Posted by Tina
“Therefore, we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” President Obama from Psalm 46 in New York City
“Never before in our history has America asked so much over such a sustained period of an all-volunteer force. So I can say without fear of contradiction or being accused of exaggeration, the 9/11 generation ranks among the greatest our nation has ever produced, and it was born – it was born – it was born right here on 9/11.” – VP Joe Biden at the Pentagon
In Shanksville, Pennsylvania George W. Bush honored the 40 passengers and crew who fought back against their Flight 93 hijackers on 9/11 for carrying out what he described as one of the most courageous acts in U.S. history: “The moment America’s democracy was under attack our citizens defied their captors by holding a vote. The choice they made would cost them their lives.”
In Shankesville President Clinton added, “They gave the entire country an incalculable gift. They saved the capital from attack and avoided Al Qaeda’s symbolic victory of ‘smashing the center of American government'”
On the 10 year anniversary of 911…an untold story:
Mozart’s Requiem reiterates civilized beliefs about the human soul, and it reflects both Christian and Jewish liturgy. This is not just secular liberalism in drag.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them.
You are praised, God, in Zion,
and homage will be paid to You in Jerusalem.Hear my prayer,
to You all flesh will come.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them.Following twenty centuries of Western thought, the Requiem gives hope for the resurrection of the dead, and justice for evildoers, like the mass murderers of 9/11.
A young American offers a simple, heartfelt tribute:
A message from Derek about his song:
With next month being the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001, I deemed it appropriate to share with you an original song I wrote as a tribute to the families affected by the tragic events that happened that day.
My inspiration for the song came a few years ago on September 11th, 2007. I got home from school and turned the TV on, and remember watching a memorial program that featured personal accounts and stories about 9/11. One story in particular that really struck me was centered around the phone calls being made by passengers in the planes to their loved ones back at home. There was something so desperately honest in the voices captured on those chilling, garbled clips of voicemails and recorded phone calls… It broke my heart.
It reminded me that above the politics, the war, the terror, and all the conspiracy theories, there were families being torn apart, and real husbands, wives, sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers having to say “I love you” for the last time. I was compelled to tell a story (albeit not a happy one) about such a situation in which a passenger on a plane has to say goodbye to his young son.
This song (until now) sat on the shelf ever since. I only performed it once. A few weeks ago, I realized we were coming up on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and got the idea to film a video of the song. After revisiting it and discussing it with a close friend of mine, I came to the realization that the story wasn’t over. I told the story of September 11, 2001, but what about September 11, 2011?
I wrote the end verse just a few short weeks ago, and finally gave such a sad story the silver lining it deserves. Because 9/11 affected the United States (and the world) on such a large scale, I fear that people might lose sight of just how far the destructive ripples from the events of that day can extend. My hope is that listeners will be reminded of the important things in life… Love of all kinds, and the sacred fragility of a family.
Thank you for listening, watching, and supporting. Please share this with someone you love.
Derik
3,251 children lost a Parent on 911. Family members left messages as they realized they were facing death. Some of these messages were like those that inspired Derek:
“Sean, it’s me. I just wanted to let you know I love you and I am stuck in this building in New York. A plane hit, or a bomb went off – We don’t know. But there’s a lot of smoke and I just wanted you to know I love you.”
“Please tell my children that I love them very much. I’m sorry, baby. I wish I could see your face again.”
She said later that his tone was calm. It seemed as if they were “old friends,” she later wrote. They said the Lord’s Prayer together. Then he said “Let’s roll.”
“I don’t know if we’ll make it out. I want to tell you that I love you and I love the kids.”
Be sure to visit this site, an online tribute from the beginning in September 2001
USA*******USA
And finally, lest we forget and grow complacent (video):
A group of Muslim protesters set fire to an American flag outside the US embassy in London during a minute’s silence to mark the moment that the first hijacked airliner hit the World Trade Center 10 years ago.
Nearly 80 American soldiers were wounded and two Afghan civilians were killed in a Taliban truck bombing targeting an American base in eastern Afghanistan, NATO said Sunday, a stark reminder that the war in Afghanistan still rages 10 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks against the United States.
God bless the USA and the men and women who protect us and keep us safe.
My thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families most immediately effected by the tragedy that occurred ten years ago, and with those whom still are confronted with fresh tragedy each time one of our men and women in service lays down their life in defense of our nation.
Chris thank you, and thanks Jack and Tina too for the posts.
