What happened today was not an act of terrorism. It was a declaration of war. Not against the U.S., but against every person, and every nation that believes in a democratic form of government.

I'm reminded of something that Admiral Yamamoto said, after his Japanese fleet destroyed the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, on Dec. 7, 1941;

"I fear we have done nothing more than awaken a sleeping giant."

For the next few days, we'll grieve. While we do that, let the anti-democratic people of the world celebrate in the streets. Let them talk about how they crippled us. Let them believe they won a great victory. In the end, they will pay dearly for what happened today. They cashed a check that they couldn't afford to cover.

Wolf

Dear Friends: I just recieved the news I had been praying for and that is that my son the NY Fireman is OK and back at his firehouse resting up in order to return to the WTC early tommorow to continue the search for survivors. When # 7 WTC began to collapse he & his compatriots escaped to safety before the building totally imploded. The devastation is unbelievable and it is estimated 200 NYC Firefighters died in the aftermath of the Terrorist attack. I am so grateful for my own and sick to my stomach, all day and night with worry and compassion for those who lost loved ones. The world has changed today and it will a long time before we return to carefree attitudes here in the States. I will continue to pray for Wolf's son's girlfriend and his football buddies. It is ironic that I worked on # 7 WTC in 1983 when it was just going up & my son was there in 2001 when it came crashing down. Thanks to all my MM buddies who prayed for my family.Just 12 weeks ago we had our NYC MM dinner on Charles St in The Village which is less than 1 mile from the former WTC. What a tremendous loss. Good night friends. Ski

Wolf, my heartfelt sympathies. My sympathies and prayers to all those impacted directly by these acts of blind hatred.

I do want to tie in with a previous post in saying that no matter what building was destroyed and no matter how pleased the terrorists are with themselves, they have not and cannot destroy the essence of what it is to be an American. In their blind hatred they targeted SYMBOLS of what we are...but they missed our souls and our hearts and have instead, as Wolf alluded to, brought us closer together as a nation and in that, have made us stronger.

My school stayed in session and we did our best to keep kids from going off the deep end in fearing the worst. Until we have concrete evidence, we have a faceless enemy...and we can't waste our energies on irrational behavior. I pray that as a nation we don't let ourselves become victims of this attack by hiding in fear and abandoning normalcy. When we do that, the terrorists have truly won. Instead we need to develop a survivor attitude and find a way to deal with this tragedy, learn from it, become stronger for it, and go on. May God give us the wisdom to act well.

Wolf, my sympathies to you and your family.
This terrorist act will "live in infamy", but as Colin Powell said, we are a strong nation and we will get through this. I have watched in disbelief and tried to imagine the horror the people felt. It is a tragedy for people of all nations.
la maestra, you certainly captured the essence of the American spirit-- we will unite in this time of tragedy. Please read your private message. brichards

My thought and prayers are with all the families and friends of the victims. I have spent all day in a daze because this all seems so unreal.
Besides being so sad though I also feel proud of being an American and the way our country handles itself in the face of trajedy and crisis. I have so much respect and gratitude for the firefighters, police and rescue workers that have risked their lives and many lost them to help their fellow man.

They are our truly our country's greatest heros.

Aphra, I'm glad you made the comment about the middle east and the middle eastern people in the U.S. Just because a group of fanatics from the region have done this to us does not mean we should blindly and unfairly judge all of these people and countries. Most feel as we do and are shocked and saddened. The terrorist group the U.S. believes to be associated with the attacks are not representative of the majority of middle easterns, i.e. the Taliban leadership of Afganhistan are defacto terrorists, but the common Afghan people(especially women) that live in daily terror of their own militant government are victims themselves. We must resist the temptation to prejudge.

My heart is with you all.

[ 09-12-2001: Message edited by: Jaime ]

[ 09-12-2001: Message edited by: Jaime ]

To all in the USA, I think that I can speak for those of us in Australia in giving our condolences and, at this time, long distance, support in your hour of distress.

I am still in a state of utter disbelief over this cowardly act by International Criminals (you will note that I refrain from calling them Terrorists) but from what I have seen, the people who are prepared to die for their cause (ie in this case Extremely Militant Islamic Ideologies), in a Terrorist Act, believe that by being claimed as a Martyr they will ensure life in Heaven and live in Paradise. To call them a "Criminal" means that they will not become a Martyr.

I was watching TV at 11.00PM last night when the first reports came filtering through, and watched in shock as first one Tower and then the other collapsed.

I can only hope that the World unites in assisting the USA in hunting these criminals down and punishing them. The sooner the World does this, the better place the World will be. When my wife woke this morning I broke the sad news to her and she broke down in tears for both the innocent victims and the USA as a country. I can only reiterate what our (Australian) Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, said from Washington (He's on a visit there to see Pres. Bush), that our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and the American people and that you are not alone in this struggle. We stand with you and will give your country whatever help we can in tracking down and punishing these criminals.

David

I looked down from the Observation Deck of the World Trade Center and saw helicopters flying down along the river (nevermore!).
That was years ago. I have relatives who worked there (no word yet). It's a sad, sad day for America (and the world)!

It was a well coordinated series of attacks carried out with military precision: A rare feature to find in the work of a madman! It may have taken months to get all the 'pieces in place' for these attacks. That tells us that those who carried them out were working under a cloak if security (in Boston or NYC?)for weeks or months that U.S. intelligence failed to penetrate.

As for whodunit: My guess is Saddam Hussein. He's not the one the Intelligence community suspects; but he has the resources and he's not short on hatred for the U.S.

Osama Bin Laden is an Engineer. One would think that if he were to devise such a plan of attack, it would be on infrastructure targets (bridges, tunnels, etc.).

I just want to express the complete shock and deepest sympathy for the innocent victims we all feel here in the UK witnessing these incredible scenes. I have many American friends and colleagues here at work. One friend has 2 brothers in Manhattan who live and work near the WTC. Incredibly he managed to contact both by phone and email (one was sheltering in the basement of his building as the towers started to collapse). We are all in a state of shock.

May I extend my deepest personal condolences to all American (and other) members of our little virtual community caught up in these terrible, devastating events.

What will survive of us is love.

George.

I send you all my love and thoughts at this very difficult time.

Here in the UK, it all feels unreal, but very scary.

Love and sympathy.

Jo-Anne

Hello to all,

Exactly 12 months ago I was having a beer in the Windows of The World restaurant in the last floor of the north tower.

I used to take the Path every day from Pavonia-Newport to the WTC, arriving there at about 9.00. The office where I used to work in is exactly in front of the tower that was hitted the first (North Tower of the World Financial Center).

While all these was happening I was speaking to a friend that was working at 222 Broadway (1 block away). He had to finish the conversation when the second plane crashed.

This seems so unreal and scary I couldn't even eat today.