The Eleventh Day

by Anthony Summers

  36 “The wings started”: pilot Bill Wright cited at Longman, 192–, Flight 93’s Last Moments, WTAE TV, 9/19/01, & see CR, 30;

  37 Glick’s father-in-law/“roller coaster”: Reader’s Digest (U.K.), 9/06;

  38 “wind sounds”: FBI 302 of int. [name redacted], 9/12/01, INTELWIRE.

  39 scrapyard: St. Petersburg Times, 9/12/01;

  40 “nosediving”: WP, 9/16/01;

  41 “sort of whistling”: St. Petersburg Times, 9/12/01;

  42 “barely fifty”: The Mirror (U.K.), 9/12/02.

  43 It was 10:03: For the time Flight 93 crashed, the authors have relied—as did the 9/11 Commission—on the impact time established by the combination of the Cockpit Voice Recorder, the Flight Data Recorder, and Air Traffic Control and radar data. In 2002, geologists at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory produced a report—based on seismic data—that put the impact time of Flight 93 as some three minutes later, at 10:06. In the years since, the scientists themselves have stressed that the seismic signals cited in respect to Flight 93 were too weak and speculative to be relied upon. It should be noted, too, that the NTSB does not characteristically rely on seismic data to establish crash time. Commission staff considered the Lamont-Doherty time of 10:06 to be a significant anomaly and therefore asked for the time according to satellite infrared imaging—as a “tiebreaker.” This further established the 10:03 time for the crash of UA 93. The timing discrepancy has been seized on by those who suggest the U.S. military shot down Flight 93, an issue that will be addressed in Ch. 12 (CR, 30, 461n168, Won-Young Kim & Gerald Baum, “Seismic Observations During September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack,” Spring 2002, corr. Won-Young Kim, Ted Lopatkiewicz, 2009, & see Terry Wallace cited in “Cockpit Voice Recording Ends Before Flight 93’s Official Time of Impact,” 9/16/02, www.phillynews.com, corr. Terry Wallace, 2010, Miles Kara, 2011).

  44 strip mine/“Where’s the plane”: “Flight 93 Crash Site Left Most of the Horror to the Imagination,” KDKA radio, 2006;

  45 crater burning/couple of feet: Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh), 9/12/01;

  46 recorder buried: WP, 9/15/01;

  47 clothing: Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh), 9/12/01. All sorts of identifiable bits and pieces would eventually be collected at the crash site. Douglass personal effects administrators would circulate a list and photographs of many personal items that had belonged to those aboard Flight 93—pieces of jewelry, snapshots, clothing, and shoes. Jeremy Glick’s widow, Lyz, recognized a picture of a pair of black briefs as her husband’s. An American Express personal organizer was returned to her, with notes in Glick’s still legible handwriting (Reader’s Digest [U.K.], 9/06).

  48 “shiny stuff”: WP, 9/14/01;

  49 Lisa Beamer: Longman, 220–;

  50 Lyz Glick/father: Moschella to Marcus (& attachments), 4/26/04, & see Reader’s Digest (U.K.), 9/06.

  CHAPTER 8

  1 Peruggia/instructions: int. John Peruggia, TF, 10/25/01. The Office of Emergency Management was in the building known as World Trade Center 7, which would itself collapse later in the day. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani apparently never made it to the OEM that morning, because the building was being evacuated. He set up a temporary base elsewhere (CR, 283–, 293, 301–, 305, 311, Rudolph Giuliani with Ken Kurson, Leadership, NY: Hyperion, 2002, 5–, but see also Barrett & Collins, 5–);

  2 engineer/​Peruggia/​Zarrillo: int. Peruggia, int. Richard Zarrillo, TF, 10/25/01, Dwyer & Flynn, 203–;

  3 command and control: CR, 301–.

  4 “We stared”/“You know”: A Survivor’s Story, www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wtc/above.html.

  5 Cosgrove/911: Newsday, 4/10/06, Dwyer & Flynn, 207;

  6 Rooney: Chicago Tribune, 10/31/01.

  7 “Listen”: int. Zarrillo, int. Steven Mosiello, TF, 10/23/01.