This weekend I had reserve drill, and at some point a few of our guys drove down to Starbucks to pick up coffee. They made their orders and some locals came up and offered to buy everyone’s coffee. It was a very nice gesture and a reminder there are still some patriots out there.
Steve, after that terrible shooting of Guardsmen, I’ll bet that would happen in any place that sells coffee in Carson City. Nevadans have this pioneer mindset are very patriotic. But, even here in California I and my soldiers personally experienced numerous occasions of spontaneous gratitude. I was away for training and I had to run into Dublin for some items and as I walked through the mall in uniform I encountered a lot of smiles and then I noticed a Mom and her daughter coming across the parking lot, they seemed to be angling towards me. I looked away and kept walking, but then out of the corner of my eye I could see they were definitely walking up to me. So, I stopped and turned around and smiled at the them and said hi in an inquisitive tone. Then the lady said, we just wanted to say thank you for your service and the little girl, I’m guessing she was about 5, said thank you Mister Soldier. The only thing I could say was thank you in return and this seemed enough and we all smiled and the little girl left in tow of her mothers hand as she looked back at me still smiling. It was a moment I won’t forget. And there were others, like the old ex-Marine at Denny’s who insisted on buying my lunch and the businessman who wanted to buy me coffee at McDonald’s. The gratitude and appreciation from our people was very visible wherever we went. I’m glad I had the chance to serve during these strange times with war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the terrorism here and abroad. Oddly, from a personal perspective, it was better than at any other time and my times spans a lot history.
Now that it is 9/12 I thought I would submit a contrasting thought from Paul Krugman of the New York Times —
“The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.
Im not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons.”
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/the-years-of-shame/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto
More 9/12
I found a thought from a Canadian blogger Kathy Shaidle poignant too.
Regarding Mayor Bloomberg’s insistence that there was not enough room for representatives of firemen and other first responders to the 9/11 disaster in the 10th commemoration ceremonies Shaidle wrote —
“Which is kind of weird since 343 of them managed to fit into the exact same space 10 years ago.”
“Which is kind of weird since 343 of them managed to fit into the exact same space 10 years ago.”
God bless and Amen!
I was completely unaware of the boatlift that went on that day…did anyone else see coverage about it at any time since then?
There are so many stories of acts of kindness, courage and help…makes me proud to be an American.
I’m out of town and have limited PS access, but wanted to share what my son did as a Sacramento Metro firefighter.
343 firefighter, wearing a name of a NYC firefighter, who lost his life on 9/11, climbed 26 floors three times and on the fourth climb ended on the roof top where the name they wore over their own was removed and placed on a model of the twin towers.
Yes, I’m one proud mom.
From his FB post:
“This morning I climbed 110 floors in memory of Mathew Roberts. He was 31 years old, married and devoted father to a daughter. I am honored to have climbed for him today.”
Peggy that’s a great story, you should be proud! I love to hear about young upstanding “kids” and really appreciate his dedication and service to his community!
And mayhap I will cap the thread by reminding you all of the many tens of thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands, as we have not seen fit to count) of Iraqi citizens who’ve been killed in consequence of 9/11, when no rational source on the planet will refute the fact that the Iraqis had not diddly-squat to do with 9/11.
That’s some bad Karma, people.
Libby: “no rational source on the planet will refute the fact that the Iraqis had not diddly-squat to do with 9/11.”
War is hell.
There are those in the know who refute the fact that Saddam had nothing to do with 911 and the funding of terrorism…you just choose to ignore them, your choice.
The Iraqi people are not all of one mind. Many of them helped us and many more have stepped forward repeatedly, risking their lives, to vote. Others have started businesses. You coudn’t get behind that arab spring, hypocrit!
Tell us, how do you feel about the “deaths and bad Karma” scored by Obama in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Lybia? I haven’t heard a peep out of you for three years…no clever namecalling for the O man?
Libby m’dear, Iraq was not about the conspirators behind 9/11. I wish you would get this straight. Somehow you are confusing this with other events. Did Bush ever say we’re going into Iraq because of 9/11? I sure never heard it. Maybe people on the left said that, but Bush was the spokesman for the nation at that time.
Let me go over this one more time and I hope you will give me your full attention, because this is important:
The United States position pre-Gulf II, was that Iraq was run by an unstable and ruthless dictator (Saddam H.) who was responsible for starting two wars, destabilizing the region and he was a war criminal, and he was responsible the murder of hundreds of thousands of lives. His administration was unpredictable and aggressive and posed certain risks to the US directly and indirectly.
