September 11, 2005
September 11: Accents
One of the most interesting-cum-jarring things of the last few months has been the release of the transcripts and tapes of 9/11 radio traffic. Most of it is the inscrutable code of professionals carrying out an arcane craft; the transcripts are a tough read at best.
The police reports are more readable - and, in their thousands of pages (of which I've skimmed hundreds) are fascinating reading, testament to the "Fog of War" so prevalent that morning (at one point, cops at the WTC had a report of a missile launch from the roof of the Woolworth building).
But the radio traffic...
It's interesting listening; all those New York, Long Island and Jersey accents, groping for facts that would never come, or reporting the unthinkable - amazing listening.
Posted by Mitch at September 11, 2005 11:44 AM | TrackBack
A missile launched from the Woolworth building? I hadn't heard that. Years ago there was an episode of Miami Vice in which members of an Irish terrorist group had a shoulder-fired missile that they intended to kill a diplomat with (as best I can recall.) In real life stories, we have heard of the same type of missile being fired at passengers jets in countries in Africa and elsewhere. We have even been warned by our own government that this is a real possibility because the parts for such a missile would not be that difficult to transport and reassemble. There was a flight from New York a fews years back that a reporter said witnesses reported had been shot down by a missile. Doesn't sound so crazy after all.
Posted by: Teena at September 12, 2005 08:50 AM