The tower 'jumpers' were murdered

ACCORDING to the New York Medical Examiner's Office, no one jumped from the hellish towers on that awful September day in Lower Manhattan. This despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Evidence like grotesque photos and video shots of the trapped victims jumping from the smoke-billowing, flame-ravished upper storeys of the 1,400ft buildings. Like the testimony of horrified spectators. Like the mangled bodies which spattered the large plaza between South and North Towers. Like the bodies which were found on the roof of the 22-storey Marriott Hotel, and the bodies which crashed through the VIP driveway awning on Tower 1's west side. Like the fact that at least one of the jumpers killed rescue personnel and/ or bystanders. Like the fact that an investigation by USA Today and ABC News revealed that more than 200 people jumped to their certain death.

But there are compelling reasons for the Medical Examiner's reluctance to classify the victims as "jumpers". "Jumper" is a term used to classify someone who deliberately and knowing plunges off a building to certain death. That's suicide. The 200 or so individuals who made the horrendous decision to jump on the morning of September 11 were forced to do so by fire, the smoke, the heat, the inexorable inevitability of death. In effect they did not jump. They were pushed. Homicide.

Suicide carries a taboo; the bereaved were entitled to protection from distressing images of their loved ones.

There was also a political consideration. In steeling America for the counter-terrorism war against Al Qa'ida, the victim numbers counted. There were 2,823 early and cruel deaths, 1,300 orphans and countless suicides arising from post-traumatic stress.

Many images haunted spectators and survivors. Images like the dust-lady (Marcy Border) staggering away, that of fireman Mike Kehoe rushing up the stairwell, but the image that has etched itself into the Western mind is of the people trapped above or near the impact points on the two towers. Of those working above the 84th floor on the South Tower, only 16 survived. (They had evacuated in the 16 minutes between the two air-strikes.) Of those on or above floor 91 on North Tower (impact 94th to 98th floors), no one survived. It was these people trapped in the upper reaches of the towering infernos who were left with the pitiful choice between the devilish flames and the sky.

The bereaved are individuals, not a category. They all react differently. One 12-year-old who lost her dad still watches only the Food Channel because it's the only channel guaranteed not to show images from September 11.

But others like Jean Coleman, who lost two sons, employees of Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor have scoured all the photos, amateur video clips and TV footage to try to identify their relatives and figure out their states of mind.

The picture that has emerged from last phone calls, photographic evidence, emails and the 16 South Tower evacuees is truly terrifying, but also inspiring. There was panic, but most strove to survive, helped others, and many stoically accepted their fate and phoned love-messages to their loved ones. Urgent phone calls were made to the lobby fire control. The advice was to stay put. Some tried to evacuate via stairwells. All were driven back by the flames and smoke.

Others tried to make their way up to the roof, hoping for a helicopter rescue, but the roof exit doors were shut and a helicopter rescue was ruled out by emergency services.

Others phoned to tell relatives they were OK or to find out what had happened. Steve Tomsett on the 106th floor used his computer to ask his family, who were watching TV, for "updates". Shortly after, as the smoke and intense heat reached his floor, he emailed simply, "I'm scared."

Others trapped on the North Tower used their computers to break the windows, gasping for air and leaning out, looking for respite and rescue. Some peeled off their tops and waved them despairingly. Others made the awful decision and jumped.

They jumped singly, in pairs, in groups. Their bodies hurtling down at 140mph. From below they looked at first like debris. Then onlookers realised that they were humans. Some of them retched.

Those trapped in the South Tower were caught between a primal urge to flee and official advice that their building was "secure". But when some, like Andrecia Douglin-Traill on the 92nd floor, saw the North Tower jumpers, they decided to run. She was saved.

Indeed, many of the successful evacuees from the top floors of the South Tower testified later that it was the ghoulish sight of the jumpers which convinced them to flee.

For Jean Coleman it was important to track down her sons she found them in a photo which appeared in the New York Times. The two boys, Scott and Keith, were hanging out of adjacent windows. She felt the photo showed they were "relatively" serene. You see what you want to see. And you get closure.

Most people in America never wanted to see the pictures of the trapped people and non-jumpers. The images burned a passionate resentment into the soul.

I must admit that my "nuke" comment was more an expression of frustration than a serious foreign policy suggestion.

Well, then maybe I overreacted a little. But I know there are regular Freepers who do consider it a serious foreign policy option, so it was nothing personal against you.

