LEXIS-NEXIS® Academic Universe-Document

LEXIS-NEXIS® Academic

SEPTEMBER 17, 2001, MONDAY, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A17; WASHINGTON INSIGHT

LENGTH: 613 words

HEADLINE: Progression of a nightmare

BYLINE: Marc Sandalow

DATELINE: Washington

BODY:
FEAR. Incomprehensible pictures. A towering inferno. Unspeakable destruction. Horror. Suddenly another building struck. Another plane. It is so shocking, it makes you sick. How could this happen?

Incredible carnage. Unspeakable violence. Riveting pictures.

Suddenly, it's here. An airplane spotted over Washington. Fire at the Pentagon. Mysterious smoke behind the Old Executive Office Building. A car bomb at the State Department. This can't be happening. More planes headed to Washington. Watch TV. No. Get out. Elevators are not running. Walk down the stairs.

On the streets it's like a dream. Beautiful day. Warm sunshine. No clouds.

The streets are filled with cars. Rush hour at 10:30 in the morning. The sidewalks are packed with people. No one knows where to go. Everyone's walking away. Federal buildings are being evacuated. Downtown is emptying.

Trains aren't running. Streets are taped off. Rental cars are gone. Can't get out of town. Garages are closed. No way to get to cars. Lunch spots are locked. Capitol Building evacuated. People moving fast. No way to get home.

Thick smoke rising above the Pentagon. The Pentagon! Members of Congress ushered to a security building. The president is not returning to the White House -- too dangerous. The vice president has been relocated to a secure location. Sirens.

"Is the Metro open? How do I get to a bus? Can I walk to Virginia?" People are talking to strangers in the street. "Did you see the plane? What about germ warfare? Is Pennsylvania Avenue open?"

Police stand guard over taped off streets. Don't even try to get close the White House. Postal workers sit on the curb, exiled from their buildings. A plane has crashed outside Pittsburgh. The World Trade Center towers are collapsing. There is a plane coming up the Potomac. Look at the sky. Could it make it? Would they shoot it? Would you hear it?

Schools are closing. Kids sent home early. Offices are shutting. No place to get food. Airports are already closed. Military jets in the sky -- they must be ours. Why won't the president return?

The Pentagon is still burning. Why didn't we shoot that plane down? The Capitol building is abandoned. The first lady is taken to a "secure" location. Those in the line of succession for the presidency are in hiding. Television shows death, over and over.

Traffic is hardly moving in the streets. An overheated car near the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center draws a crowd. More sirens. Police surround and push it over to side of the road. Could it be a bomb?

"There is a plane 10 miles outside of Washington heading our way," reports the local TV. How long can that take? Is any place safe?

Phone calls from family. Are you OK? Get out of there! Just go.

Security men in the streets with dangling earpieces watching helplessly. Hired drivers standing outside their black town cars with no place to go.

Soon the streets are empty. The cars have dispersed. The sidewalks are clear. No one is waiting around.

Talk to the kids. Try not to scare them. Tell them the truth.

"Were there people in the buildings?" they ask. "Did they get hurt? How many bad people are there?" Don't answer.

What else is coming? Television is nothing but fireballs and carnage. Death. Stores are empty. No school for the kids tomorrow. Humvees and military police in the streets. Fighter jets above.

Kiss the kids good night. The world is a worse place. Don't tell them. There were people in those buildings. They are dead. There are many bad people out there.

ANGER.

Marc Sandalow is the Chronicle's Washington bureau chief. E-mail him at msandalow@sfchronicle.com

LOAD-DATE: September 17, 2001