Where Were You On Sept 11, 2001?

[mr_hippo]

American volunteers were in the RAF's Eagle Squadron prior to Pearl Harbour but this was not official. Kayo's reference to 'wine and potatoes' was a comment on the refusal of the French to help the coalition. Renaming french-fries was possibly one of the most pathetic things that I have ever heard - french fries have nothing to do with France! 'To french' is 'to cut into thin strips' so therefore french fried potatoes that are thinly stripped and fried.

Edited September 11, 2007 by mr_hippo

[brahmburgers]

I had just arrived in Siem Riep in order to see Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I came back to my tiny hotel room from a pizza dinner, turned on the tiny TV and the first thing that came on was; 'We interept this program to announce the latest breaking news......' At the very beginning, the announcers thought there were 50,000 people in the Towers.

As an American, I felt guilty - going to do a touristy thing (seeing an historical site) while my country was being attacked.

[Jet Gorgon]

OK, open a can of worms and...

The US was in the European war arena way before Pearl Harbour.

Not true Jet.....

Pearl Harbor was bombed on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a "date that will live in infamy," as US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt called it.

On day later, Roosevelt went before Congress to ask for a formal declaration of war. The vote was unanimous except for a lone holdout. World War 2 for the US officially began on December 8th. On December 11th, 1941, Germany and Italy both declared war on the United States.

Edit to name source as wiki.answers.com

Yes, you are right, and I stand corrected. The main US troops were deployed to the UK in Jan 42. But the US considered Germany an enemy force in September 41.

[calibanjr.]

It may sound a little trivial/obscure, but I remember it distinctly as a Tuesday, also, as I'm sure most Americans would. I worked in a high-rise at Wells Fargo in San Fran. We worked from home (shows how expendable I was) and suburban office park buildings the rest of the week.

[PhilHarries]

Sorry I haven't read all the responses so don't know how or why this thread went off topic but to answer the question, I was in Nid's bar on second Road Pattaya. There was some meaningless rerun of an equally meaningless (to me) ladies golf tourney on the TV and when I went off to the bog the someone changed the channel to, I think, CNN. So I come back to the scenes of the first tower hit and start asking what disaster movie is this? When the horror of what was unfolding became apparent I think we all felt completely gobsmacked, waiting for someone to come on screen saying it isn't true, it's just a fictional disaster case for some kind of emergency response exercise.

I understand the Palestinian and Arab anger at what they see as western, primarily US and UK, support of Israel but did 3000+ innocent people of all nationalities and faiths have to die just to make a point. And that was only the immediate death toll. But then Israel is only the cause celebre, if all the Jews were to be withdrawn from Palestine tomorrow and the land returned to the Palestinians the Arabs would just find another reason to attack the dirty infidels. They have declared Jihad on the west and sometimes I think it is about time we returned the compliment and showed them a real holy war.

[BADBRAD]

I was in San Francisco as well, sleeping off a Monday night drunk when the telephone rang. My girlfriend at the time's sister was on the other end screaming that I had to turn on the t.v. I stumbled out of bed and got the tv turned on and switched to CNN just in time to see the second plane. It took me about five minutes to convince myself I wasn't still in the midst of some alcohol induced nightmare. I remember most of San Francisco shut down for the day out of fear.

I would really like to chime in with some rhetoric about now, but will stay "on topic."

[JR Texas]

I had just arrived in Siem Riep in order to see Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I came back to my tiny hotel room from a pizza dinner, turned on the tiny TV and the first thing that came on was; 'We interept this program to announce the latest breaking news......' At the very beginning, the announcers thought there were 50,000 people in the Towers.

As an American, I felt guilty - going to do a touristy thing (seeing an historical site) while my country was being attacked.

I was at my condo on Jomtien.........just walked in and turned on the TV and there it was......a plane had hit one of the Towers. Then the second one hit and it was evident it was an attack. That was shocking and reminded me of what my mother had told me about Pearl Harbor. I thought "this is our Pearl Harbor." Then the buildings collapsed.........I just could not believe what I was seeing.

[farang prince]

Jet, you are actually more factually correct than you might realize about your comment concerning America's early involvement in WWII. It was called "Lend/Lease" and the USA sent ships and supplies to England beginning in 1940. Some of these U.S. ships were torpedoed by the Germans during their trek across the Atlantic. In addition, there were more than 100 American airmen who signed up for the Eagle Squadron and Bomber Command beginning in 1940. By the way, Canadians and other members of the British Commonwealth also have fought on behalf of the USA in other wars. I served two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Army (1st Cav) while I was still a Canadian citizen. And Rick Rescorla, a Brit, was also in Vietnam (a fine officer in the 1st Cav) and later was killed in World Trade Center 1 during 9/11. There were also a number of Thais who were killed in the WTC attacks, along with victims from many other countries. Still we digress from the topic at hand -- where were you on September 11, 2001.

