BIN LADEN

[BERT]

Never forget the night of the 9/11 bombings. I was up late watching 10 Sports Tonight to get the news on whether Lloydy would go for 2 weeks for his head butt on that Richmond clown before the 2001 GF. They were following the twin tower story. That whole night is still very surreal.

He got his just deserts but I think his death may not bring the peace we all wish for with numerous jihadists still willing to blow themselves for the sake of the anti Western cause.

wasn't it in the morning sometime for us? i remember i was up in Townsville at the NQ athletics trials and i was on the way to A-Mart allsports to get some spikes for my shoes and it came on over the radio, we couldn't believe it but it must have inspired me in the fact life is short cause i ran a massive PB

Nah, think it was around 11pm or so. I got out of bed to grab a drink. Went straight to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, then heard mum say "Have a look at this!". I saw it as I took a swig, and sprayed the water all over the floor. Fair to say I didn't get much sleep that night as I was watching the coverage.

It was. I was watching Talking Footy and changed channels during the ads and saw that all hell had broken loose. I stayed up pretty much all night watching it as well.

[BenDoolan]

So it would appear Osama sleeps with the fishes now.

I hope we get a lot more information about the goings on today than we currently have. It's all a bit iffy at the moment.

i agree, buried at sea within 12 hours of his death??? i know they wanted to respect Pakistani beliefs and all but geez sounds a bit suss to me

So is there any proof / evidence yet (photo perhaps?)

Or is this as real as the turkey George Bush served the soldiers of Iraq on Thanksgiving?

[pevfan]

And never forget "A vote for Obama will be a vote for the terrorists"..... I just cant seem to recall who it was that said that....maybe you can remind me Bert.

[Rossoneri]

Was it the guy who said no Australian child will be living in poverty?

People say silly things, no matter what side they are on.

[BenDoolan]

September 11 was September 12 for me.

I was off work for 4 weeks with the birth of my daughter. I hadn't bought a paper or watched any telly for weeks as we settled in at home. I had no idea what was going on in the outside world.

Little did I know that my job no longer existed (Ansett collapsed on Sept 12). I got a call from a mate of mine at 8.00am that day. He told me that I should come into work and gather my belongings. Naturally, I asked him what the f*** he was on about. He said the company has gone into receivership and our jobs were gone. It took ages for me to believe him as I had no idea of the financial troubles leading up to that day (as I said, didn't buy the papers and didn't watch telly, listen to radio - zippo).

During the conversation he said "this is a very sad day for the world". I thought to myself that the rest of the world wouldn't care about the plight of our airline, so I asked him "what do you mean 'the world'?". He then said "after what happened last night, we're on the brink of war". Naturally, again, I said "what the f*** are you on about????". The next thing that he said was "just turn on the f****** tv and you'll see what I mean...."

I just brought a girl into the world and I was watching it all collapse around me that day....

[Rossoneri]

September 11 was September 12 for me.

I was off work for 4 weeks with the birth of my daughter. I hadn't bought a paper or watched any telly for weeks as we settled in at home. I had no idea what was going on in the outside world.

Little did I know that my job no longer existed (Ansett collapsed on Sept 12). I got a call from a mate of mine at 8.00am that day. He told me that I should come into work and gather my belongings. Naturally, I asked him what the f*** he was on about. He said the company has gone into receivership and our jobs were gone. It took ages for me to believe him as I had no idea of the financial troubles leading up to that day (as I said, didn't buy the papers and didn't watch telly, listen to radio - zippo).

During the conversation he said "this is a very sad day for the world". I thought to myself that the rest of the world wouldn't care about the plight of our airline, so I asked him "what do you mean 'the world'?". He then said "after what happened last night, we're on the brink of war". Naturally, again, I said "what the f*** are you on about????". The next thing that he said was "just turn on the f****** tv and you'll see what I mean...."

I just brought a girl into the world and I was watching it all collapse around me that day....

What must have been going through your head those next 2-3 weeks. You just had a baby (assume your first?), the world is on the brink of war and you just lost your income to help support your daughter.

From the other side of a computer screen you seem to have come out of it alright which is something we can not say for alot of other people.

