Friday, July 23, 2004
In the coming days, the punditry will be pouring over the 9/11 report. One can hope that the "blame game" will be muted by the discussion of what to do as we move forward - a consumation devoutly to be wished, but not likely to be realized. Still, one may hope.
I just can't bring myself to become overly upset about the actions of politicians in the 9/10 world. We were all different then. Our expectations and demands were different. Yes, I'm interested in the particular errors made - not for casting BLAME, but to learn what went wrong and how to help make sure it doesn't happen again.
Reading Annie Jacobsen's first article, I think one of the things that made the description hit home so hard was the thought of putting myself on board that plane and wondering, "What would I have done?" - something I've done many times since 9/11. And what keeps coming back at me is: nothing. I probably wouldn't have done a thing. Well, maybe that's not fair. You never really know what you'll do in a crisis (or perceived crisis) situation until it happens. People behave in all manner of unexpected ways. But that's the fear I have.
We're all just so conditioned to behave in certain polite ways. You don't confront people. You don't appoint yourself flight nanny when there's a uniformed flight crew who's job it is to do that. You don't cold-cock a guy who may just be moving fast toward the lavatory because...he has to pee! In Jacobsen's case, no one did do anything, and it turns out that was the right thing, but on the other hand, if the description of the event as a potential dry-run to build a bomb in-flight is correct, then by the time the real crisis shows itself, it's too late. There will be no single big event, no rush of the cockpit, no grabbing of a stewardess, to act as that trigger that overcomes our social training and forces us to act.
I expect that one of the most interesting threads to follow as the details are reported will be the very human factor of the stories of the heroes - and regular folks - on board those planes. What they did and when. How did they handle it? Who stood up to multiple armed terrorists and when did they decide to move?
These are the people who were "first to fight," and, as it happened, gave their lives in the battle for the world of 9/12. Reading these stories, we may learn a little about not only these ordinary people who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances, but learn a little bit about ourselves, too.
We've heard a bit of many of these stories, but it appears that the 9/11 Report will have more detail than we've known before.
Daniel Lewin:
Haaretz - 9/11 report: Qaida planned Eilat strike, Israeli tackled hijackers
Daniel Lewin was seated in first class when he saw two of the hijackers - group leader Mohammed Ata and Abdul Aziz al-Omri - getting up in order to enter the cockpit and take control of the plane, according to the report.
The Israeli tried to stop the two, but a third hijacker sitting behind him, identified as Satam al-Sukami, stabbed Lewin. It is not known whether he was killed or injured, but according to a telephone conversation from a stewardess aboard the plane, Lewin was badly wounded.
Lewin, 31, was a founder of the hi-tech company Akamai, based in Boston. He was born in the United States but immigrated to Israel at the age of 14 with his parents.
Lewin served in the Israel Defense Forces' elite Sayeret Matkal unit. The report said that Lewin had served as an IDF officer for four years. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
[Edit: Here is a link to Page 5 of a PDF version of the report, where the above episode is described.]
And be sure to catch the entry below about events on Flight 93.