Alright… there is the background from our perspective, but it was NOT the reason for GULF II!!!!! Here is the reason we went to war….
Iraq signed a peace treaty to end Gulf 1 and then flagrantly broke that treaty dozens of times, flagrantly ignoring UN resolutions to cease.
The UN has a long record of those violations and each time they responded with resolutions, sanctions and firm protests which only went unanswered by Saddam and it resulted in further hardship and suffering on the Iraqi people. That is an absolute fact! This was the basis for the war!
Several of the more serious peace treaty violations included, repeatedly firing ground to air missiles at USAF planes used to enforce the UN treaty. There was the repeated blocking of UN inspectors on the ground who were checking sights in Iraq for traces of WMD’s.
These things were a serious concern for US, and our national security. The stopping of the proliferation of WMD’s was of paramount importance to western nations, and especially the USA. Remember Al Qaeda terrorists had declared on America and they declared they would use persons, nations any methods at their disposal to do us harm. That’s an absolute fact!
Behind the scenes the counter-terrorism community, in the USA and UK primarily, feared Iraq was obstructing the UN ground inspections because they were continuing to develop WMDs. This turned out to be an unsupportable deduction or conclusion, however it was at least a reasonable concern at the time. Further, there was good reason to fear that Saddam Hussein might be “helpful” to Al Qaeda in supplying items that could threaten America, even though Sunni controlled Iraq and radical Islam were often on opposing sides. The rational was absolutely logical and not at all baseless, as the far has claimed.
It can be argued that we were eager to enter into war with Iraq and take out Saddam Hussein, because he was this monster responsible for so much destruction and death. But, we did not hold him or his regime in any way as being responsible for 9/11. Got it? Let me say it again, we NEVER said Saddam Hussien was in any way responsible for 9/11. He only factored into our security concerns post 9/11.
The evidence will show that at least one of those key members in Al Qaeda was given safe haven in Iraq after 9/11, so there is the after-the-fact connection. However, our intelligence communities concerns over WMD’s and harboring of terrorist fugitives were only concerns, they were not the declared reasons why the US and allies used military force to take down Saddam Hussein’s Bathist regime.
However, despite all the clarity that exists to easily explain this, the left seems to have great difficulty in separating our “concerns” over national security with regards to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq AND the years of actual violations of the UN peace treaty that finally brought about the second war with Iraq to depose his murderous regime.
Clear enough or are you have difficulty letting go of a long held erroneous belief in which you have invested so much of your time?
By the way, whatever happened to the rant about NO MORE BLOOD FOR OIL? Seems that ploy fizzled and contrary to what the left assured everyone, it was NOT ABOUT OIL EITHER.
“War is hell.”
Somebody else’s hell … and spoken like the American of Privilege you are. Do you have children? Hope to have grandchildren? Would you want to be the Augustus to your grandchildren?
Re-think.
Libby: “Somebody else’s hell”
Yes…always. It’s not like it’s something America invented! Your inability to see the root causes is a liuttle disturbing. Probably born of that feminist crap about how if women ruled the world peace would fall upon us like pixie dust.
“…and spoken like the American of Privilege you are.”
Another leftist crock!
A number of my family members have served and proudly. There are evil people in the world with tyrannical plans for you whether you acknowledge them or not. Someone will be there to stop them…too bad you have no appreciation for it.
“Re-think.”
Grow up!
“Yes…always.”
Not if you live in Iraq. Talk about a lack of empathy. This is kind of creepy.
“It’s not like it’s something America invented!”
No, just something we, the powerful, exploit. And you’re not even a little bit ashamed?
Furthermore, as I intimated (and Augustus’s grandchildren discovered), this kind of arrogance does, eventually come back to bite you on the butt. Do we never learn?
You seem to have convinced yourself that AQ arose from some intrinsically evil belief system. This is nonsense. AQ arose in reaction to some intrinsically evil foreign policy. And until you’re ready to face this, AQ (and all derivations and permutations thereof) will never go away.
Libby: “Not if you live in Iraq.”
Oh, so it’s different for the folks who endured the various world wars but the people of Iraq are somehow unique?
As I said, pixie dust.
“Talk about a lack of empathy. This is kind of creepy.”
These are two seperate conversations. You lefties like to use the one (emotional) to hammer about the other (rational). Knowing that war is the last resort response and sometimes necessary isn’t proof of lack of empathy.
