I honestly don’t know how ‘classified’ these images were, but that was the subject line for the e-mail sent to me by my trusted friend. It came as a PowerPoint package with 58 total images in it. I don’t have PowerPoint, but Google Docs allows me access to them.
Because of the painful memories they invoke, it’s taken me a few days to go through them. I’ve finally chosen 20 of them, including the cover and closer, for reproduction here.
I know that I’ll never forget. I was on a locked psychiatric ward being treated for Major Depression and addiction while these events were happening. Trust me, I remember.
Anyone wanting the full package can contact me using the e-mail address in the sidebar.
I want ice water.
I Want Ice Water! 
Jesus H Christ with sandels on…that was a body! WOW what a powerful picture that one was, never saw anything close to horrific as that one so far in all these years.
I remember just what I was doing that day and time, giving my six month old baby girl her morning bottle while watching the news.
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I have to say that I was a little reluctant to publish these photos because it felt too much like ripping the bandage off a wound that hasn’t quite healed. In the end, I did it anyway in the hope that it would do more good than harm.
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Thanks for that, Mak !! I was at work that day .. we were watching on the TV in the conference room when I got a call from my wife. Seems my in-laws were in DC when this happened. Both about 82 years old and had to leave Dulles airport on foot when the ‘no fly’ order when into effect. My father in law being an appellate court judge we got a call four or five hours later from Ruth Ginsberg telling us that they were OK. They made it home two days later. It was a long two days especially for my wife !!
Ed
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Thank you, my friend, for providing me with yet another great American story! 😀
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My cousin was there when it happened.
Him and a friend were on their way to job interviews. They were dressed in their business suits and dress shoes. Dressed to the nines. They got out of the subway and started walking. Almost instantly they see a flooding of people running towards them. My cousin, Malik, finally stopped someone and asked what happened. They told him about the first plane. He was like, “WTF?” Not long after that, he saw the second plane fly in.
His feet were frozen on the ground. Him and his friend were just looking up and just in shock. But the real scary part was when the first tower crashed down. He said, still to this day, it was a sound he can never describe but he’ll always remember.
For me, it didn’t really hit home until last year when I was explaining to my then-7 year-old nephew what happened. He wasn’t born until March 2002 and only heard of “Patriot Day” by being in class. Explaining that to a child and trying to answer his questions as to why it happened was probably one of the hardest things I ever had to do.
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I don’t envy either yours, or your cousin’s, position. Decent humans should not have to deal with situations like those. I was on a VA hospital psychiatric ward that day, being treated for severe depression, and amongst all the other thoughts were those of how many more would be in similar places in the years to come. 😐
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I remember they day this happened was just as I was getting ready to head out to class. Having just finished getting my bag ready to go I stopped halfway out the door when the phone rang. This concerned me a bit, nobody at this point ever called me in the early hours of the day unless something had gone wrong.
My friend Alex was on the phone. There wasn’t much I could hear over the sound in the background, but I did hear “Turn on the news dude, something is happening to the world trade center……. Someone flew a plane into it.” after that I heard the click on the other end of the line as he hung up quickly. I turned on the TV and spent a long time watching the events play out in a haze of shock and surprise.
I never did make it to my morning class that day. But in the grand scheme of things, nobody noticed. It was sad and unfortunate day all the way around.
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I think there were quite a few disrupted schedules on that day! And I’ll bet almost no one has forgotten where they were and what they were doing. 😐
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Hey Mak. I have a shocking video documentary about this in my post about Terry Jones.
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Thanks for stopping by Poch. See my comment on your post. 😀
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My mother was in the second tower on the ground level when the plane hit she was going out for a cigerette I didnt even know she was there she flew in for work as always she was always flying everywhere and then I got a phone call from my sister telling me that mom was there. I was pregnant with my only child and I almost fell down the flight of stairs when I was told the breaking news. about four hours later I was told she was ok and that she had walked back to her hotel and was scratched all up and that she was ALIVE that was the best news I heard but then I felt sad for all the families who lost there mothers and fell into a deep depressive state and had some complications with my pregnancy but I now have my baby girl and my mom and I am grateful to still have her but saddened by the events that took place. my heart goes out to all the familys from that terrifying day. I will NEVER FORGET!! I love you mom.
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I’m so glad that your mother, and you, and your child, came out okay. I too can never forget. Thank you so much for sharing. 🙂
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The only reason I can think of to classify such images, Izaak, would be that somehow these extra-dramatic pictures, and they are that, might somehow encourage the enemy and intensify the impact on the public. There is something very abiding in the authoritarian mind that wants to control information, and that certainly includes a streak of paranoia. I hope that is not the case here, but I can testify that the meme for over-classifying all sorts of information was on full display throughout my U.S. Navy career. Now, reading the book Top Secret America by Priest and Arkin, I see that the practice has only intensified since I retired.
Pictures 1 through 4 are especially dramatic and I’m quite sure I haven’t seen them before. Thanks for the post.
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You know Jim, I’m just paranoid enough to have wondered if I’ve been providing, through these images, those who wish us harm the chance to revel in our misery. Then I saw What Does 9/11 Mean to People in Afghanistan? on the PBS NewsHour back on Sept. 2, and it occurred to me just how hard it would be for people living in such a primitive setting to see them. Hell, if that report is accurate, the number of people “out there” who even know about it is far less than the fear mongers would have us believe!
Your point about over-classifying things is well made my friend, and I’m glad (???) that this post was useful to you.
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