However, I think you are being overly generous in spirit to the "civilian" population of these countries and whether they share their leaders' views. There has been plenty of coverage over the years of how the rank and file are taught, through religion and otherwise, to hate America with a passion.

First of all, I'm not inclined to blame these people for the lies their governments tell them. And secondly, it's nearly impossible to gauge the extent to which the people believe the propaganda. Opinion polls are useless, because they're put out by the same people who provide the propaganda in the first place. Demonstrations, which the governments organize, or in any case, could not take place without the express approval of govermnent, are similarly misleading. I trust you remember seeing footage of Cuba two years ago, where all those people were "demonstrating" for Elian to be returned to his Fatherland? I don't think too many people in this country - and certainly not very many here on FR - seriously entertained the notion that those people were turning out of their own free will. I don't think it's any different in Middle East dictatorships.

On the other hand, you take a country like Jordan, which I think is among the least oppressive of all the Arab states, and you see very few signs of anti-American hatred to speak of.

"I don't care if it's one of the most documented events in history...some historian or politician WILL try to re-write the history."

They already are trying to rewrite history. They tried to make the statue of the three firefighters raising the American flag into a PC representation which would not have accurately reflected history. Some are complaining that they don't WANT any memorials to this horrible event or even TV documentaries on it....some people say President Bush masterminded 9/11, and we only went to Afghanistan to take control of a non-existent gas pipeline and steal their non-existant oil.

An awful lot of people would like us to just forget 9/11 ever happened. Like most Americans, I don't want to forget the horror of that day. EVER. If we forget, we'll lose focus, then we'll lose the war, then we'll be attacked while unprepared again, then we'll probably lose our country.

"I've heard of things like this happening in other situations. One of the many reasons I could not be an EMT."

Hubby was an ambulance driver in Houston, Texas. Over the years, he became worse than burnt out from witnessing horror after horror. He remembers each and every accident, shooting and assault victim that he couldn't save, though his record then - and now - is way WAY above the average. While he has sublimated those memories (mostly) in order to save his sanity, he prefers to talk only of the babies he delivered, or about the kid who came to the house he shared with his sister and brother-in-law while they were off duty and asked him to take him to the hostital. He'd been shot four times in stomach. Some gang thing. The boy lived, which is why Hubby can talk about the incident occasionally.

Unfortunately, he refuses to join an ambulance company here at home. He has kept up his EMT license, which is good because he's been first on the scene of several accidents up here, saved quite a few lives, and once doubled as ambulance attendent when they took me to the hospital. He'll never be a member of the ambulance association again though. He believes he can't handle it, especially since he's related to so many of the people up here. Sad, but a lot of them get that way. It's shell shock. Literally.

If about 200 people jumped - that is something like 1 out of 13 of all fatalities from the WTC were killed by jumping. (Not including the 343 firemen that were killed).

I have talked about it many times with friends about what we might have done if faced with the situation the jumpers were faced with. I just don't know. I can not imagine the horrible conditions (hell) that would make someone do it, knowing the certain death that awaits.

Have we all seen the documentary by the 2 French brothers that were inside the WTC lobby filming? The sounds of the bodies crashing into the roof is the scariest thing that I will ever hear in my life. And the looks on the firefighter's faces were something else that will forever haunt me. And that they knew that the shit was that bad that people were jumping from 100 floors up, and that 343 firefighters still went up, well, words can not express my feelings.

Never forget.

What a pointless article. Or a braindead writer. Is this writer trying to say 200 people went to the WTC to jump of the building? The planes crashing into wasn't the cause of it?

What a braindead poster; to post without reading the entire article. If you had, you would know the real meaning of the author. Instead, you just read the first two paragraphs and the typed.

Jumping under these circumstances is not suicide. When you know you're going to die whatevery you do, you have the right to choose the least painful way to die.

1) I agree with you...

And 2) I don't like using a thread like this to ask my selfish questions but....

Being a Catholic, (Actually, just being a Human, because I don't practice my Catholocism) suicide is a sin that will keep you from getting into Heaven. So I ask myself...Are these Jumpers spared that fate?? (I think so).

Couldn't your comments also relate to the Assisted Suicide debate? (I think so, but I have a problem with the "Assisted" part).

Back to the topic at hand...May God Bless these people and their families. The one's jumping out of the first tower who made the people leave the 2nd tower are Heros.