Creepy is knowing that (20) millions die every year from malaria, including infants and children, and yet denying them even moderate use of DDT.
“No, just something we, the powerful, exploit. And you’re not even a little bit ashamed?”
Oh right, we took our big bad selves half way across the planet, at great expense and personal loss, JUST to take advantage of the Iraqi people. We now know it wasn’t oil lady so tell me, what exactly do you think was gained that wasn’t (or could have been with follow through by this administration) also a positive for the Iraqi people?
You know the word exploit, as a noun, is defined: deed, act; especially : a notable or heroic act. I think the reasons we went to Iraq were both thoughtful and empathetic…even noble. We can argue whether America should engage in defense of the nation and the world in this way but it is rediculous to aver that the reasons we went in were simply selfish or bullying.
“You seem to have convinced yourself that AQ arose from some intrinsically evil belief system.”
Intrinsically evil? Perhaps. The founder of this so-called great religion was a warrior, not a peacenik, who advocated the use of violence (and a great many other evil acts) in the furtherance of his “religion”. But that’s beside the point in this discussion.
You, apparently, assume that “belief” has nothing to do with motivating these wealthy, priviledged men using their religion to justify acts of war in downtown Manhatten or that murdering a couple of thousand innocent people as a means of communication is justifiable. That’s just a tad inconsistent isn’t it?
One would assume that you, with all that superior empathy, would ask that AQ use some diplomancy or a few UN resolutions first. I would think that with your attitude, threats such as “drive them (the Jews) into the sea” or “kill them wherever you find them” (refering to any American or Jew) would be considered non-empathetic language, and yet, you instead find fault with America, a country that did use restraint, that did endure attack after attack and still restrained from use of force, and that did try to use the UN to resolve problems.
“AQ arose in reaction to some intrinsically evil foreign policy. And until you’re ready to face this, AQ (and all derivations and permutations thereof) will never go away.”
This is a completely irrational; an emotionally driven basket of crap. It is less violent but right on par with the AQ thinkers who also need to grow up and learn to use their words to communicate…but then, most probably they are a bunch of evil minded murderers with an agenda of world dominance just as they claim to be.
“You know the word exploit, as a noun, …”
But that’s not the one I used. I used the verb: “to make use of meanly or unjustly for one’s own advantage”.
I like to think this was plain to all our readers, and that your little effort caused one or two of them to snort derision. I certainly did.
You need to check out the latest National Geographic, wherein they printed maps of Israeli settlement on the West Bank, etc. I had no idea. It certainly belies any statements Israel makes in support of any two-state solution, and thoroughly explains why some people might react violently to Israel’s foreign policy.
Not that I think very much of Mr. A’s rhetoric, but it’s not coming out of thin air … them Arabs are provoked. Until said provocations are addressed, the situation will not improve.
Libby: “But that’s not the one I used.”
No kidding? Gee that must be why I responded by saying: “Oh right, we took our big bad selves half way across the planet, at great expense and personal loss, JUST to take advantage of the Iraqi people. We now know it wasn’t oil lady so tell me, what exactly do you think was gained that wasn’t (or could have been with follow through by this administration) also a positive for the Iraqi people?”
You, as you often do, implied that I tried to change the meaning and avoided my question entirely. I think our readers will notice that as well. You snort a lot Libby…must go with the territory.
“I had no idea.”
And you still don’t have a clue.
“them Arabs are provoked…”
All it takes to “provoke” an arab of this mindset, is to expect to be able to continue to live and practice ones own religion. How do you propose ending that? How do you propose we appease those who want the Jews eliminated, removed from the face of the earth?
Push will come to shove but we don’t have to worry about Iran getting those nuclear warheads, or Hamas and drug cartel on our southern border being in cahoots, or peaceful Islamists in our midst who prefer a softer version of takeover…naw, those people woould all change their plans IF ONLY America would get out of the ME and the Jews would agree to live on a section of land (their homeland) no bigger than a postage stamp.
The ignorance, as well as the lack of true empathy, is astounding.
Arabs are provoked. Until said provocations are addressed, the situation will not improve.
Libby, what did we specifically do to provoke the Arabs?
Excellent question, Jack.
Well let’s see … we’ll keep it simple … the installation of the Shah in Iran and Mubarak in Egypt who were both intent on (and at our bidding) secularizing … westernizing Arab culture.
If I were an Arab, I’d be pissed. We’re just lucky this Egyptian thing is going as well as it seems to be.
