Words fail us - The Jewish Standard

At 8:46 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 jet flying at an approximate speed of 466 mph, slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. At about that exact moment, terrorists seized control of another Boeing 767, United Airlines Flight 175. It would crash into the South Tower at 9:03 a.m., at a speed of almost 600 mph.

Within two hours, both towers came down, and 2,753 people lost their lives. Among these honored dead were 343 firefighters and other emergency personnel, and 60 police officers (23 from the New York Police Department and 37 from the Port Authority).

Just before 9:38 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 would be flown into the western side of the Pentagon in Washington. At 10:03 a.m., passengers on board United Airlines Flight 93, which was aimed directly at the White House, would force it to crash into a Pennsylvania field instead. The total number of deaths that day was 2,996 people, including the 19 terrorists involved in the four hijackings.

Because of the events of that day, the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom to root out and destroy the perpetrators of 9/11 and their protectors. As of this writing, 3,173 coalition deaths have occurred in that war; 2,114 of the dead were U.S. personnel.

The death toll from 9/11 and its aftermath stands at 6,169, not counting the many people who died or will die because the air they breathed on 9/11 and for many weeks after was laced with deadly matter.

At 8:46 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, 11 years to the second after the first tower was hit, survivors of the victims stood in silence at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan, as bells tolled for their martyred loved ones.

At 8:46 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, 11 years to the second after the first tower was hit, on a White House lawn, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama led the nation in silent tribute as a bell was sounded a short distance away. Taps followed.

At 8:46 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, 11 years to the second after the first tower was hit, on CBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox and Fox News, the morning show anchors noted the time and went silent.

And at 8:46 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, on NBC’s The Today Show, host Savannah Guthrie began her interview with Kris Jenner, matriarch of the Kardashian family, who came to discuss having her breast implants removed.

We would comment, but words fail us.

comments