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Some people did something…
Representative Ilhan Omar – March 23, 2019
Yes Ilhan, they did…
C-CAT cofounder Danny Eisen – September 11, 2019
In their own words
In March of 2019 Congresswoman Ilhan Omar described 9/11, saying that “some people did something….” We thought perhaps it might be best for that “something” to speak for itself.
Voices from United Airlines Flight #93:
Alice Ann Hoagland: “Flight 93 was in the air longer than the other flights. People on board were able to find out about the fate of the other three flights and mount an effort to thwart the hijackers.”
Deena Burnett: “It was silent, and I could feel my heart racing. [My son] Tom said, ‘We’re waiting until we’re over a rural area. We’re going to take back the plane.’ ”
Lyzbeth Glick, wife of United Flight 93 passenger Jeremy Glick: “Jeremy said here were three other guys as big as him, and they were going to jump on the hijacker with the bomb and try to take back the plane. He said that they were going to take a vote. I said, ‘You need to do it.’ He’s a strong man – 6ft, 220lb. He was a national judo champion, so he was well equipped with self-defence. He was joking, ‘I have my butter knife from breakfast.’”
From the cockpit – United Airlines Flight #93 before 10am on Sept. 11, 2001
Voice in Arabic: “Is there something?”
Voice in Arabic: “A fight?”
Voice in Arabic: “Let’s go, guys. Allah is greatest. Allah is greatest. Oh, guys. Allah is greatest.”
Voice in English: “Stay back.”
Voice in English: “In the cockpit! In the cockpit!”
Voice in Arabic: “They want to get in there. Hold, hold from the inside. Hold from the inside. Hold.”
Voice in English: “Hold the door.”
Voice in English: “Stop him.”
Voice in English: “Sit down. Sit down. Sit down.”
Voice in Arabic: “There are some guys. All those guys.”
Voice in English: “Let’s get them.”
Voice in English: “Sit down.”
Voice in Arabic: “Trust in Allah and in him.”
Voices from American Airlines Flight #11
Selected quotes from conversations between American Airlines and flight attendants Betty Ong and Madeline Sweeney aboard American Airlines Flight #11 on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
8.19am
Betty Ong: “Um, the cockpit’s not answering. Somebody’s stabbed in business class, and, um, I think there is mace – that we can’t breathe. I don’t know. I think we’re getting hijacked.” … my name is Betty Ong. I’m No 3 on Flight 11. Our, our No 1 [flight attendant] got stabbed. Our purser is stabbed. And our No 5. We can’t get to the cockpit. The door won’t open. Hello?…”
8.44am
Madeline Sweeney: “…It is a rapid descent….
We’re flying low. We’re flying very, very low. Oh my God.”
Voices from the North Tower
American Airlines Flight #11 hit the North Tower at about 465mph., exploding 10,000 gallons of jet fuel into offices.
8.46am
Ian Oldaker: “I was continuing down Broadway when I heard the largest pop. I turned around and I saw glass in the sky. It was really bright out, and it was reflecting off the glass and the sky. Light shimmering everywhere.”
David Kravette: “All of a sudden, jet fuel blasted out of the central lift bank and mushroomed everywhere. People were – 20 yards from me – lifted on this fireball and thrown through those lobby windows and incinerated….”
Richard Eichen: “I saw off my left shoulder an Asian man coming toward me – he looked like he had been deep-fried. His skin was hanging like seaweed. He was begging me to help him… I felt that my face was all bloody. The left side of my head was open, and I could put my hand in there – I could feel my skull.”
William Jimeno: “It was around 8pm. I heard voices: ‘United States Marine Corps, can anybody hear us?’ They worked on me for three hours. As they pulled me out onto the stretcher, up this hole, I remember looking around and I said, ‘Where is everything?’ That’s when a firefighter said, ‘It’s all gone, kid.’”
United Airlines Flight #175
Brian Sweeney, 38, former F-14 pilot in the Gulf War, calls his wife Jules, and leaves her this voicemail:“Hey Jules, this is Brian. Ah, listen. I’m on an airplane that’s been hijacked. If things don’t go well, and it’s not looking good, I just want you to know I absolutely love you, I want you to do good, have good times – same with my parents. I’ll see you when you get here. I want you to know that I totally love you. Bye, babe. I hope I call you.”
Peter Hanson, 32, passenger on Flight #175 with his wife, Sue Kim, and their daughter, Christine, aged 2:“It’s getting bad, Dad. A stewardess was stabbed. They seem to have knives and mace. They said they have a bomb. The plane is making jerky movements. I don’t think the pilot is flying the plane. I think we are going down. I think they intend to go to Chicago or someplace and fly into a building. “Don’t worry, Dad. If it happens, it’ll be very fast. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.”
Voices from the South Tower
9:03 am
James Filomeno, firefighter, FDNY:“I was watching people running toward us like a herd of cattle. I watched debris coming down on them…. People were trying to hand me their kids: ‘Take my baby. Take the baby.’
Bruno Dellinger, Quint Amasis North America, North Tower:“In about five seconds, darkness fell upon us. There was no more sound. Sound didn’t carry any more because the air was so thick.”
Lieutenant Joseph Torrillo, FDNY:“As the building came down lower and lower, the air pressure was so strong that it lifted me off my feet and I was flying through the air.”
Voices from the Street
Officer Wesley Quentin DeMarco: “The clothes of the jumpers sounded like a flag or a sail in a windstorm.”
Detective David Brink: “I saw daisy chains of people holding hands, leaping out of the buildings.”
Wesley Wong, FBI New York:“This fireman said something to me that I didn’t understand. He said, ‘Watch out for the falling bodies.’ I remember crossing West Street and thinking, ‘What did he say about falling bodies?’ As I got close to the building, this fireman from behind yelled, ‘Run! Here comes one!’ I froze and I looked up into that beautiful bright blue sky. I saw a fellow spread-eagled, coming out of the sky. He had on navy pants, a white shirt and a tie. Dark hair. I couldn’t believe what I saw.”
Bill Spade, firefighter, Rescue 5, FDNY: “There were motion-detector doors that opened up into the North Tower. These doors kept opening and closing with the bodies that were coming down.”