If ANY number of the people that work in the buildings were in them when the first plane hit and if any proportion of those were trapped, the result would still be a horrific loss of life. We know that several hundred died that were on the airliners.
One of the things that has impressed me is that officials and the media have generally refrained from offering speculative body counts. It will probably be some time before we know how many casualties there actually were. Not all the bodies will be recovered.
This event is a personal tragedy for many innocent people but it is also a political event that affects everyone. It is reckless to view either of these distinct events through the lens of the other. Unfortunately, that is precisely what we can expect rhetoric to do. The rhetoric of the terrorism act reduces the victims to abstract ciphers, but the rhetoric of retaliation also reduces them by inflating them to symbols.
In terms of the politics of the event, it was a horrific crime. The American people have a sovereign right to demand identification and punishment of the perpetrators. Given the track record of the U.S. government, though, there is a danger that vengeance will be used as a pretext to pursue other aims.
The world has come to a standstill. As my friend on the ramp at the Edmonton airport said, "hug your children."
Tom Walker Bowen Island, BC 604 947 2213