  8 “started to lean”: int. Richard Carletti, TF, 1/21/02;

  9 “bulge out”/“snapping sounds”: NY Daily News, 9/11/01;

  10 “real loud”/“groaning”: e.g., entry for 9:59 A.M., September 11, 2001, “Some Witnesses Hear Explosions,” www.cooperativeresearch.org, Jim Marrs, The Terror Conspiracy, NY: The Disinformation Co., 2006, 47. Critics of official accounts of 9/11 have used such references to “explosions” to suggest that the Twin Towers collapsed at least partially as the result of explosive devices planted in the buildings. Those claims will be covered in Chapter 11.

  11 “The entire”: The Independent (U.K.), 9/12/01.

  12 Jennings/Dahler: transcript & video on YouTube, “ABC News Special Report: Planes Crash into World Trade Center,” 9/11/01, 9/11, ABC News, 9/11/02;

  13 9:59: CR, 305—more precisely, 9:58:59. The 9/11 Commission Report used the figure of ten seconds. For the collapse time of some twenty seconds, the authors have relied on explanations by the National Institute of Standards and by scientist Ryan Mackey, who estimated that it took fifteen to twenty seconds for the tower’s roof to hit the ground (CR, 305–,”NIST’s Investigation of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center Disaster—FAQ,” 8/30/06, http://wtc.nist.gov, Ryan Mackey, “On Debunking 9/11 Debunking,” 5/24/08, www.jod911.com);

  14 “From a structure”: int. James Cannon, TF, 12/18/01.

  15 garages: int. Pedro Carrasquillo, TF, 10/16/01;

  16 “I took”: int. Zarrillo;

  17 “I grabbed”: int. Peruggia;

  18 “Everybody’s like”: int. Jody Bell, TF, 12/15/01;

  19 “smoked”/“Everything started”: int. Timothy Brown, TF, 1/15/02;

  20 16 firefighters: CR, 308;

  21 Marriott sliced: “The 9/11 Hotel, pt. 3 of 5” documentary on www.youtube.com;

  22 “stared in awe”: “A Survivor’s Story”;

  23 “huge tidal”: The Independent (U.K.), 9/12/01;

  24 “all the walking”: NY Daily News, 9/11/01.

  25 few aware: Staff Statement 13, CO, int. Joseph Pfeifer, TF, 10/23/01;

  26 “We felt it”: int. Michael Brodbeck, TF, 12/10/01;

  27 “You just”: int. Derek Brogan, TF, 12/28/01;

  28 “It didn’t register”: int. James Canham, TF, 12/18/01;

  29 “To think that”: Staff Statement 13, CO;

  30 burst of energy: Dwyer & Flynn, 242;

  31 pitch black: int. Peter Hayden, TF, 10/23/01;

  32 fatally for some: Smith, 30–;

  33 Judge: USA Today, 2/19/03, Bernstein, 231; Pfeifer: int. Pfeifer, int. Joseph Callan, TF, 11/2/01, Smith, 42–;

  34 evacuation: Staff Statement 13, CO.

  35 “get the fuck”: The 9/11 Commission credited Picciotto both with the “Get the fuck out!” initiative and with the radioed instructions. He himself said words to that effect on a CBS television show days after 9/11. His autobiographical accounts of events later in the day, however, have been rebutted by colleagues (“Get!”/radioed: CR, 307, 550n165; CBS show: transcript of int., Montel Williams Show, 9/17/01; autobiography: Richard Picciotto with Daniel Paisner, Last Man Down, NY: Berkley, 2002; rebutted: NY Daily News, 11/26/02, New York, 9/11/03).

  36 “knew that he had men”: int. Mosiello;

  37 “We’re not fucking”: CR, 310, 552n183;

  38 McGinnis: Dwyer & Flynn, 237.

  39 “What we didn’t”: “Emergency Preparedness & Response,” Staff Statement 13, CO;

  40 blind: int. Callan, Staff Statement 13, CO.

