This is a day I would never have forgotten. It was the day when sub-human terrorists without any regard for the sanctity of human lives, snuffed out the lives of 3000 over innocent people in New York City. And this is the day that the name Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda savages will be cursed forever by many in the civilized world.
I thought it was a joke when my friend – who goes by the handle SanNiang when commenting on my blog – messaged me with the following message, “World Trade Centre in New York collapsed.” My reply was “You must be joking” because I was walking home from the MRT station after a dinner appointment and I have no idea what has happened. His replied arrived when I reached the lift landing, “Go watch the television.”
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the two towers went down before my very eyes on TV – be it CNN, MSNBC, BBC etc. Even then, I thought it was some kind of ‘War of the Worlds’ prank that someone was playing on us. And the only other sign that this was real was an email alert from the company that starts with, “As you are aware, the ongoing terror attacks in New York…”
Initially, my response was simply, “The Americans finally got what they deserved for their foreign policies in the Middle-East”. That’s not mentioning that it wasn’t too long ago that an American P-3 Elint (Electronics Intelligence) aircraft was forced to land by the Chinese PLAAF on Hainan Island in China. I wasn’t particularly pleased with the fact that the Americans went snooping around China’s backyard.
But then I remember that my friend Brian was then working in New York. The terrorists may not have struck here, but they could have gotten people whom I knew. People whom I called friends.
I tried to get Brian on ICQ, but he was offline. And as I did not have his mobile in New York, I could only send an email and hope for the best. Inside me, I was outraged, and only then I understand that regardless of my displeasure with American foreign policies, this particular act of terror was plain wrong. It was completely unjustifiable and unforgivable. A kind of savagery that perhaps even beasts would not have committed.
Anyway, Brian’s reply did come the next morning, thanking me for the concern, and also with the following attachment from his elder brother.
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Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 19:55:44 -0400 (NY Time) Thank you very much for your outpouring of concern. I was very much in harm’s way but I am safe now. I was in the lobby of 2 WTC when the initial blast occured to 1 WTC. As you know, I work on the 82nd floor of 2 WTC. I was waiting for the elevator. The express elevator takes folks up to the 78th floor where everyone switches to local elevators for the upper floors. Upon hearing the blast, I ran out the side door of 2 WTC, which placed me in a strategically bad location in terms of the initial damage because of my angle of view. When I got to the front of the WTC complex (its quite large), I saw people flying out the windows on 1 WTC from what looked like either the 78th floor lobby or from office windows around that floor. To say the least, it was traumatic seeing people.. human beings… land on the plaza after an 80 floor drop. I was about 150 feet away from the plaza blocked only by police barricades. I closed my eyes upon seeing the first body fly down (I have no idea whether it really was the first), and after two seconds, I realized that there was no escaping reality. After another 6 bodies, I turned away in both disgust and horror. For no apparent reason, I just began walking away from the WTC in shock. Then, after about 100 feet of walking, I turned around. That was when I actually saw the second plane deliberately hit about the 50th floor of 2 WTC. The first plane had hit quite high up… about the 80th floor of 1 WTC and the damage to 1 WTC looked relatively light compared to the damage this time at 2 WTC. The fireball rose all the way from the middle of 2 WTC to the top of the building. There was no way anyone in the upper half of 2 WTC could live because the incineration was immediate. The smell of jet fuel could not have been more apparent. The plaza smelled a lot like an airport tarmac. Anyway, when the fireball erupted, debris came flying and I could see objects above my head. I ducked around a corner into the lobby of a smaller building, as did others. I was saved from cuts from flying debris while some others were not so lucky. In truth, the debris was mainly office stationery and nothing heavy or burning. My military instincts told me to head back to the plaza to help the injured. By this time, the police had descended on the plaza like army ants. I was shooed away and since some of the police were in riot gear and obviously had tear gas, I complied. My cell phone was useless because the cell site is on top of 1 WTC 🙂 Fortunately, I was standing beside some Euro-type who had a phone which looked like a brick. It happened to be a Global Satellite phone, which the gentleman kindly allowed me to leave my first message with Lezah. Ironically, my phone then rang and my friend was given instruction to contact Lezah and Brian and hang on tight. I started running away from the building, not really because of fear for debris but for fear of being stampeded by the chaos. Everyone was running. After about 1/2 mile, I stopped running and contemplated my position. What about my colleagues/co-workers? One mile away, at the Brooklyn Bridge, my heart sank when I saw 2 WTC collapse for real. There wasn’t anything left of the building, which was quite imposing in terms of the downtown skyline. I walked the 5 miles (not sure) from downtown to midtown because there was no public transportation. I reported to my midtown office and scrammed because its located in Rockerfeller Center(!) The objective was to avoid landmarks and I left one for another. Then, it was to escape and get out of Manhattan.. and the only way was to catch a train at Grand Central.. (a prime target for a bomb). Thankfully, no bombs went off while I was catching a train. I’m out of the city for now and my instructions from my boss are to stay home and remain by the phone. |
The fight against extremism and terrorism must continue, though not in the form of the illegal invasion of Iraq. I am certain, the day that Osama bin Laden gets his own just deserts like many of his henchmen before him, it will be a day well remembered, and a day that many will rejoice in his demise.
It’s only a pity it took so long before he got what he deserved.
sigh…
thankfully your friends are alright.