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Jerusalem, 8:48 A.M.

(Jerusalem Post) Bret Stephens - We were in the bedroom of our Jerusalem apartment when we heard a loud boom. My wife look out the window and saw a large, flat, rectangular scrap of metal fly up above the rooftops of three-story houses and tall palm trees, followed by a plume of black smoke. Once downstairs, I noticed the quiet, which was unusual for rush hour. I got to the bus perhaps three minutes after the blast. Survivors lay on the pavement. Inside the wreckage, I could see three very still corpses and one body that rocked back and forth convulsively. Outside the bus, another three corpses were strewn on the ground, one face-up, two face-down. I doubt many reporters have actually witnessed a suicide bombing up close - indeed, not many Israelis have. After today, I know there is a basic difference between what one sees in the first five or ten minutes and what one sees in the next 20 or 30 minutes. If you haven't seen it before, you cannot imagine it. You don't have a clue. Nobody should see the scene I witnessed this morning. Then again, maybe everyone should see it, at least everyone in the news media. The writer is editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post.
2004-01-30 00:00:00
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