In awe of new 9/11 tower collapse photos

I’m probably not the first and I certainly won’t be the last to comment on these photos, but goddamn: I’m blown away.

ABC News filed freedom of information act requests to secure release of images taken by a New York City police department helicopter on the morning of 9/11. Capturing the towers before, during and after their collapse, the photographs give a never-before-seen perspective on a pivotal moment in modern history.

It’s absolutely chilling to see the bright red flames in the still-standing tower. It’s just as eerie to see the quiet, perfectly crisp edges of the dust cloud as it envelops lower Manhattan. (See a slideshow here.)

I don’t know if I’ve been so affected by a set of images. More than my breath being taken away the first time I saw the lurid Abu Ghraib prisoner photos or the queasy surreality of Saddam Hussein caught wide-eyed in his bunker, these copter shots of the World Trade Center towers show a moment with which we are all — the whole world — all too familiar.

Filed under: 9/11, Photos, American Broadcasting Company, Digital camera, New York City, World Trade Center

David Rees is unstoppable

Rees: Still getting his war -- with what? -- on.

After 9/11, when we were all flailing and searching for direction, I drank too much. We all did. We hand-rolled cigarettes, listened obsessively to NPR, and got really familiar with all the -Stans.

In the midst of all the epic Sy Hersh stories and On Point broadcasts from Boston, there began circulating these insane cartoons. Illustrated only with clip art, the strips were searingly critical, explosively funny — digs at us, at you, and at them. No cow was sacred.

The name of the new phenomenon was as strange as the content was sophisticated: My New Fighting Technique Is Unstoppable. We were entranced. Then suddenly it was Get Your War On. We still sought it out, even trying to make contact with the writer. Then just as quick, the work was appearing on the editor’s letter page in Rolling Stone.

We moved on. But the writer kept working. I lost track.

Now — and for some time — he’s lived on True/Slant, where his fiery production continues.

Filed under: 9/11, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Entertainment, Journalism, Writing, Boston, Clip art, Comics, David Rees, Fashion, National Public Radio, Reihan Salam, Rolling Stones, Twitter, Writer