  41 “There was gas”: int. Derek Brogan, TF, 12/28/01. The Twin Towers were sheathed in aluminium (e.g., see “Cladding Fragment,” exhibit description, Division of Work & Industry, National Museum of American History).

  42 “littering”: int. Robert Byrne, TF, 12/7/01;

  43 Pilots: ibid., NYPD Call Routing & Message Dispatch Report, 7/23/02, “NYPD folder,” B9, NY Office files, CF, CR, 309, 551n176.

  44 10:28: CR, 311;

  45 “do a little rock”: int. Carletti;

  46 “explosions”/“pop”/“thunderous”: int. Craig Carlsen, TF, 1/25/02, int. Pfeifer;

  47 “the entire”: int. Dean Beltrami, TF, 12/17/01;

&
nbsp; 48 “looking like”: int. Bell;

  49 “I opened up”: int. James Basile, TF, 10/17/01;

  50 “This beautiful”: Staff Statement 13, CO;

  51 twenty seconds: see note at source entry for “9:59,” above.

  52 alarms: Lance, 419;

  53 343: CR, 311;

  54 firefighters killed: Smith, 193;

  55 Ganci: int. Mosiello, Bernstein, 149, 231;

  56 brother Kevin: http:/​/​americanhistory.si.edu/​September11, www.septembereleven.net;

  57 families: Smith, 33, 53, 15, 44, 349, Damon DiMarco, Tower Stories, NY: Revolution, 2004, 189, Langewiesche, 70, 131–, 145–;

  58 Port Authority/NYPD dead: CR, 311;

  59 Morrone: Port Authority press release, 8/13/02, www.PANYNJ.gov;

  60 5 dead PAPD: William Keegan with David Bart, Closure, NY: Touchstone, 2006, 67;

  61 policewoman: Smith, 67, NY Daily News, 3/24/02, www.irishtribute.com entry for Moira Smith.

  62 “The number”: transcript of press conference, CNN, 9/11/01;

  63 7,000: John Ashcroft cited in MFR 04020543, 12/17/03, & see Knight Ridder report, 10/11/01.

  64 2,760: The authors’ rendering of the total number of 9/11 deaths in New York City includes the ten hijackers of the two planes that hit the Trade Center. The figure used in the 9/11 Commission Report did not include the hijackers, nor did it include three victims injured that day whose deaths were registered later outside New York. The total used here does not include those deemed to have died of illnesses contracted as a result of 9/11, an issue that will be covered elsewhere (CR, 311, 552n188, “World Trade Center Operational Statistics,” Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, 1/30/09, NYT, 7/22/04, ed. Robyn Gershon, High Rise Building Evacuation, Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2006, 19, CR, 552n188);

  65 other countries: NYT, 4/19/02;

  66 immigrants: Hoy, cited by AM New York, 9/7/06.

  67 Ground Zero: The term “Ground Zero” appears to have been used for the first time on the evening of 9/11, by CBS reporter Jim Axelrod (CBS News, 9/11/01, video at www.archive.org);

  68 “All that remained”/final throes: Langewiesche, 6, 4, www.national911memorial.org;

  69 lesser giants: frontispiece, ibid., “World Trade Center Building Performance Study,” Washington, D.C.: FEMA, May 2002, 3–.

  70 WTC 7: “Final Report on the Collapse of World Trade Center Building 7,” Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster, Washington, D.C.: NIST, 11/08, NCSTAR 1A, 4.2. There has been a long-running controversy about the collapse of WTC 7—the thrust of it being the suggestion that the building collapsed not solely because of fire and damage but, skeptics suggest, because explosives were used. The controversy will be covered in Ch. 11;

  71 Verizon: MFR 04018174, 2/25/04, DiMarco, 302–, Smith, 198–;

  72 NY Stock Exchange: MFR 03013078, 12/11/03, MFR 04016224, 1/21/04;

  73 American Stock Exchange: MFR 04014516, 1/14/04;

  74 “visiting”: MFR 04017265, 12/18/03;

  75 NASDAQ: MFR 04014517, 1/14/04;

  76 Federal Reserve NY: MFR 04016224, 1/21/04;

  77 Greenspan: MFR 04014512, 1/9/04, MFR 04018180, 1/20/04, MFR 04016224, 1/21/04;

  78 liquidity/ATMs: MFR 04014512, 1/9/04, MFR 04016224, 1/21/04, MFR 04018180, 1/20/04;

  79 $83/95 billion: Real Estate Weekly, 9/11/02.

