else had happened on the West Coast...

 

[onebdzee]

THe area that took the majority of the impact was unoccupied, in the final phases of a retrofit. There were a few construction workers doing minor repairs.

The wife of a friend of mine was one of the few government employees that was in that part of the pentagon when it was hit....she was in one of the offices that was hit the hardest

 

[Larry Gude]

Well...

Me too. I kept expecting to hear that something else had happened on the West Coast...

...I actually thought about that after the Pentagon hit. The Towers made sense; they'd already tried them in '93 and they are a huge symbol of US economic might. The Pentagon was symbolic as well as it is a worthless military target.

So, I remember thinking this attack is all about symbols, so, what else? Nothing else, nationwide, could compare to the WTC, the Pentagon and...the Capital or the WH.

Sears Tower maybe? Not as readily identifiable.
Anything in Cali? Nope.
Boston? Not really.
I thought, briefly, of Philly and the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

NYC and DC. That's the ticket.

 

[dustin]

...I actually thought about that after the Pentagon hit. The Towers made sense; they'd already tried them in '93 and they are a huge symbol of US economic might. The Pentagon was symbolic as well as it is a worthless military target.

So, I remember thinking this attack is all about symbols, so, what else? Nothing else, nationwide, could compare to the WTC, the Pentagon and...the Capital or the WH.

Sears Tower maybe? Not as readily identifiable.
Anything in Cali? Nope.
Boston? Not really.
I thought, briefly, of Philly and the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

NYC and DC. That's the ticket.

IIRC from some show on Discovery channel, Al-Zawahiri wanted to hit more targets but Bin Laden talked him out of it.... concentrating on the targets he deemed to be the best.

 

[dustin]

I still wonder why they didn't hit military targets... (ie USS Cole)

A major military asset taken out would have hurt our warfighting capabilities (although not as big of a statement as civilian casualities)

 

[rack'm]

I still wonder why they didn't hit military targets... (ie USS Cole)

A major military asset taken out would have hurt our warfighting capabilities (although not as big of a statement as civilian casualities)

Their effort is to strike terror on the people, where they work. If they were to strike Military targets, the people would feel safe at work and feel that the only threat is to the Military.


But, the Pentagon is a Military target too bud.

 

[Larry Gude]

Yeah...

IIRC from some show on Discovery channel, Al-Zawahiri wanted to hit more targets but Bin Laden talked him out of it.... concentrating on the targets he deemed to be the best.

...supposedly, there was an argument that if 4 planes was good, 10 or 20 was better and OBL nixed it worrying that it would be too complex with that many psychos running around and might get them all caught before it came off. Bad enough with 20 suicidal maniacs and four planes.

As it was, they were busted except for the Justice calling off the FBI.

 

[dustin]

Their effort is to strike terror on the people, where they work. If they were to strike Military targets, the people would feel safe at work and feel that the only threat is to the Military.


But, the Pentagon is a Military target too bud.

I was thinking asset as in something that brings forth bombs, missles and such.

 

[rack'm]

I was thinking asset as in something that brings forth bombs, missles and such.

That wouldn't fit their hit and run MO though.

 

[dustin]

That wouldn't fit their hit and run MO though.

true true...

 

[MMDad]

I was thinking asset as in something that brings forth bombs, missles and such.

They'd have to sink two battle groups and a few Air Force bases to seriously hurt our ability to bomb them into oblivion. They didn't have that firepower.

One destroyer would still have been symbolic, since we have plenty to replace any that were lost. That's one reason we have as many as we do - so we aren't short handed when one breaks or sinks.

 

[kathie54]

in school up in pennsylvania i was just an 8 yr old at the time but i do remeber the number 343

 

[Kain99]

Ahhh! Oceana! One of my most amazing experiences in my young womanhood was on that base!!!! Changed my life! Wonder where he is now..........

Thanks for wrapping an amazing memory in this sad thread.

 

[Sweet 16]

I was up late the night before when a pipe burst in my basement. I had decided to go in to work late -- I worked near the Pentagon at the time. I dropped my son off at school, but didn't have the radio on in my car. When I got home, my SIL called and told us to turn on the TV because a plane had crashed into a building in NYC. Of course, we thought it was an accident at the time. Spent the rest of the day in front of the TV, wondering if and how to tell our son what had happened. Had I gone in to work on time, Flight 77 would have flown right over me on its way to the Pentagon. Because my building housed DoD offices, they evacuated so, lucky for me, my basement flooded!

 

[wileecoyote]

I was at work across the river from the Pentagon. We saw the first 2 on the news and then had to get to work, as the whole city went into high alert. There were suspisious packages everywhere, sightings of all kinds of things in tunnels and on bridges. Oddly we watched the plane turn over the city and go into the Pentagon. It amazes me how much of that day and how we all felt seems to have drifted away. At least we were all just Americans together for a little bit. Wish everyone could pull together like that all the time.

 

[Sonsie]

I was deployed to Bosnia and my hubby was working at the pentagon. Thankfully he happened to be off work that day due to out of town relatives visiting. It was about 4pm or so there and we were glued to the tv and trying to call loved ones frantically. Thankfully hubby emailed me right away to let me know he was alive.