9/11

One of the reasons George Santayana’s famous line about forgetting the past resonates is because humans can be so bad at remembering. That’s especially true about the past 25 years of liberal Western democracy. The twenty-first century brand of progressivism that’s corrupted so much Western thinking is all about moving on from a past inevitably deemed regressive. To someone like me, who lived through 9-11 in Manhattan and spent years writing about what we learned from it, the extent to which we have forgotten the lessons of that day and discarded so many of the principles we developed to defend ourselves is shocking.

It kept getting worse.

The horror arrived in episodic bursts of chilling disbelief, signified first by trembling floors, sharp eruptions, cracked windows. There was the actual unfathomable realization of a gaping, flaming hole in first one of the tall towers, and then the same thing all over again in its twin. There was the merciless sight of bodies helplessly tumbling out, some of them in flames.

Finally, the mighty towers themselves were reduced to nothing. Dense plumes of smoke raced through the downtown avenues, coursing between the buildings, shaped like tornadoes on their sides.

This is the NYTimes piece from Sept 12 2001.

Never forget.

My late great wife. Kathy was moved to tears earlier that morning at the 10th anniversary of 911. Yes she really did try to trip a Westboro church member as they stained a sacred day.

As the anniversary of September 11 approaches, a lawsuit filed by the families of the victims of the Islamic terrorist attacks against the Saudis has been granted permission to move forward.

Saudi Arabia along with Qatar and Iran were the three Islamic terrorist states seen as most complicit in September 11.

One of the big missing pieces of the puzzle is the complicity of the FBI in covering up the role of Saudi Arabia.

h/t kiki9

On the eve of 9/11, Vice President Kamala Harris claimed that January 6 was the “worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”

The line, dumb as it was, was also a dismissal of September 11.

“Do you remember this photograph? In the United States, people have taken pains to banish it from the record of September 11, 2001. The story behind it, though, and the search for the man pictured in it, are our most intimate connection to the horror of that day.”

h/t PA Cat

That dreadful day is back again; it will always be 9/11, both on the calendar and in our memories. It will forever be remembered as the 21st century’s Day of Infamy.

Islamic Jihad had pierced a huge hole in history. None of us will–or should–ever be the same.

On September 11, 2001, at about 11am, I walked over to my computer and typed the sentence: “Now we are all Israelis.” Afterwards, Osama bin Laden called the assault on America “blessed attacks” against the infidel…the new Christian-Jewish crusade.” He explained that the Twin Towers had fallen because of American support for Israel.

How the Bureau’s “Terrorist Screening Center” fails to screen terrorists.

Presidents regularly mount the podium but FBI directors have kept rather quiet on September 11. Last year, Christopher Wray delivered remarks that prove enlightening.

“It’s fitting that we mark this anniversary here, at the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC),” Wray said, “because the TSC is a prime example of the strides we made following the attacks—developing new capabilities and working in concert with our partners to keep people safe. It demonstrates the ingenuity, the dedication, and the spirit of collaboration we’ve brought—as a collective law enforcement and intelligence community—to the fight against terrorism.”

The freedom that the 9/11 hijackers hated is slipping away from us with terrifying speed.

“Only days after 9/11, Norwegian author Gert Nygårdshaug sneered at the idea that there might soon be an attack on ‘Oslo or Rome or Copenhagen.’ He was far from alone in his mockery. Then came Madrid, London, Bali, Beslan, Mumbai….The Western European elite played down, even denied, any connection among these events. Yet year by year the truth has become increasingly clear: though the U.S. was the target on 9/11, the front line of the war with Islamism is Europe.”

Last night, 60 Minutes broadcast a moving story of firefighters in the World Trade Center 22 years ago. Scott Pelley carefully used that word, “firefighter,” throughout the elongated feature.

60 Minutes, choosing diversity when it clashes with truth, highlighted several female firefighters (both among the more eloquent talking heads, so one cannot really gainsay their inclusion) on the program. But 343 of 343 who perished were firemen. So, cannot we safely, in this one instance, drop the 21st-century gender-neutral term?

We remember. Kathy and the Westboro Baptist Church – 10 year anniversary.