[madjbs]

Phil

The vast majority of arabs arnt interested in holy wars etc.. Its a few crazy ones that are, missunderstandings by both muslims about americans and the vast majority of the west about the arab world really doesnt help things.

[Gary A]

I find it incredibly sad that a day that changed the life of all of us forever would be cheered by some. To turn that black day into a political debate is heartless and ignorant.

Most thing pass and life indeed goes on, but that horrific event lives on and terrorists keep reminding us every single day. As for me, Bin Laden can crawl back in his hole and die. How many of you are willing to convert to islam to avoid being murdered? This little globe becomes more insane every day and some people seem content to think that it doesn't concern them so they are able to ignore it and pretend that terrorist fanatics do not exist.

[garro]

I find it incredibly sad that a day that changed the life of all of us forever would be cheered by some. To turn that black day into a political debate is heartless and ignorant.

Most thing pass and life indeed goes on, but that horrific event lives on and terrorists keep reminding us every single day. As for me, Bin Laden can crawl back in his hole and die. How many of you are willing to convert to islam to avoid being murdered? This little globe becomes more insane every day and some people seem content to think that it doesn't concern them so they are able to ignore it and pretend that terrorist fanatics do not exist.

To me not remembering the dead in Iraq and elsewhere is equally heartless and ignorant.

When is their day of rememberance?

Are certain human lives worth more?

[brahmburgers]

in my view, the most poignant responses to this thread are those who were closest to the action - in other words, those posters who were close to NY at the time. I was surprised by the mention that Palestinians were somber about the event - I thought they were dancing in their rubble-strewn streets, shooting guns off in glee - upon hearing the news ....much like the poster's observation of the celebrations he witnessed in Saudi Arabia right after the event.

Q. Do most (or many) Arabs still believe it was all a Jewish conspiracy? I've heard other conspiracty theorists say it was all planned by Bush and his cohorts. Wow, are they out in left field or what?! The human brain is capable of such warped convolutions.

[toybits]

Having dinner watching TV and seeing the second plane hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center.

[Jet Gorgon]

Thanks Farangprince -- I forgot the name of the lend-lease. I also salute you for your service.

Garro, we are not forgetting these people either. But 9-11 was a singular event, etched into many western people's memories.

For all of our war dead, we have November 11. Perhaps the Iraqis have a day for theirs. All life is sacred.

[Daewoo]

I was surprised by the mention that Palestinians were somber about the event - I thought they were dancing in their rubble-strewn streets, shooting guns off in glee - upon hearing the news

If you are thinking of the same footage I am, it was later shown that this footage, aired on CNN, and shown in Australia on all the news channels was 'stock' footage from many years before the attack...

I was sitting at home in Sydney, where it was late at night watching TV at the opposite end of the house and avoiding my family... I saw it on the news and when to sit with my father and watched the news until the early hours of the morning... worrying what this meant for the world...

of course at the time no -one knew that the towers would collapse with so many people still inside, so we were all full of hope for the least human toll...

I can remember going to work the next day... half the people were bleary eyed like me from watching TV half the night, and others didn't know anything about it until they had woken that morning...

We spent most of the morning talking about those terrible events, but also US and Australia's past foreign policy and how that was interweaved with what had happened...

Two years later, most of Australia was still fearful and distrustful of Arabs and Muslims, exacerbated by a series of gang rapes carried out on 'Australian' girls by Muslim Lebanese b_stards when I went to work in Malaysia. The next day the second gulf war started...

My hotel was beside the US embassy, and on my first trip to work the taxi driver was screaming at the embassy as we drove past and saying how he wished he had a bomb so he could drive into the embassy and blow it up, and leaving me wondering what I had gotten myself into.

Over the time I worked in Malaysia I realised that Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and Atheist were actually mostly the same in their view on the war and the state of the planet... we all just wished it wasn't like this...

To all of my fellow humans on Thai Visa, from all over the world I say this, we are much more alike than we are different.

Cheers,

Daewoo

[PeaceBlondie]

Okay, that's enough, and too much. Thanks for all the contributions, and let's call it a day. Topic closed.