"Sorry, did I just violate one of the posting rules?"

Why did you feel the need to end one of your first posts with that comment, unless it was to start an argument? The nuke 'em all crowd is blowing off steam. We have no intention of nuking Iraq, unless they try to nuke us. If we nuke 'em and turn the place into a glass parking lot, it'll be too hard to get the oil <G>

inquest signed up 2002-03-20.

Welcome to FR.

Mmmm, maybe because there are many people there who are no more guilty of their government's policies then the jumpers were of their government's policies?

Sorry, did I just violate one of the posting rules?

No, you simply spoke in realistic terms rather than hateful terms...Which seem to be the norm for the "Nuke Mecca" and "Kill all Muslims" crowd.

The only problem I have with your comment was the "Jumper's government" comment. I seriously hope you don't mean our government was somehow responsible for the actions of the terrorists?

The nuke 'em all crowd is blowing off steam.

How about the "Deport all Muslims" crowd? (Or even the few that states "KILL all Muslims"?) How are we to take their comments?

I had one tell me that even Kareem Abdul Jabbar is evil (Just because he's Muslim, of course). He said that Kareem would stand-by and do nothing if a Jewish woman was being raped and/or killed.

How do we take these freaks? Personally, I'm at a loss...I try to defend the FACT that not all Muslims are evil, hate America and want to kill ANY Non-Muslim but it gets harder and harder every day here on Free Republic. I'm honestly quite surprised that the Moderators put up with it.

"Being a Catholic, (Actually, just being a Human, because I don't practice my Catholocism) suicide is a sin that will keep you from getting into Heaven. So I ask myself...Are these Jumpers spared that fate?? (I think so)."

Yes, I think so too. Part of the unwritten credo of the warrior is the option to choose one's form of death when necessary. They were faced with three choices: 1:) burn in agony, however short a time the agony might have lasted, 2:) suffocate (personally, I'm scared to death of suffocation...the result of nearly drowning twice before I learned to swim) or 3:) jump.

Years ago, when so called "witches" - actually political prisoners and business competitors - were being burned at the stake, those with the money paid for poison, opium or even a quick dagger to an area which wasn't immediately apparent to the "spectators". In short, they were going to die; they knew it and they simply chose their own form of death. That is as different from suicide as people are from ants.

"How about the "Deport all Muslims" crowd? (Or even the few that states "KILL all Muslims"?) How are we to take their comments?"

In truth, both yours and inquest's reactions are normal. I don't know how long either of you have been lurking, but I fought - and frequently still do fight - against the "nuke 'em all", "deport 'em all", "interrment camp them all" and "nits make lice" crowds....I just learned to tell the difference between simple steam blowing, which has useful psy-ops potential and the true "crush, kill destroy" mindset.

I post on Arab forums as well as here. They are afraid of us. Why? Because in truth, they know we can kill them all. Also, we know full well the bulk of the Muslim Joes and Janes are more intersted in making their car payments, getting to work on time, finding a better job and raising their kids than they are in extremist jihading. That is the way I describe them, the people I don't want to kill. You are talking about the same description.

I was jking with inquest: we won't nuke them simply because it's wrong. We can easily defeat any Muslim country on Earth with conventional weapons. It's a moral choice we make...however, if they do something stupid with a WMD, that choice will swiftly and surely change, and the nuke-ee won't be Iraq. It'll be Mecca and the meteor they worship.

Please forgive me ignorance in posing the following questions...

I have heard that there is no way to avoid death in a fall like this (Terminal Velocity). Even the USA Today said that death was absolutely certain no matter how the victim fell (Feet or head first).

Are you saying that woman actually survived that fall? Long enough to tell that EMT that she was "not dead"??? Or, is it possible that she was injured in some other way?

Also...(And please forgive the specifics of this question)...

I thought when someone fell even that far that their bodies didn't get mutilated in the way I've seen described. Yes, bones broken and such but unless they hit head or feet first (which would tend to contort the body in odd ways) they didn't really bleed much because the heart stoped on impact. Their bodies might be laying in odd ways (broken bones) but their internal injuries are not evident.

I ask this because I've seen numerous animals hit and unless they get draged or something, their bodies are not really mutilated. And they have been hit at some pretty high speeds.

The way some of these stories are sounding, it's almost like people exploded like tomatos when impacting...And I have never known that to be possible with the human body.

Again, please forgive my ignorance and the graphic nature of my questions...

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