I was living in NYC on 9/11 - a little apartment on the Upper East Side (not so nice, but cheap). I slept through the whole thing. I walked down to Houston, across to 7th? Ave, up to 59th, back home... 8 miles at least.

For a day or two, I thought it would transform the world into something better. It was mania and disorientation only, not a well-thought-out opinion.

I had always had a stash of food enough for a few weeks, and this was very handy. I expanded this idea and it came in handy for Sandy and the Coronavirus. (At the time of the 2003 blackout I had an asshole roommate who ate my food so I had no stash and we went hungry for a short time. He still owes me money too, creeps gotta creep.)

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Much as it enrages me to admit it, Bin Laden completely won. He got three of four targets that day, and I'm sure he never expected the WTC to collapse.

I'm sure he laughed when Bush went on to start pointless, endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. (Zero hijackers or organizers were from Afghanistan or Iraq, 16 of the hijackers and most of the organizers were from Saudi Arabia, still America's best friend.)

I'm sure he laughed even harder when Bush then lost interest in finding him and he got to spend his declining years in suburban comfort in Pakistan.

(Given that Bin Laden had been on dialysis since before 9/11, and looked steadily sicker and older in each video, it has always been my suspicion that he died sometime around the release of his last video in 2007, because why else would he stop releasing videos? The US government claims otherwise, but provide no evidence in the slightest except their worthless word, so the whole thing is marked in my mind as "unproven/unresolved". But these musings are irrelevant to the main point.)

The repercussions of 9/11 continue on, leading seemingly inevitably to the knife edge on which America is balanced today.

Yes, the terrorists won. How miserable.

Thanks for a thought-provoking article!