Nice Libby, yes the Shah…absolutely, a bad move, a stupid move and reason for many Iranians to hate us. However, that one is pretty old and only the over 50 generation can even remember the days of the Shah and his Savak agents.
Mubarak, now that was an Egyptian deal, the USA was not responsible for Mubarak. We provided aid and helped him stay in power after the fact, but hen he was pro-west so why not? That was hardly something on the order of the Shah. And it was mostly foreign aid money and military aid. We’ve done about the same for the Saudi’s, especially in the early in the 60’s and 70’s and then some fairly serious cooperation over terrorists suspects that was of mutual benefit. We do have to maintain working relations with oil rich countries – that’s a fact of life, but this anti-America Arab angst comes more from our support for Israel than anything we done to them. I say, that’s their problem and they need to get over it, because they are being a bunch of hateful racist bigots when it comes to Jews. The Israelis
have triend very hard to be friends and taken many risks in the name of peace, but they will not give up Israel and they will not lay down and die because Arabs want them dead.
We shouldn’t bend over for bigots, should we Libs?
But there’s bigots on both sides of the issue … another fact you will not face. You go look at that settlement map, and then come tell me again about Israel’s honorable intentions.
Jack: “Did Bush ever say we’re going into Iraq because of 9/11? I sure never heard it.”
He may have never directly said it in those words, but he and the administration heavily implied it numerous times.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50679-2004Jun17.html
“While not explicitly declaring Iraqi culpability in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, administration officials did, at various times, imply a link. In late 2001, Cheney said it was “pretty well confirmed” that attack mastermind Mohamed Atta had met with a senior Iraqi intelligence official. Later, Cheney called Iraq the “geographic base of the terrorists who had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11.”
Bush, in 2003, said “the battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11th, 2001.”
Beyond the Sept. 11 attacks, administration officials have also suggested that there had been cooperation between Iraq and al Qaeda that went beyond contacts. Bush last year called Hussein “an ally of al Qaeda.” Just this Monday, Cheney said Hussein “had long-established ties with al Qaeda.”
In January, Cheney said the “best source” of information on the subject was an article in the Weekly Standard, which reported: “Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein had an operational relationship from the early 1990s to 2003 that involved training in explosives and weapons of mass destruction, logistical support for terrorist attacks, al Qaeda training camps and safe haven in Iraq, and Iraqi financial support for al Qaeda — perhaps even for Mohamed Atta — according to a top secret U.S. government memorandum.”
These implications, many of them based on false information, led many Americans to conflate Hussein with Al Qaeda, which fed into support for the war.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0314/p02s01-woiq.html
WASHINGTON
In his prime-time press conference last week, which focused almost solely on Iraq, President Bush mentioned Sept. 11 eight times. He referred to Saddam Hussein many more times than that, often in the same breath with Sept. 11.
Bush never pinned blame for the attacks directly on the Iraqi president. Still, the overall effect was to reinforce an impression that persists among much of the American public: that the Iraqi dictator did play a direct role in the attacks. A New York Times/CBS poll this week shows that 45 percent of Americans believe Mr. Hussein was “personally involved” in Sept. 11, about the same figure as a month ago.
Sources knowledgeable about US intelligence say there is no evidence that Hussein played a role in the Sept. 11 attacks, nor that he has been or is currently aiding Al Qaeda. Yet the White House appears to be encouraging this false impression, as it seeks to maintain American support for a possible war against Iraq and demonstrate seriousness of purpose to Hussein’s regime.
“The administration has succeeded in creating a sense that there is some connection [between Sept. 11 and Saddam Hussein],” says Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.
The numbers
Polling data show that right after Sept. 11, 2001, when Americans were asked open-ended questions about who was behind the attacks, only 3 percent mentioned Iraq or Hussein. But by January of this year, attitudes had been transformed. In a Knight Ridder poll, 44 percent of Americans reported that either “most” or “some” of the Sept. 11 hijackers were Iraqi citizens. The answer is zero.
According to Mr. Kull of PIPA, there is a strong correlation between those who see the Sept. 11-Iraq connection and those who support going to war.
In Selma, Ala., firefighter Thomas Wilson supports going to war with Iraq, and brings up Sept. 11 himself, saying we don’t know who’s already here in the US waiting to attack. When asked what that has to do with Iraq, he replies: “They’re all in it together – all of them hate this country.” The reason: “prosperity.”