It's amazing though BD, so many lives were changed that day forever, 99% of them for the worse, but your was for the better

[Rossoneri]

As for my experiences that day, well I was watching talking footy as well but rather than switch the channel over I went to bed. I woke up in the morning to my mum screaming on the phone. I cracked it at her as she had woken me up and asked who she was on the phone to. It was my cousins in USA, they live in NJ (fort lee) but alot of them work in NYC. Having been to NY before and since that day, the sheer destruction is something you could never ever imagine. Once the dust had settled (pardon the pun), there were lines 4-5 miles long of construction workers wanting to help out and clean up the city, many of my cousins lost friends and family in those attacks. My cousin herself is so lucky to be alive. The night before her mother good a dish called Pisco Stocho (f***** if I know what it is called in English, it's like Marlin or Garfish), anyway she must have undercooked and my cousin got food poisoning, up all night vomitting. All this, the day before she was supposed to give a presentation at the Trade Center on Sept 11. She rang up, told them she couldn't make because she had food poisoning!!!!!!!!

I have been to ground zero since that day and it is an eerie feeling, ladder 47 (The fire department there) is still there, an honourary plague is on their building and you are not allowed to talk about that day. For many New Yorkers, it is a day none of them will ever forget, it was like they were are war and did not know who the enemy was.

[dom_105]

Went to bed early that night, didn't realise the shit hit the fan until the morning after. Heard it on the clock radio first, and then went out to the living room to see the towers still standing and on fire. It took me a while to realise that the towers were no more.

When I think back, I was in Year 8 and a lot of it just went over my head. The saturation of it on every channel didn't help either. Those sort of atrocities happened before that day, and subsequent to that day, but not in the political and economic capitals of the western world. The 1990's ended that day, and the 2000's ended today.

[BenDoolan]

What must have been going through your head those next 2-3 weeks. You just had a baby (assume your first?), the world is on the brink of war and you just lost your income to help support your daughter.

From the other side of a computer screen you seem to have come out of it alright which is something we can not say for alot of other people.

It's amazing though BD, so many lives were changed that day forever, 99% of them for the worse, but your was for the better

It was the most stressful period of my life. I was on a complete high with the birth of my beautiful daughter. I was literally on cloud nine. But I came crashing to earth with a thud on September 12.

Yes, I just lost my income and my wife was off on maternity leave (she was given 6 weeks pay). So we were both lacking an income and we had a mortgage to pay off. No immediate money was available for any pay out, and I was unable to receive unemployment benefits because my wife had an asset and some shares. Two weeks before Christmas I only had $15 in my account. Fortunately, the administrators of Ansett released the superannuation entitlements just prior to Christmas. Absolute relief. Was able to cut a fair slice off the mortgage with that money which gave us some breathing space.

I was extremely fortunate that I was doing a Diploma in Occupational Health & Safety at the time of the collapse (and I was also seconded to work within the safety department of the airline - which gave me valuable experience). My career as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer was as dead as the airline. With the terror attacks, a lot of airlines were going to struggle financially. There was virtually zero propects of landing an engineering job at Qantas with so many others applying for work.

I took a punt and started to apply for OH&S positions through an agency. I also placed a cold call to Amcor Packaging (after a tip off from a class mate at TAFE). I was fortunate enough to be contacted by Amcor and asked to sign a contract for 4 months as a consultant. It paid handsomely and I managed to pay off the rest of the mortgage. Phew!

I now work in Local Government as an OH&S professional - and have been for almost 9 years now. Loving my job and the people I work with. I have been very, very lucky in regard to post Ansett life. A lot of people I know have struggled ever since - lost their homes, marriage bust ups, and there have been the odd suicide (mainly pilots).

And other than that, there was the worry of what the world was coming to. It really was a scary thought raising a child in absolute fear of a completely mad world. October 2002 only made it worse.

I can't believe it's nearly 10 years since it all happened. I can tell you Grand Final day September 2001 was one very depressing day. During the f****** mayhem that was going on at home, I managed to miss place my Grand Final ticket. I had to buy a replacement which forced me away from my mates. I was feeling glum as Amorossi dedicated her song to "the Ansett people". Then the result of losing the Grand Final compounded my glumness in everything else.

Your story hits a lot closer to home when you have family in amongst all that terror

[billyduckworth]

I too sat up till late watching, mesmerised as the events of 9/11 unfolded. I had just been in New York a couple of months before that and climbed up the towers. It felt like I was watching a horror movie rather than reality.

Last year I went back to "Ground Zero" and joined so many people shuffling around in silence, not sure how to react exactly.

