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11/9 on Channel 4 - 102 Minutes That Changed America


michael

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I guess most people on here remember exactly where the were that day.

I was at home & got a call from the gf. I watched it, transfixed while on the stairs.

 

I enrolled for the final year at uni, popped for a few drinks at John Moores union before going over to Anfield to get tickets for that nights champions league qualifier (utd fan so thought it would be funny;)).

 

Then a few of us went over to a mates about half 1, 2 (above McDonalds in Liverpool city centre). Just about to watch some shite on TV and get extremely drunk when one of the lads got a call of his mum. We knew something was up cause of how serious he was (normally he's a right gobby tw*t). We put on the tv and watch in horror. People jumping was the thing that most sticks in my mind. Another lad then came over, he was a little stoned and being in a flat near the Radio City tower believed that may be attacked, idiot.

 

We went to the match that night. There was a 2 minutes (I think) silace. I had been to games with a minutes silance before but this was so well respected. Everyone as one, very reflective.

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That was a Sad day :(

 

People are speculating that apparently tomorrow (09/09/09) is the next attack on the U.K. although I think people are just over exaggerating about that.

 

Watched this on C4 Player, just makes you think why anyone would put so many people through such pain.

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very good programme with a lot of unseen before footage which really hit home the scale of it all. i had goosebumps listening to the radio conversations between the firemen with them all being obvlivious to the fact that many of them were living their last seconds of their lives.

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A very sad day, and lots of sympathy at the time, only soon to be removed after Bush started that ridiculous 'war' on terror. The terrorists won IMO. :(

 

If there had been no response he would have been slated for that too....;)

 

I didn't envy his position to be honest...:blink:

 

H.

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I guess most people on here remember exactly where the were that day.

I was at home & got a call from the gf. I watched it, transfixed while on the stairs.

 

It was my birthday. I went into work early to do a code delivery, but I was feeling ill that day. So did what I had to do and got home for about 9. My boss called and told me to put on the tele. I sat there for the rest of the day.

 

I saw the second plane fly in 'live', both towers come down, the jumpers, the panic... and all of the speculation. I just went between BBC, ITV, CNN, NBC, Fox, all of them.

 

Charlotte was in a car coming back from a course in Birmingham and she was calling constantly for updates. It was a day when you felt you had to be with people. No-one knew what would happen next.

 

I remember thinking even on the day how odd it was for Bush to be talking about revenge straight away. Everyone was just in shock and he was talking about 'getting the folks who did it'. At the time it was Mayor Giuliani who came out to comfort the people.

 

Reality was twisted that day... it was insane.

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I was at work that day and head guy from the place next door came in with some garbled info about a plane crash in New York. My boss was all whatever about it. Next day he came in and just said "F**king Hell".

 

Kinda summed it up. I'll man up and admit that I had a few tears in my eyes that evening. I was pretty unavoidable once you start thinking of all the people that died. Ordinary day at work, the confusion, the terror, then they started jumping so as not to burn alive and, of course, the loved ones at home or elsewhere who were utterly powerless.

 

Even now, watching footage of that day can shut a whole room up.

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I found the programme completely gripping, all the more so because there was no narration.

 

I'm not sure what I think about the annual retrospectives and remembrances. It seems to me that the way in which the terrorist attacks of 9/11 (or 11/9) were unusual were that (a) they were perpetrated against the US (b) they were executed in a dramatically memorable way against a highly visible, famous target and © there was sufficient technology around to record every single aspect of it.

 

For comparison, General Suharto, who died last year, could certainly be regarded as carrying out terrorist atrocities against his own and neighbouring people. A quick google gives me figures of 600,000 killed in purges when he came to power, and a further 102,000 deaths in the invasion of East Timor. Incidentally, he had the nod from President Ford to do as he pleased there.

 

Personally, I guess the reason that I can remember where I was when 9/11 happened, but not where I was when a million people were slaughtered in Rwanda (for example), is basically because the deaths of other westerners, in a country that I'm familiar with, just resonates more. It's wrong, but there it is.

 

So I think that it is right and proper that we mark the event, but my worry about this sort of programme is that it's easy to get a distorted sense of history, as if the American people have suffered disproportionately at the hands of terrorists. It kind of glosses over the hundreds of thousands of equally blameless civilians who have died in less spectacular, but equally appalling ways.

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I also watched 'United 93',which although it was a film, was done in about as much like a documentary as it could have been. I hadn't intended to watch it, but I couldn't take my eyes off it once it had started. It was harrowing and gave a real sense of what it was must have been like for those poor buggers.

 

Also: the book 102minutes is a pretty interesting account of what happened inside the towers from start to finish.

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I guess most people on here remember exactly where the were that day.

 

I was at work, when the news broke we all went into a conference room and watched TV in silence. I worked for an American company and we had colleagues in New York as well as customers in the World Trade Centre.

 

As selfish as it sounds for me watching those towers fall is like watching my dreams disappear, just before 11/9 I'd sold my house and most of my belongings after accepting a transfer to the US office. As a result of the event and it's knock-on effects that didn't happen. A very minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things and nothing compared to the effect it had on so many more people and their families but in a small way it shows the ripple effect of this kind of attack.

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I was told about it at work. I didn't believe it until I saw it on TV. I had been up the WTC a few years before (got refused entrance to 'Windows on the World' because of the dress code), and I just couldn't believe that something so big could collapse because of a plane.

 

The person who reported it to me also said that New York was on fire and up to 30,000 could be dead, which reflected the confusion and uncertainty that there was to begin with.

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I was at work, when the news broke we all went into a conference room and watched TV in silence. I worked for an American company and we had colleagues in New York as well as customers in the World Trade Centre.

 

As selfish as it sounds for me watching those towers fall is like watching my dreams disappear, just before 11/9 I'd sold my house and most of my belongings after accepting a transfer to the US office. As a result of the event and it's knock-on effects that didn't happen. A very minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things and nothing compared to the effect it had on so many more people and their families but in a small way it shows the ripple effect of this kind of attack.

 

I dont believe that to be selfish. Yes on a larger scale it is a little insignificant, you didn't lose family etc. However, to you it was extremely significant. It's a fine example of how terrorism can have a major effect on an individual who was not directly involved at the scene.

 

Many people would have had their lives changed that day who niether were there or knew anyone there. I can only imagine to the terrorists that would be a bonus.

 

Obviously, having colleagues and customers there you did feel the effect of having people there. But, Selfish, no not IMO.

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