Attacks On US Continued Reports

I'm still having problems getting news from most normal sites, and we are just barely holding up. Both world trade towers have collapsed after hijaacked planes crashed into them. New Yorkers are asked to give blood. Pentagon has collapsed after similiar crash. A pilot of another hijaacked plane crashed in a PA field rather then hitting another target in Pitt (unconfirmed). Military is at the highest alert. US Embassy in Oslo evacuated, all israeli embassies evacuated. 2 Flights to LAX lost radio contact. 3 other planes down. London evacuating. Camp David crash is false. Bin Laden threatened about 2 months ago. Many many many dead. Many other cities evacuating and shutting down.

Comments

Anyone else worried about biological/viral?

[weslocke]

Granted exploding planes aren't exactly the best transport system for biological agents, but with the number of people compressed into relatively small places, a good number of which will soon be travelling back to their home areas soon...

The possibilty of secondary attacks to that end are just frightening as hell.

"London Evacuating"

[Tim C]

That's not quite true; I am currently sat in an office pretty much in the centre of London (spitting distance from Trafalgar Square).

Canary Wharf and the London Stock Exchange have been evacuated, there are rumours of Heathrow (the nearest large airport) being shut down, and I'd be surprised if most of the City (the financial district, and original City of London) hasn't been evacuated, but the rest of us are still here.

(Of course, there's nothing nearby worth targetting, unless you really hate the theatre, or shops - Oxford Street is very close by, though...)

Coincidently, it's my birthday today; guess I won't be forgetting this one in a hurry.

Cheers,

Tim

Opinions on response

[SpookyFish]

For Americans (and truly all free nations), this has shaken our country to the very core and IMHO brings into question the ability to live our lives with the freedom we've always enjoyed.

I believe retailation in the highest order is needed, but with religious zealots willing to carry out kamakazi attacks, I fear there will be two more for every one we kill.

How do we preserve / return to our way of life?

Re:Racism

[sv0f]

Hmmm... Think about the racial paranoia that is going to stem from this tragic event.

A group has already been selected, pretty much by default and with no actual basis in fact (yet). People of Middle Eastern background.

I was born in Chicago but am of Asian Indian descent.

I remember how Arabic people were hassled during the Iran hostage crisis. I was in 4th grade then. My dad explained how the US supported the Shah, and how when he was deposed, his Iranian supporters were also forced to leave. We were pretty poor and lived in a crappy apartment complex in south Chicago. Two such Iranian families moved in during the crisis, each with little girls a few years younger than I was. They were harassed mercilessly at school -- the students did not understand that they were "on our side", so to speak.

I was a college student travelling Europe with a white friend when the World Trade Center was bombed a decade or so ago. We were pretty grubby as we went through customs at JFK airport in New York City upon our return. I was "randomly" picked out of line and directed to a secure area for detailed searching of my luggage. I noticed the other folks in the area were all of Middle Eastern or Indian descent. They had been "randomly" selected as well. I explained to the customs official that there was no need to search me, that I was natural-born US citizen, and flashed my passport. To no avail. By the time they finished with me, I had missed my connecting flight.

I remember the hysteria in the first two days following the Oklahoma City bombing, the automatic susipicion that the terrorists were Arabs. But this died down quickly.

I too worry that Arabs, even US citizens of Arab descent, will suffer in the aftermath of this tragedy. I'm not a member of that group, and have only experienced what I've detailed above, which is no big deal. I think it's important that we treat these people in the US fairly. This seems obvious as I write it, but maybe it's not.

On the other hand, the scale of this tragedy might change things altogether. The number of people that died at Oklahoma City is comparable to the number that die when a large commerical airliner go down. We can comprehend such numbers. But 10,000 people or more may have died today. That's 20% of the number of soldiers we lost in the Vietnam War, if my memory is correct. The average US citizen may not respond to this terrorist action as they have to those in times past.

Re:what does this tell us

[Trepidity]

well msnbc.com is still up and fast too, having switched to a "high-traffic" minimalist mode.

It appears only Microsoft can handle the big things.