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I have examined the photos of people at the top of the smoking towers, and my theory is that many of the so-called jumpers did not intentionally jump--they fell. And the reason they fell is that, due to the deliberately narrow windows, they were forced to lean sideways out of the windows in order to get their heads far enough out to be able to breathe. The spaces were designed to be less than the shoulder width of the architect, who was intensely acrophobic.

I think it's true that many fell, but many also jumped with material improvised as parachutes. They were desperately trying to live, not die. Others may indeed have chosen a jump over death by fire. What we don't know, aside from the fire, is what it was like inside those upper floors. Were there sounds or motions from the building that clued people into the fact that the buildings might collapse? Some folks probably had hope of being rescued right up until that point. And how many lived through much of the collapse as the debris tore at their bodies? We'll never know, of course. But I want my contemplation of the torture they experienced to rekindle my fury. God help any politician who gets in the way of winning this war on terrorism, because I sure won't!!!

By the way, it isn't widely known, but a number of children died in the 9/11 attacks. There was a group of kids on a trip to California from a Washington, DC school on the flight that was crashed into the Pentagon. Over the weekend, the Discovery/Times channel ran a special about the Pentagon attack. They profiled one man who lost friends and co-workers on the ground in that attack, and whose 11-year-old son was on the plane that hit the building.

Now let's see: You are in an oven about 800-2000 degrees. Ouch! To jump is an instinct, not a decision to make in most cases. Just as one recoils from the touch of a hot pot on the stove, these poor folks just jumped, out of its way, to their deaths.

There was nowhere else to go but away from the severe burning sensation.

The spaces were designed to be less than the shoulder width of the architect, who was intensely acrophobic.

The spaces were small because the outside structure of the towers, unlike that of most large buildings, was load bearing, the principal load bearing part of the structure. The openings had to be that narrow to provide enough strength. That said, the architect may very well have been acrophobic as well, although it would be passing strange for someone with that malady to take up designing skyscrapers.