9/11 Tapes

"Listen to me, ma'am," that operator told a panicky Melissa Doi during a 20-minute phone call. "You're not dying. You're in a bad situation, ma'am."

That's the understatement of the year. But, you can understand why the operator said what she said. Had she said,"You're right, your screwed, you're all going to die in a blazing inferno!!!!!!", Melissa would not only have gone ballistic, she'd have taken a large amount of people with her and the few that did make it out may have not.

My problem is that I don't see how releasing these help anyone. They made me sick, like watching a train wreck in slow motion, until I just couldn't take it anymore. There is nothing new to be learned by these tapes. There is no way listening to them or analyzing the events of 9/11 anymore can change what happened, nor could they help in the future.

How could reactions have been any different? It was early morning, a beautiful day, they were our own aircraft, they were massive buildings, and most importantly, this involved humans. Imperfect humans reacting to a horrific situation. I don't possibly see how they could have done any better. Time to start healing and stop the second guessing.