Posted on 11/08/2001 12:07:26 PM PST by Lucky2
Former first daughter writes first-person account of Sept. 11 for magazine The Associated Press 11/8/01 3:08 PM NEW YORK (AP) -- Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton, who was 12 blocks away from the World Trade Center when it collapsed, has written an account of that day for Talk magazine.
"Before Sept. 11 I wouldn't have believed I had many innocences left," begins the four-page story in the December issue of the magazine. "I had seen people who had lost everything and everyone they loved to war, famine, and natural disasters. ... Despite all that, I woke up that Tuesday morning feeling good about where I was in my life and happy about where I was going."
Clinton was near Union Square, at the apartment of longtime friend Nicole Davison, when the first hijacked airliner hit Tower One. Davison, who had left for work, called Clinton and told her to stay where she was. Like many Americans that day, Clinton turned on the television and watched as the second plane hit.
"I tried to call my mother, but after I said hello to her assistant the line went dead," Clinton wrote. She ventured outside to find a working telephone, and ended up walking downtown -- toward the towers.
"I remember very little about how I got so far downtown. ... I don't know whether I was on the corner or in the middle of the block," she wrote. "I do remember standing in line at a phone somewhere and hearing a deafening rumble."
The noise Clinton heard was the collapse of Tower Two.
Clinton later found Davison and another friend, and the three spent the day working their way uptown. Clinton wrote that a "somewhat irrational medley of thoughts" was running through her head, including concerns about President Bush's tax cut.
"I worried that with the tax cut we wouldn't have enough money to repair New York and D.C. and to help the families of the thousands I knew must have died," she wrote.
At one point, she stopped to pray and thank God that her mother was a senator representing New York and that the city was led by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani -- a leader Clinton wrote she "had been criticizing just the day before for some insensitivity or other."
When Clinton finally got through to her mother, who was in Washington, she burst into tears of relief. She later spoke with her father, who was in Australia.
"The next night I saw my mother, and early Thursday morning I saw my dad in Chappaqua," Clinton wrote. "It was only after I had seen them both that I finally felt secure again in my own skin."
Now studying in Oxford, England, Clinton says she is frustrated to be away from America. She says she encounters anti-American sentiments every day.
"For more than 21 years I lived with the assumption that I was safe, with a sense of security so profound I didn't even know I had it," Clinton wrote. "Today I find myself shocked into a new awareness of how much I loved the country I grew up in."
I was worried sick about that allthat day, myself (Poor Chel, didn't think the public could find their way with out the government.) .
I have a daughter about Chelsea's age in Chicago. She called me, worred sick because they might be next, but at least she made sense about it and she dosen't have the benefit of a degree from a hot shot university.
stop, my kid thinks I'm a loon, laughing at my computer
...thanks for the chuckle...
For those unfamiliar with the city, Union Square is located above the word "Manhattan", WTC was above the words "financial district" and just to the right of the little 9A symbol.
Looks like a little over two miles. Chelsea would have had to RUN, instead of "finding herself wandering downtown", in order to be anywhere close when the first tower fell.
"I worried that with the tax cut we wouldn't have enough money to repair New York and D.C. and to help the families of the thousands I knew must have died," she wrote.
Irrational is right...
[Vomit]
As for the line going dead when she called her mother's assistant, unless it was a cellphone, she's full of it. And even the cell phones didn't go out until 15-20 minutes after the second plane hit. How do I know? I was on mine -- and a LOT closer to the towers -- within a few minutes after the south tower was hit. I also know that regular (i.e., landline) phones that weren't actually in buildings that were hit or damaged worked for some hours afterward. How do I know? I live a few blocks from Ground Zero and was able to reach my answering machine well into the afternoon -- until building #7 collapsed.
Anyway, what kind of superbrain girl leaves an area that is completely safe and heads *toward* the site of two terrorist attacks, especially when the rest of us mere mortals were evacuating toward uptown?
I hope Tina Brown filed this one in the fiction section.
Oh, and Union Square is quite a bit further than 12 blocks away from the WTC.
Clinton was near Union Square, at the apartment of longtime friend Nicole Davison, when the first hijacked airliner hit Tower One. Davison, who had left for work, called Clinton and told her to stay where she was.
So, she wasn't jogging, she wasn't having coffee, she wasn't even outside when the first plane hit. And Union Square is not exactly next door to the WTC. Time the first plane hit: 8:48 a.m.
Like many Americans that day, Clinton turned on the television and watched as the second plane hit.
Time the second plane hit: approximately 9:07 a.m.
"I tried to call my mother, but after I said hello to her assistant the line went dead," Clinton wrote.
Okay, remember the story about how Hillary didn't know for hours if her daughter was safe? This is a lie, of course -- she reached Hillary's assistant before the phone went dead!
She ventured outside to find a working telephone, and ended up walking downtown -- toward the towers.
So Chelsea didn't have a cell phone, wasn't around anybody with a cell phone, her friend's land line phone was dead, and what does she decide to do -- walk towards downtown to find a working phone? Give me a break.
"I remember very little about how I got so far downtown. ... I don't know whether I was on the corner or in the middle of the block," she wrote. "I do remember standing in line at a phone somewhere and hearing a deafening rumble." The noise Clinton heard was the collapse of Tower Two.
Look at the timeline -- she was still indoors when the second tower got hit, which was 9:07 a.m. Tower Two collapsed at 10:00 a.m. And don't forget that she was in the apartment attempting to call her mother after the second tower got hit. Let's say, for argument's sake, that she left the apartment at 9:15. How far downtown do you think she could have gotten, considering the hordes of people heading uptown? She certainly would not have made it very close in those 45 minutes -- perhaps she could have walked one mile, but I doubt even that. And notice how she has this convenient memory lapse about not remembering exactly how she got that far downtown.
There was the jogging and grabbing a cup of coffee version and now we have the loss of "innocences" and wandering the streets in a daze version. Don't worry. There will be more versions.
Because she's Chelsea Clinton, supergirl! And thanks for the phone info -- it looks like she's caught in another lie. I'll bet there are literally millions of New Yorkers who witnessed more firsthand that day, and who have more interesting stories to tell. Yet who gets four pages in Talk magazine -- somebody who was in absolutely no danger, and who thought about the Bush tax cut when thousands were dying!
I haven't read all the replies ..... but I'm wondering who forced her to go to Oxford. Seems to me that if it is too painful, she could just pack up and come back home ..... though I'd much rather she just took mommy and daddy over there to babysit her.
Leni
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