As for Bin laden, glad they finally got him, a bit suspicious about why it took so long (who in the Pakistani intelligence community was protecting him?), and hopeful that there will not be too many revenge attacks.

[robrulz5]

I was in America for the 1st year anniversary on September 11 2002 and it was an eerie day. We were in Orlando and everything was shut apart from the theme parks, we ended up going to one of the water parks which was empty all day. All the rides were turned off for about 5-10 minutes as a speech from the then President Bush was played over the loudspeaker and then their was a minutes silence.

As we traveled around America a lot of the flights we were on were empty.

[j-mac31]

[j-mac31]

I had no idea what had happened overnight on September 11 and only being in year 8 at the time, had to have the twin towers explained to me by my Dad before he could tell me what had happened.

But for some reason, he is really shit at explaining things well (go figure - he's a teacher but this is not the only time where he has failed to come close to painting the true picture) so I went off to school not thinking anything too bad had happened. I think he said something like "Someone flew a plane into them", so I thought of something like this, given I knew dick about the world, which was terrible but nowhere near as awful as 9/11. It wasn't until I saw the newspaper display outside a milk bar about halfway to school that I realised something truly terrible had happened.

We spent a lot of the day at school watching the news on TV, which had feeds of US news.

[azza78]

I was working in a bar in Cairns at the time. Stepped out the back on my smoko for a bit of quiet time and when I came back inside the music was off, and everyone in the place was staring at the tv's. Noone ordered a drink, noone moved, everyone just stared in disbelief...was very eerie.

Terrible tragedy. However it pales in comparison to the lives lost thanks to US military and their "collateral damage", or the genocide perpetrated by US govt sponsored dictators. Strangely we hear little about these...

[filthy2]

What must have been going through your head those next 2-3 weeks. You just had a baby (assume your first?), the world is on the brink of war and you just lost your income to help support your daughter.

From the other side of a computer screen you seem to have come out of it alright which is something we can not say for alot of other people.

It's amazing though BD, so many lives were changed that day forever, 99% of them for the worse, but your was for the better

It was the most stressful period of my life. I was on a complete high with the birth of my beautiful daughter. I was literally on cloud nine. But I came crashing to earth with a thud on September 12.

Yes, I just lost my income and my wife was off on maternity leave (she was given 6 weeks pay). So we were both lacking an income and we had a mortgage to pay off. No immediate money was available for any pay out, and I was unable to receive unemployment benefits because my wife had an asset and some shares. Two weeks before Christmas I only had $15 in my account. Fortunately, the administrators of Ansett released the superannuation entitlements just prior to Christmas. Absolute relief. Was able to cut a fair slice off the mortgage with that money which gave us some breathing space.

I was extremely fortunate that I was doing a Diploma in Occupational Health & Safety at the time of the collapse (and I was also seconded to work within the safety department of the airline - which gave me valuable experience). My career as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer was as dead as the airline. With the terror attacks, a lot of airlines were going to struggle financially. There was virtually zero propects of landing an engineering job at Qantas with so many others applying for work.

I took a punt and started to apply for OH&S positions through an agency. I also placed a cold call to Amcor Packaging (after a tip off from a class mate at TAFE). I was fortunate enough to be contacted by Amcor and asked to sign a contract for 4 months as a consultant. It paid handsomely and I managed to pay off the rest of the mortgage. Phew!

I now work in Local Government as an OH&S professional - and have been for almost 9 years now. Loving my job and the people I work with. I have been very, very lucky in regard to post Ansett life. A lot of people I know have struggled ever since - lost their homes, marriage bust ups, and there have been the odd suicide (mainly pilots).

And other than that, there was the worry of what the world was coming to. It really was a scary thought raising a child in absolute fear of a completely mad world. October 2002 only made it worse.

I can't believe it's nearly 10 years since it all happened. I can tell you Grand Final day September 2001 was one very depressing day. During the f****** mayhem that was going on at home, I managed to miss place my Grand Final ticket. I had to buy a replacement which forced me away from my mates. I was feeling glum as Amorossi dedicated her song to "the Ansett people". Then the result of losing the Grand Final compounded my glumness in everything else.

Your story hits a lot closer to home when you have family in amongst all that terror

I greatly admire your response to personal hardship and challenge beyond "normal" human 1st World Challenges. Most here will have no idea of your pain, stress and ultimate "victory" driven by love, obligation, responsibilty and guts.

