wtc and pentagon incident

[Guest guest]

I was absolutely horrified to turn on the TV to the Today show at around

11 and find two major U.S. landmarks had been suicide bombed or

suicide-crashed (they will probably coin a new term for this level of

terrorism today).

I sat there and cried for a good hour, then when I saw the WTC

clollapse, I was in complete shock. Those poor poor innocent people and

those trying to save who they could from the area all in harms way, many

likely dead. It makes me ill to think of it.

I get Boston and NY TV stations here in NS and even the canadian ones

have been providing constant coverage. Not only is there the devastation

of the WTC and the Pentagon but four major airline crashes - all

involving innocent people. We had our own tragedy here 3 years ago when

a Swiss Air jet went down 90 minutes from me killing all aboard. Once

something like that happens near you, it is like something has been lost

and that things are never entirely the same. Nearly all the focus has

been on the trade center and Pentagon but there are 4 additional

tragedies - what happend to those on the airplanes. One has to wonder

where that fourth plane would have targeted had it not crashed. They had

the brother of one of the pilots killed giving a newsconference and it

was just heart breaking. They also said the executive producer of

Frasier was one of those killed in one of the two planes hitting the

trade center

They also had new video on at supper time showing the second plane

literally slicing through and being absorbed into the second tower. What

mighty buildings those towers must have been to withstand what they did

and stay standing for about an hour after being hit by planes.

Hopefully, many got out of both of those towers immediately after the

first crash. It was truly heartbreaking seeing people leaning out of

windows high up in the trade center and hearing others say later they

had seen some jump. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Words fail me - I feel

so sorry for all the innocent peole, probably thousands of them and the

fire, police, paramedics, and hospital staff struggling to deal with the

situation and its aftermath, which will likely last for weeks. There

have been remarkable survival stories out of other disasters, people

found under rubble of buildings days later - lets hope for a few of

those miracles out of todays disasters.

Living in a peaceful and peaceloving country (Canada), I have been

fortunate not to know true war or acrimony in my lifetime. NY and DC are

just too close and after reading a huge book on the holocaust which

opened my eyes to terrible things that weren't taught in school, I was

that much more grateful to be where I am. And today, more grateful. In

my lifetime there has never been an assault on American or Canadian

soil. Any battles have always been overseas. It is just beyond my

understanding what would possess anyone to inflict mass violence on

innocents. It would be one thing to go after the politicians who make

decisions (that would be bad enough) but it is true cowardice to

knowingly bring innocent people into one's twisted idealism and injure

and kill them. It is truly cowardly to use innocent people as a weapon

to kill more innocent people. I am sure these hijackers thought they

would become martyrs. I hope they get a nasty surprise when they come to

and realize they are in hell and not where they expected...These things

done in the name of " religion " . Don't their religions respect life and

the " thou shalt not kill " concept?

I don't think things wille ver truly be the same again after this - not

just in the U.S.

As peaceloving as I am, I feel anyone committing such an act needs to be

hunted down and made to pay the ultimate price. Having accomplished

damage like this is nothing to be proud of. It is a wonder somone isn't

gloating about it by now. Funny the number one suspects haven't at least

gone on record as DENYING involvement (the suspects were Iran, Irag, Bin

Laden and some Palestinian group). It would be suicide to claim

responsibility but if one didn't do it, get out there and publicize it.

There are always renegades and it wouldn't surpirse me if someone went

after Bin Laden or the others. They just had on TV that there was some

sort of exlposion and fire in Afghanistan

The airport here in Halifax received several of the diverted flights and

there were pleas on the TV stations for citizens to take the temporarily

displaced tourists in. I tried to call several times but couldn't get

through. A number of Canadian airports received the international

flights already in the air. All Canadian airspace is closed and the

Canadan U.S. border is completely closed. Both probably first time ever

occurrences.

If anyone here was affected or is a friend or relative of someone

affecetd, my heart goes out to you. I have said more prayers thatn I can

count today. What a horrible senseless act of violence. I just can't

stop thinking about it and the TV has been on here for about 8 hours. It

is just so senseless and these acts of violence whether they be in the

Middle East, Northern Ireland - the U.S. - in the end no one is any

further ahead just a lot of innocent people end up dead and injured -

for nothing. That is the most maddening!

Joyce