'Grave Robbers' looted shops under towers

Shops and restaurants in the underground mall beneath the World Trade Center were looted in the days after last Tuesday's terrorist attack, it was reported today.

New York detectives are investigating whether the looting, discovered by the National Guard, was carried out by rescue workers in the wake of the disaster.

A warren of wide subterranean passageways beneath number 5 World Trade Center somehow survived the collapse of the twin towers, and it is believed the looting started soon after the fires in the upper storeys of the building were put out.

Captain Vincent J Heintz, a commander in the New York National Guard, said the looting carried on into this week. "There have been people down here trying to steal from a mass grave," he said. "They are grave robbers."

The looters picked through a Tourneau watch shop, raided cases of designer sunglasses in another store, tried to prise open at least one cash register and even got into the service room behind a row of cashpoint machines.

However, the steel safes prevented them from making off with any money. Two men, one of them a former prison officer who was posing as a police officer, have already been charged with stealing two watches from the Tourneau shop.

The intact shops and restaurants one level below ground were likened by the New York Times to a modern Pompeii - a moment in the life of New York frozen in time.

The paper described how inside Sunglass Hut International, an employee's breakfast - "three link sausages and a moldy entree with a fork standing upright" still stood on the counter beside the cash register.

The news-stands still hold stacks of the papers from the morning of the attack. At the cashpoint a customer's receipt for a $100 withdrawal - made at 8.51am on 11 September - protruded from the machine.

Daniel Castleman, chief of the district attorney's investigations division, said the looting appeared to be limited to a few shops under one building. "It's not a situation of everyone walking in and stuffing their pockets," he said.

"It could be one guy who was very determined, and got his hands on some merchandise. At this point we don't have evidence of who it was, when it was, or precisely what was taken, and the police department, understandably, has taken an interest in it."

Deputy police commissioner Thomas Antenen said: "We arrested two looters last week, and have received these reports of other missing property. We are looking into it."

Captain Heintz said: "They could have been police officers, they could have been firefighters, they could have been contractors or National Guardsmen."

They were, however, unlikely to have been civilians, because it is virtually impossible for unauthorised people to get through the strict security surrounding the site.

Platoon leader, 2nd Lt Peter Fluker, said: "It was calculated. It was done with crowbars and heavy equipment and some sharp, blunt objects that were used to smash open big doors and jewellery cases. They were rescue workers of some sort."

Some people are like that. America is, as perhaps Rome was, the super powers of civilization because they built their government and laws based on this principle. PEOPLE ARE—as opposed to PEOPLE SHOULD BE. The first form uses the indicative of TO BE where as the second uses the subjunctive. Realists use “IS, AM, ARE, WAS”—idealists use “SHOULD”. This is your first indicator when talking to people when trying to tell an idealist from a realist.

Some people scavenge. Most of the people there at ground-zero were just helping. A few saw what they believed to be an opportunity. The few that actually found some valuables and decided to keep them were probably poor. By poor, I mean poor in spirit, ethics, character, and philosophy—although I would bet that they were probably poor in wealth too. I’m sure these people are “poor” because they allow themselves to grave rob rather than the other way around. If our goal were to prevent it, we’d have more police out there. I doubt that it was so important at the time. Perhaps the though of looting got more people out there than what might have been. This may have saved lives—a small price to pay.

We’d like to believe that all people should be altruistic and that we can somehow overcome our human nature when disasters like this occur. This article proves my point that people ARE first and SHOULD second. And I love them for it—the bastards that they are. Looting is not what I would do since I believe that my secret actions and my private thoughts are not just known to me. I believe that something is watching me. God perhaps. If not, then the Universe, or Karma, or futuristic historians, or more importantly myself and how it affects my subconscious behavior to others. People that don’t believe this concept—those believe that if they can “get away with it”—if no one sees them—that their private thoughts are theirs and theirs alone—those people have weak character. They are setting up reverberations in the fabric of quantum space-time that will come back to bite them. They may not even know that it bit them when it does. Perhaps they were destine to be millionaires but instead remained middle class for their entire lives. Perhaps they destine to live to be 90 but instead die at 85. But whether these people believe that all this is irrelevant mystic crap or not, I sincerely doubt they can convince themselves that they are living life to its fullest or that they are getting the most from their short existence. I’m sure these people believe that “Life is not fair”. But life is absolutely fair in all ways. Have pity for them. Some may get caught by the police. All others will get caught by the ironic and humorous nature of the universe.

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