My 9/11 memory

[cthulu2016]

A friend calls right after the first tower collapsed and says, "So, what do you think?"

I said, "It's the burning of the Reichstag."

That was my first blush impression.

That does not mean that I thought that it had been done intentionally by the people positioned to gain by it. I don't think that at all.

But it really was the burning of the Reichstag, as a political event.

And nothing ever happened to dissuade me from that initial reaction.

[JoePhilly]

1. I was at work, and we went to the TVs in the break areas.

Almost immediately after the towers fell, my boss and I were talking in his office, and I said something like ...

"Whoever did this has no idea what kind of enormous response the US can and probably will respond with. But I hope that we don't simply go nuts and take indiscriminate revenge."

Later ... I thought it made sense to go into Afghanistan to get OBL and those who had supported and protected him.

But then Bush allowed the PNAC folks to become distracted and invade Iraq.

And in so doing, my fear about "going nuts and taking indiscriminate revenge", became realized.

[Warpy]

2. I had worked the night before

but woke around noon and decided to flip the set on and find out what the weather was going to be.

I wasn't surprised by what I saw. The WTC had been a target for many years. I was, however, appalled by the massive loss of life that was already known at noon MDT.

I also knew that it would be used by an illegitimate administration to shore up their already very shaky power. It really was the burning of the Reichstag, even though utter incompetence had allowed it to happen rather than competently planning the whole thing.