Vernon Ehlers: “many of us have been quiet about what has happened this week, but many of us also feel the need to speak. What I say is…”

“many of us have been quiet about what has happened this week, but many of us also feel the need to speak. What I say is not in the mold of reviewing it or condemning anything that has happened, but I just want to express some personal feelings about it and also a few opinions. I will not revel in self-misery, although it is tempting to do so, but at least I want to share my experience with my colleagues and the American people. Tuesday morning, as I was listening to the morning news, I heard about the airplane hitting the first tower. It was described as a two-engine plane, and since I am a former pilot, I assumed it was some amateur who had gotten off course, or some kook who was trying to do some damage with a small twin-engine plane. I immediately turned on the television just in time to see the second plane approach, and immediately I knew it was terrorism, because it was obviously a large commercial airliner, and no large commercial airliner would be off course or score a direct hit in clear weather such as that. I immediately headed for the Capitol. In doing so, I drove past the Pentagon. They had just been hit. That confirmed that indeed it was a very serious case of terrorism. The smoke was beginning to billow out. I drove to the Capitol; and at that time, a decision was made to evacuate it. I turned and headed back.…”