  CHAPTER 9

  1 “Ambulances going”: int. Michael Cahill, TF, 10/17/01;

  2 Melisi: “America Rebuilds,” transcript of int. Melisi, www.pbs.org.

  3 Two civilians: They were Tom Canavan, who had worked at First Union Bank on the 47th floor of the North Tower, and a second, unknown man who escaped with him (USA Today, 9/5/02).

  4 Jonas & rescued group: “A Day in September,” www.recordonline.com, “World Trade Center Survivors,” http://911research.wtc7.net, Picciotto with Paisner, 128–, New York, 11/26/02;

  5 Buzzelli: USA Today, 9/5/02, Langewiesche, 103–;

  6 McLoughlin/​Jimeno/​Marines: Slate, 9/10/02, NY Post, 8/7/06, Times Herald-Record, 1/18/02. The two former Marines were David Karnes, at the time an accountant with Deloitte Touche, and Jason Thomas, who on 9/11 was attending the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.

  7 fellow overboard: Langewiesche, 62.

  8 “onslaught”: MFR 04018541, 4/15/04;

  9 personnel/surgeons: int. Dr. Glenn Asaeda, TF, 10/11/01;

  10 by midnight: “DOD Medical Support to the Federal Response Plan,” Washington, D.C.: Office of the Inspector General, Dept. of Defense, 5/10/02, 7;

  11 “A person’s torso”: int. Benjamin Badillo, TF, 1/24/02;

  12 “I-beams”: int. Charles Blaich, TF, 10/23/01;

  13 “A woman’s”: DiMarco, 270;

  14 “The body”: eds. Der Spiegel, 243;

  15 “You couldn’t”: Barrett & Collins, 248;

  16 21,744: New York, 1/7/10;

  17 medical examiner: NYT, 7/14/02, & see “World Trade Center Operational Statistics,” Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, NYC, 9/9/03;

  18 2009: update, “DNA Testing of Remains,” 2/1/09, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, www.nyc.gov;

  19 Deutsche Bank: “Deutsche Bank Building—FAQ,” Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, www.renewny.com;

  20 manholes/road: AP, 4/8/08.

  21 Fresh Kills: NYT, 3/24/07. According to a sworn affidavit by Eric Beck, a supervisor for Taylor Recycling, the process at Fresh Kills involved creating a mixture used to pave city streets and fill potholes. Troubled by the implication that fragments of their loved ones may have become part of this mixture, relatives of the dead went to federal court in 2007 to plead that the sifted debris be removed from the site and reburied in a more appropriate setting on a site nearby. In 2009, a judge dismissed the families’ suit, citing in part the city’s intention of redeveloping the now closed Fresh Kills landfill into a park and nature reserve that would include a memorial to the 9/11 victims (NYT, 3/24/07, Staten Island Advance, 7/7/08, NY Post, 7/8/08);

  22 1,229: NYT, 7/14/02;

  23 401: authors’ calculation based on figures in NYT, 7/14/02, 5/12/11, and ABC News, 5/13/11.

