Blatherskite

As I mentioned in another post, I am reading the 9/11 commission report. I have only read the first chapter so far (well, that’s not entirely true. I’ve read little bits and pieces from other sections, too). It tells what actually happened on the flights – the hijacking of them. I wanted to post something about flight 93. Reading the section about what happened on that flight especially moved me. The passengers were, are, true heroes in every sense of the word. What they did was utterly Amazing. America owes them a debt of gratitude. Seriously. I want to post an especially moving section. Please read below, but you might want to grab some tissues first:
(this is on page 13)

“At 9:57, the passenger assault began. Several passengers had terminated phone calls with loved ones in order to join the revolt. One of the callers ended her message as follows ‘Everyone’s running up to first class. I’ve got to go. Bye.’ The cockpit voice recorder captured the sounds of the passenger assault muffled by the intervening cockpit door. Some family members who listened to the recording report that they can hear the voice of a loved one among the din. . . In response, Jarrah immediately began to roll the airplane to the left and right, attempting to knock the passengers off balance. At 9:58:57 Jarrah told another hijacker in the cockpit to block the door. Jarrah continued to roll the airplane sharply left and right, but the assault continued. . . The recorder captured the sounds of loud thumps, crashes, shouts, and breaking glasses and plates. . . Jarrah asked ‘is that it? Shall we finish it off?’ A hijaker responded ‘No, Not yet. When they all come, we finish it off.’ The sounds of fighting continued outside the cockpit. Again Jarrah pitched the nose of the aircraft up and down. . . a passenger in the background said, ‘In the cockpit. If we don’t we’ll die!’ . . . a passenger yelled ‘Roll it.’ Jarrah stopped the violent maneuvers at about 10:01:00 and said, ‘Allah is the greatest! Allah is the greatest!’ he then asked another hijacker in the cockpit, ‘is that it? I mean shall we put it down?’ to which the other replied ‘Yes, put it in, and pull it down.’ The passengers continued thier assault. . . a hijacker said, ‘Pull it down! Pull it down!’. The hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds away from overcoming them. . . . With the sounds of the passenger counter-attack continuing, the aircraft plowed into an empty field in Shanksville. . . Jarrah’s objective was to crash his airliner into symbols of the American Republic, the Capitol or the White House. He was defeated by the alterted unarmed passengers of United 93. “

Chilling. The last two sentences just blow me away. I hadn’t known that they were planning on crashing into the Capitol or the White house before I read this.