The publication is reproduced in full below:
IN RECOGNITION OF 9/11 ARTICLE BY JAMES PATTERSON
______
HON. MIKE ROGERS
of alabama
in the house of representatives
Thursday, September 23, 2021
Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize this article by James Patterson that originally appeared in The Montgomery Advertiser, September 9, 2016:
Alabamian Recalls Sept. 11, 2001
(By Jim Patterson, Alabama Voices)
Sept. 11, 2001, began like many busy mornings for me. I was in my Washington office and ready to leave for an appointment with a colleague near Georgetown University. Later, I had a meeting on Capitol Hill and after that, I planned to take Amtrak to Penn Station in New York.
Moments before I left the office, a radio news presenter said a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York. This news astonished me! I stopped to hear more. While I waited for news, I reasoned a small aircraft with an amateur pilot could have hit one of the Twin Towers.
As a longtime traveler to New York, colleagues had told me stories of pilots in small planes that had hit tall apartment buildings. This happens in New York. I proceeded to leave for my appointment.
The radio presenter then said a commercial jet had flown into the World Trade Center. This boggled my mind as I knew jets did not fly so low as to hit the World Trade Center. It had to be a hoax, I assumed.
When the radio presenter said the image was on the network news, I had to see it for myself. I was stunned to see billowing black smoke from the North Tower. An incredible pilot error, I thought. I thought perhaps the pilot died in the cockpit and lost control of the airliner causing it to crash into the tower. Still, I had doubts as I stood speechless watching the horrible images.
Within a few minutes, I witnessed a second airliner crash in the South Tower. It was a day of unspeakable events and lost friends. Shortly after 9:30 that morning, the windows in my office, situated near the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, rattled. I looked out the window and saw black smoke billowing in the distance from Virginia. Nearly 200 people died at the Pentagon that morning.
President George W. Bush was in Florida that morning with Vice President Dick Cheney in the White House. Members of Congress were evacuated to safety. Cheney decided to stay in The White House and issued military orders to shoot down any plane out of its flight path. Washington DC was a war zone!
Federal employees were ordered home. Military and National Guard troops quickly appeared to safeguard property and citizens. In a short time, the highways leaving Washington DC became clogged with cars. Many vehicles ran out of gas. Stranded motorists walked away from their cars. Washington's Metrorail was closed in several directions. Washington's mayor ordered businesses closed and residents to stay indoors.
Being a brave Alabama sort, I decided to go for a walk down a deserted Pennsylvania Avenue at around 10:30 a.m. I saw no cars and no people. A military vehicle with troops passed me by. Relieved they did not arrest me, I awkwardly waved at them. Two troops awkwardly waved in response.
In an episode of the 1960s TV program The Twilight Zone called ``Time Enough at Last'' a middle-aged bank teller longs for a life where he can read without the distraction of work. When he accidentally gets locked overnight in a bank vault and exits the next morning to find his town destroyed by terrorists, he is alone in the world.
As I disobeyed U.S. government orders to stay inside my office, I casually walked down a deserted Pennsylvania Avenue. I felt I was alone in the world. Perhaps this was the last walk I would ever make if more terrorism by commercial airliner took me away.
I stopped at a neighborhood restaurant to see a sign on the door. ``Closed. Go home,'' it read. I walked to a barbershop and saw men inside fearful to wave back at me.
I saw fear on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. I saw confusion. I wondered when it would be over. Fifteen years on, the threat of terrorism is not over. It is, sadly, a fact of life for all Americans everywhere in the world.
James Patterson, a former U.S. diplomat, is a writer and speaker based in Washington, D.C., and a life member of the Auburn University Alumni Association.
Madam Speaker, please join me in recognizing this article by James Patterson.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 165
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