09/11 Transcripts: Never Forget

Via Buzzmachine, the oral histories of the firefighters and EMT's at Ground Zero on 09/11.  The following excerpt is from Glen Asaeda, Civilian E.M.S.:

By the same token, I had looked up at the same time and noticed what I thought was debris turning out to be people, and at first I just couldn't imagine it would be people, but as they landed I was pretty sure it was people. I thought, well, they must be unconscious or falling out. Upon looking closer, there were some people that seemed to be on fire coming down, some that looked like rag dolls coming down, but at least 70 percent of them actually flailed until they hit the ground and one, I mean, they looked like ants from the distance we were at, but actually looking like he or she wanted to get to the next window.

I remember thinking under my breath and saying out loud that I could hear myself, I go, oh, my God, please , no, no, no, no, and they were jumping. I've seen people, you know, I've worked as a paramedic in the past in California, so I've seen people jump as high as 25 stories, but that was very different in that in that it was just kind of, oh, my gosh, and they hit . Here, with four times the height , it was kind of an oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God, until they finally hit.

Our emergency services personnel put their lives on the line everyday.  On this day though, the cost was incredibly high.

The media has been cautious in showing the video from what we all saw that day.  I think we need to be reminded of who our enemy is and their brutality.  The people in those buildings and those who came to rescue them did not deserve to die.

Contrast this brutality with the response of America.  We could have chosen to retaliate on a scale that wiped out entire cities from the safety of the skies.  Instead, we've actually put the lives of our men and women at greater risk in order to take out the oppressive regimes of our enemies with as few civilian deaths as possible.  I don't know of any other nation that bombs the bad guys while dropping food for the population at the same time.

However, we can never forget that if we let the Islamofascists have their way, we would be either dead or living under the brutality of Sharia law.  I'm not willing to wear a burkha.

I can understand people having objections to certain aspects of planning or implementation.  But, if you don't understand that we're at war, or that the war needs to be fought, you're not facing reality.  The words of the men and women who were there that day are a hard dose of reality.

Never forget.

Comments

[aelfheld]

I wouldn't say that "the media has been cautious in showing the video", but rather that the media has tried to erase those images from the public conciousness. It would not serve their purpose well if people were reminded of why we are at war and will be for some time.

[Sandy]

Two for two tonight Aelfheld. What, did you have your Wheaties as a bedtime snack?

[aelfheld]

Cardhu.

;-)