World Trade Center Updates

[El Chuxter]

Originally posted by JediTricks
Hijacked not with guns or bombs, but with knives, with KNIVES!!! Puny little stupid knives, no less, not even big knives, they gained access to the cockpits and took over controls of the plane, almost certainly flying it themselves -- this is probably how it was with all of them.

In every other plane hijacking I've heard of, crew and passengers who fought back were killed. Everyone else had an unplanned detour to Iran and came home safely a few weeks later. That's probably what the passengers expected until the last minute.

Plus, at least one cell phone call said that the passengers were told that the terrorists had a bomb.

[bigbarada]

I heard a report that they found a car in the airport parking lot with instruction books on how to fly commercial airliners in Arabic and other documents in Arabic. I'm a little skeptical, unless the terrorists wanted to be found out, wouldn't they have taken all this stuff with them?

I heard another saddening story from a witness talking on the radio, he said his daughter was in school when the attacks happened and the principal called for one of the boys from her class to report to his office. The kid thought he was in trouble and went apprehensively to the principal's office. When he got there the principal handed him a telephone. On the other end was his dad, who was working on the 108th floor of the second tower to be struck. He just called his son to tell him that the tower was on fire and he didn't think he would be able to make it out and that he loved him. Then the phone cut off.

.......

[PloKoon2385]

That is horribly sad. I heard that the terrorists on the Pittsburgh one told the passengers with cell phones to call their loved ones and tell them that they were going to die. That is horrible!

[Bel-Cam Jos]

Interesting to see the amount of speculation early on. Now it appears there may be "only" 100-200 dead at the Pentagon, instead of the 800 figure given. This is why I think any decisions need a little time before flying off the handle, just not too long of a wait.

[JediTricks]

Originally posted by El Chuxter
In every other plane hijacking I've heard of, crew and passengers who fought back were killed. Everyone else had an unplanned detour to Iran and came home safely a few weeks later. That's probably what the passengers expected until the last minute.

Plus, at least one cell phone call said that the passengers were told that the terrorists had a bomb.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all condemning the hijacking victims - passengers, crewmembers, or pilots - they certainly had no idea it would go down the way it did, I'm just aghast that the FAA is still playing their new security like these are traditional terrorists with bombs that were snuck on board, but these were one of the world's first weapons invented by man. It's just shocking to me that even after this disaster, the FAA still isn't really taking it to the hoop with security measures, and certainly not fighting man's most powerful weapon, his mind. That's the worst part of all, these puny knives were just the tools of the real weapon that was struck against us, it was one sick, perverted idea that chain-reacted into the worst terrorism act on American soil.

[JEDIpartner]

I hope we are able to find that "Sumo bin Liner" guy... even if he wasn't behind all of this... he has been responsible for other attack on humanity. I don't believe he should die... maybe just forced to watch those "Ernest" movies non-stop until he does himself in... but he needs to pay for his actions.

I think that, even if it wasn't he who did this, his capture will send the message to any other terrorist groups that we mean business and they can't go hanging their **** on America!!!

[JediTricks]

- New York city has asked for a total of 11,000 bodybags, up 5,000 from their last request.

- 3 schoolchildren and their teacher were aboard the plane that was smashed into the Pentagon. They were taking a field trip to Los Angeles.

- The White House is saying that Air Force One and the White House itself were also targets in Tuesday's attack. The jet that flew into the Pentagon had been spotted circling Washington DC before the Pentagon hit may have chosen the Pentagon as an alternate target instead of the White House, secret service men were seen pointing at the circling jet from the White House lawn. However, the jet that crashed in Pennsylvania may have been en route to the White House or even to intercept Air Force One (which would have been the most difficult target, seeing as it's another moving plane with special systems and specially-trained pilots), though many are speculating that this one was on its way to destroy presidential retreat Camp David.

- It's strongly believed that at least some of the terrorist pilots were trained here in the US. News sources are saying that there were between 12 and 24 hijackers involved and 50 suspects involved in the planning, and the FBI has names of some of these suspects. It's believed that 2 of the hijackers crossed over from Canada to Maine, and then flew from Maine to Boston.

- Sources say the FBI has one of the hijacker pilot's brother who they strongly believe was connected with the attacks, and it is said he is cooperating with authorities.

- According to CNN, law enforcement sources say that they have intercepted several phone calls between members of Osama Bin Laden's terrorist group discussing the attack. Other sources say that AOL has turned over records of emails from the accounts of the suspected hijackers.

- Many middle east countries are preparing for an attack by the US on their soil. However, the attacks on Kabul, the capitol of Afghanistan, were executed from a guerilla faction in a civil war in that country.

- A mosque, an Islamic house of worship, in Texas was shot up last night in a cowardly act of hatred. There was nobody inside luckily, but this Muslim place of prayer is the site of a hateful attack most likely by Americans. This is what it means when we say that falling into this thinking of hatred and racist stereotyping brings those who commit these acts as no better than terrorists themselves. Many other Muslim believers, especially those of Middle-Eastern descent, here in Los Angeles have received hate e-mails and phone calls, and reports from New York have come in saying similar things.