Well done.

[BenDoolan]

What must have been going through your head those next 2-3 weeks. You just had a baby (assume your first?), the world is on the brink of war and you just lost your income to help support your daughter.

From the other side of a computer screen you seem to have come out of it alright which is something we can not say for alot of other people.

It's amazing though BD, so many lives were changed that day forever, 99% of them for the worse, but your was for the better

It was the most stressful period of my life. I was on a complete high with the birth of my beautiful daughter. I was literally on cloud nine. But I came crashing to earth with a thud on September 12.

Yes, I just lost my income and my wife was off on maternity leave (she was given 6 weeks pay). So we were both lacking an income and we had a mortgage to pay off. No immediate money was available for any pay out, and I was unable to receive unemployment benefits because my wife had an asset and some shares. Two weeks before Christmas I only had $15 in my account. Fortunately, the administrators of Ansett released the superannuation entitlements just prior to Christmas. Absolute relief. Was able to cut a fair slice off the mortgage with that money which gave us some breathing space.

I was extremely fortunate that I was doing a Diploma in Occupational Health & Safety at the time of the collapse (and I was also seconded to work within the safety department of the airline - which gave me valuable experience). My career as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer was as dead as the airline. With the terror attacks, a lot of airlines were going to struggle financially. There was virtually zero propects of landing an engineering job at Qantas with so many others applying for work.

I took a punt and started to apply for OH&S positions through an agency. I also placed a cold call to Amcor Packaging (after a tip off from a class mate at TAFE). I was fortunate enough to be contacted by Amcor and asked to sign a contract for 4 months as a consultant. It paid handsomely and I managed to pay off the rest of the mortgage. Phew!

I now work in Local Government as an OH&S professional - and have been for almost 9 years now. Loving my job and the people I work with. I have been very, very lucky in regard to post Ansett life. A lot of people I know have struggled ever since - lost their homes, marriage bust ups, and there have been the odd suicide (mainly pilots).

And other than that, there was the worry of what the world was coming to. It really was a scary thought raising a child in absolute fear of a completely mad world. October 2002 only made it worse.

I can't believe it's nearly 10 years since it all happened. I can tell you Grand Final day September 2001 was one very depressing day. During the f****** mayhem that was going on at home, I managed to miss place my Grand Final ticket. I had to buy a replacement which forced me away from my mates. I was feeling glum as Amorossi dedicated her song to "the Ansett people". Then the result of losing the Grand Final compounded my glumness in everything else.

Your story hits a lot closer to home when you have family in amongst all that terror

I greatly admire your response to personal hardship and challenge beyond "normal" human 1st World Challenges. Most here will have no idea of your pain, stress and ultimate "victory" driven by love, obligation, responsibilty and guts.

Well done.

Cheers Filth!

[dom_105]

So the world has hundreds of thousands of people over in Afghanistan putting their necks on the line, while this c*** of a human being is living it up in a mansion in a military garrison town in the middle of Pakistan?

2,000 brave men and women gave their lives in that godforsaken country, including 23 Australians, and it doesn't cross the minds of even one of the top brass in that town to go knock on the door of the mansion out in the sticks amongst the slums?

And this country has nuclear weapons. f*** me.

[grassy1]

Exactly Ben.

One R-SOLE goes,another few take his place.

Still BARAK deserves a bit of cred.Once his Administration had that PRICK located,he didn't muck around.

UNLIKE the PREVIOUS DICKHEAD in office.

[Western Red]

Interested that he has gone and we also managed to miss the event as we decided that of all nights that the kids watch too much TV it was Sept 11 and we forced them into playing charades and banned TV for the night!!!!! - but shit man it makes life difficult as I travel a lot (pretty much 2 weeks per month) and although I don't go to the US that often - this will just tighten security everywhere and make travel even more painful! Already they want you at the airport 3 hours prior to International Flights and not many airports have the Express Service through customs and Immigration that Sydney are trying - so this will have an impact to a lot of people.

On another question what do people think - will airline prices go up or down? Will people be afraid of flying and therefore the airlines will be putting on specials to encourage travel or will the airlines say they have to increase costs to cover the additional security measures?

I was annoyed recently where the security screening at one airport made us remove our shoes because they had a Miami flight at the same time as our flight - where normally its not required - but the US laws impact no matter where you are...