  24 “I see this”: int. Jason Charles, TF, 1/23/02;

  25 “The ambulances”: int. Michael Cahill, TF, 10/17/01;

  26 “People were”: int. Richard Broderick, TF, 10/25/01;

  27 “Nobody could”: int. David Blacksberg, TF, 10/23/01;

  28 “Everybody’s coughing”: int. Jody Bell, TF, 12/15/01;

  29 “Our face-pieces”: int. Paul Bessler, TF, 1/21/02;

  30 “My lungs were”: int. Paul Adams, TF, 11/1/01;

  31 “The sergeant asked”: int. Jason Charles, TF, 1/23/02;

  32 9:59/FC: NY Daily News, 9/30/01;

  33 asbestos, etc., in dust: “EPA’s Response to the World Trade Center Collapse,” Washington, D.C., Office of the Inspector General, Environmental Protection Agency, 8/21/03, Cate Jenkins [EPA] to Monona Rossol, 11/15/01, www.whitelung.org, NYT, 9/14/01, Newsweek, 10/5/01, Der Spiegel, 12/20/06, DiMarco, 130, Gail Sheehy, Middletown, America, NY: Random House, 2003, 41;

  34 seven blocks: Village Voice, 7/31/07;

  35 “We lost”/Torcivia: DiMarco, 191–, St. Petersburg Times, 2/3/02;

  36 2007 study: UPI, 5/9/07;

  37 2,000 firefighters: Guardian (U.K.), 1/28/08;

  38 “The World Trade Center dust”: Voice of America, 4/8/10;

  39 young attorney: (Felicia Dunn-Jones) “NYC Links First Death to Toxic Dust,” www.msnbc.com, 5/23/07;

  40 “sick and under”: Fact Sheet, http://stws.org, Sacramento Bee, 1/6/11;

  41 479 people: NY Post, 9/6/09;

  42 One by one: e.g., WSJ, 12/9/10, Dallas Morning News, 11/29/10, New York Post, 1/10/11, NY Daily News, 3/30/11;

  43 risen to 664: NY Post, 9/12/10;

  44 James Zadroga Act/$4.2 billion/“We will never”: USA Today, 2/2/11, H.R. 847 James Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensa
tion Act 2010, http://thomas.loc.gov;

  45 “very reassuring”: “EPA’s Response to the WTC Collapse”;

  46 “safe to go”: ibid., NYT, 9/18/01.

  47 “safe to breathe”: “EPA’s Response to the WTC Collapse.” John Henshaw has since explained that a decision not to enforce safety regulations was made because of the delay that would have caused: “We had to deploy a strategy that achieved compliance as soon as the hazard was recognized so corrective action was immediate.” Christine Todd Whitman, for her part, told a congressional committee that allegations that she misled New Yorkers about air quality in lower Manhattan were “outright falsehoods.” She said that reassurances that air quality was safe applied to lower Manhattan, not to Ground Zero itself (EHS Today, 6/27/07).

  48 “I want”: Richard Clarke, 24. The President also discussed the closure of the markets with his assistant for economic policy, Larry Lindsey, urging a “return to normal as soon as possible.” Lindsey discussed with the EPA’s Christine Todd Whitman “the need to get the financial markets open quickly.” Whitman has denied that Lindsey pressured her. The EPA’s own inspector general, meanwhile, has said that the Agency’s press releases were “influenced” by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. According to the EPA’s Tina Kreischer, there was “extreme pressure from the White House” (Lindsey: MFR 04018180, 1/20/04; Whitman denied: CR, 555n13; “influenced”/“extreme pressure”: “EPA’s Response to the WTC Collapse,” 7, 16–, CR, 555n13).

  49 9:55: CR, 325;

  50 “The President”: 9/11, transcript, ABC News, 9/11/02;

  51 Card: White House transcripts of ints. of Andy Card for ABC, 8/12/02, CNN, 8/12/02, NBC, 8/15/02, CBS, 8/16/02;

  52 Bush said: CR, 40, 464n212;

  53 “inexcusable”: 60 Minutes, transcript, CBS News, 9/11/02;

  54 “could not remain”: Kean & Hamilton, 265;

  55 “The military”: 60 Minutes, 9/11/02;

  56 flickering TV: 9/11, ABC News;

  57 “credible” threat/Armed guards: CR, 325, 554n1, 60 Minutes, Bill Sammon, Fighting Back, Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2008, 128;

  58 cell phones: Salon, 9/12/01;

  59 saluted: Spencer, 255–.