- CNN says that several cell phone calls were made from the jets used in these attacks by the victims including one from the Newark to San Francisco jet which crashed into the Pennsylvania woods from a man, Jeremy Glick, who gave information to his family about the attacks, let them know that they had learned of what happened at the WTC, and the victims in the back of the plane had voted to attack the terrorists. That was the last his family heard from him, Glick and his 2-month-old son were both on the flight that plunged into the Pennsylvania countryside, possibly because some passengers including Glick decided to fight back and stop these terrorists.

- Wackos are all crawling out of the woodworks calling in bomb threats to all sorts of places. One was reported in the Empire State Building yesterday and another one claimed to be in the wounded, open area of the Pentagon -- both were hoaxes.

- Passengers who were unable to get on planes yesterday and resume their travels have taken to rental cars and trains. A train heading from LA to Chicago was involved in a crash in Utah today, however the crash was apparently an accident and so far, early reports have this being a MINOR incident without deaths, not a major wreck or terrorist act.

- Planes at LAX airport are moving onto the tarmac, flights will be allowed on a case-by-case basis and only flights that were originally diverted from their primary destinations will be in the air in order to get those passengers to their original destinations.

- (short personal rant) - As for Bin Laden and others who participated in this evil terrorist strike, I feel they should be captured and made to give up information about other terrorists so they are actually used AGAINST terrorism whether they want to or not.


--- Remember, most news outlets are very up-to-date media and don't always have time to check all facts and check the credibility of sources, so remember to watch every "this just in" story with the eye of mild speculation.

And please, let me remind you all that hate speech and hateful deeds against anybody, especially in the vein of vigilante revenge, should be discouraged and halted at all costs. Many fine, upstanding Americans are Middle-Eastern and/or Muslims and did not have anything to do with these attacks, most are just as outraged and disgusted by the horrifying deeds of cowardly terrorists as you are.

[JEDIpartner]

Yo, JT! You can count on me for support for the Arabic community here in the Cleveland, OH area.

My neighbourhood is growing with a steady stream of folks who are of Arabic descent. There were reports of restaurant owners and people in other establishments who were the targets of hate crimes.

Hel-LO!!! Were these citizens flying the planes? Are they holding your neighbourhood hostage? NO! NO! NO! Are these people not just fathers, mothers, children or other family members who have decided to live in this fantastic country of ours?? Yes they are. Let's not give them a reason to feel as many of their native counterparts do. Don't put the blame on them... only in the very rare instance will you find that one in probably a million of these folks had anything to do with what happened on Tuesday. LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!! Be nice to them!!! Support them!!! Stop making complete jackasses out of yourselves. You represnt America- don't YOU tarnish this country's respectability!!!

[bigbarada]

I heard someone at my work say they recieved an e-mail titled "Nostradamus" which lays out how Nostradamus predicted this whole incident centuries ago. I heard something like "twin giants shall fall from the sky" and the like. I checked my e-mail account and recieved nothing, did anyone else get this e-mail?

[JediCole]

Originally posted by JediTricks

- A mosque, an Islamic house of worship, in Texas was shot up last night in a cowardly act of hatred. There was nobody inside luckily, but this Muslim place of prayer is the site of a hateful attack most likely by Americans. This is what it means when we say that falling into this thinking of hatred and racist stereotyping brings those who commit these acts as no better than terrorists themselves. Many other Muslim believers, especially those of Middle-Eastern descent, here in Los Angeles have received hate e-mails and phone calls, and reports from New York have come in saying similar things.


And please, let me remind you all that hate speech and hateful deeds against anybody, especially in the vein of vigilante revenge, should be discouraged and halted at all costs. Many fine, upstanding Americans are Middle-Eastern and/or Muslims and did not have anything to do with these attacks, most are just as outraged and disgusted by the horrifying deeds of cowardly terrorists as you are.

I want to commend both Jedi Tricks who I quote here, and indeed all in the Sir Steve's community for the outpouring of support, information, and, above all, intelligent discourse on this tragic chain of events. I checked in on these forums all day Tuesday and as you can see, posted my thoughts quite often. That evening after work I compared the thoughts and feelings expressed here with those elsewhere and found that we in the Sir Steve's forums have our heads on a lot straighter than most people out there. It does us all credit, especially since we are in a fringe that is often refered to as geeks.

Now I would like to address the reports of a mosque being attacked in Texas. In fact two Islamic buildings were thusly attacked by cowards feeling that they were somehow achieving retribution for the crimes of the terrorists. One of the incidents occured in Irving, TX, a suburb of Dallas that is not far from my home. As much as it pains me to say this, I feel that those responsible for such actions are actually worse than the terrorsits. They have, in the name of patriotism and vindication become terrorists themselves, though they would never be convinced of as much. Shall we answer random acts of cowardace in kind? What really was achieved by such actions? Nothing but to justify the acts of the terrorists and feed the perception by their peers that their actions against the U.S. were correct. We become not as bad, but worse than those who did this when we succumb to such a course of action. I am going on record as condemning the actions of all who seek to right the tragedy of Tuesday through randomly attacking those of Islamic decent with disdain equal to that I feel for the terrorists. The true enemies will be revealed in time, do not seek to create new ones in their stead.