Remember 9/11?

[coadie]

What were you doing when you found out about the towers getting hit? I had a staffmember that heard it from a phone call. He entered my office and told me. We went to the bank lounge accross the hall from my company offices and watched the towers before they fell on television.

[iceniez]

I was at work at Cleveland Hopkins airport. It was crazy we did not know what flights we were going to get or if we had enough room. So I really did not get to process what actually happened until much later . The next 3 days were so quiet at work, no flights at all.

[CC1]

I had slept in that morning and walked into the living room right after the first tower had been hit. My wife was watching and I was upset that she had not immediately waken me up when something that big had happened. Then while I was watching the live TV shot I saw the second airplane hit the second tower. That ended our discussion about whether it was an accident or not.

We immediately began trying to contact our daughter who was in NYC. She had been supposed to fly home over the weekend when her business trip had ended but had decided to spend the weekend with friends in Queens and fly home Tuesday. She ended up staying in NYC for weeks as it was so hard to get out. We woke her up and she went outside and watched the towers fall.

[ILG]

I was at the desk in my husband's office when the phone rang. It was the assistant pastor's wife and she told me what was happening. I went out to the news on the internet and watched a video. It took a while to sink in. It seemed too unbelievable.

[Sam]

from The National Review online
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/246272/imagining-islam-andrew-c-mccarthy

September 11, 2010 4:00 A.M.
Imagining Islam
Wishful thinking will not bring success or security.


If only the fantasy were true: If only there actually were a dominant, pro-American, echt moderate Islam, an ideology so dedicated to human rights, so sternly set against savagery, that acts of terrorism were, by definition, “un-Islamic activity.” Imagine an Islam that, far from a liability, proved an asset (indeed, an indispensable asset) in combating the threat against us. Imagine that we could accurately call the threat mere “extremism” — no “Islamic” (or even “Islamist”) modifier being necessary because the “extremists” truly were a tiny, aberrant band, fraudulently “hijacking” a great religion.

If the fantasy were true, who among us would not be proud to mark the annual observance of September 11 by breaking ground on a $100 million Islamic center cum mosque at the site of the most horrific attack in American history? In the nine years since the atrocities that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans at the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pa., such an Islam — if it really existed — would have spearheaded the defeat of America’s enemies.

Such an Islam, over nine long years, would have risen up and made itself heard. It would have identified by name and condemned with moral outrage the imposters purporting to act in its name. It would have honored America’s sacrifice of blood and treasure in the liberation of oppressed Muslim peoples. It would have said “thank you” to our troops. It would have joined America, without ambiguity or hesitation, in crushing terror networks and dismantling the regimes that abet them. It would not have needed trillion-dollar American investments to forge democracies; it would naturally have adopted democracy on its own.

What excruciating truths have we yet failed to grasp on this ninth anniversary of 9/11? The first is that such an Islam does not exist. The second is that, despite this fact, American foreign and domestic policy continues to proceed as though it does exist — and as though it were the only real Islam. That is, nine years after Islamists made their commitment to our destruction as unmistakable as possible, nine years after the non-occurrence of all the wonderful things that would certainly have happened if the Islam of our dreams were the Islam of our reality, our national-security strategy is still steeped in fiction.

Self-delusion is a convenient policy. It resists defining missions with anything but the most detached, politically correct loftiness. Serial attacks by readily identifiable enemies seamlessly become a nebulous “war on terror,” then a “long struggle against violent extremism,” then an “overseas contingency operation.” If you stubbornly avoid saying whom you’re fighting and why, pretty soon no one remembers — the better to define down success — don’t say victory. So we gradually slide from “You’re with us or you’re with the terrorists,” to “draining the swamps,” to “the forward march of freedom,” to the creation of “democracies” that are reliable American “allies in the war on terror,” to “democracy-lite, and please pass the sharia,” to “shoot for stability,” to “Why not negotiate with the Taliban? Look how well the engagement with Iran is going.”

We may succeed in kidding ourselves, but our enemies aren’t fooled. By 9/11, Iran had been braying “Death to America!” and matching word with deed for over 20 years. The mullahs heard all the “You’re with us or with the terrorists” banter, but they also saw it followed up with a policy of entreaty, appeasement, and capitulation. So they did what any jihadist taking our measure would do: They spent the ensuing nine years helping other jihadists kill Americans. The only difference now is that they’re about to be a jihadist nuclear power — a status they must have known was a shoo-in once the chorus of American politicians began pronouncing it “unacceptable.”

In the two new “democracies” we’ve built, sharia reigns, as it was bound to do when the State Department wrote it into the new constitutions — Islam being one of our purported weapons against terrorism. One result is that homosexuals and religious minorities are brutally persecuted.

In Iraq, where half the public still sees attacks on U.S. troops as legitimate, democratic elections are now contests in which candidates vie to show who is most anti-American. To the new Iraq, Iran is the most important ally. Indeed, if war broke out with Iran tomorrow, American forces in Iraq would be barred from launching attacks against Tehran. We’ve pledged not to use our costly military presence in Iraq against any other country — the only country for which the Shiite government would waive that prohibition is Israel.

Meantime, in Afghanistan, the U.S.-backed Karzai government is desperately seeking a deal with the Taliban — the Islamist terrorists the State Department refuses to designate as terrorists. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the Afghan government even convened a conference of clerics to enact a resolution calling for more exacting enforcement of sharia, the Taliban’s key demand. In response, the Taliban have stepped up the pace of bombings and assassinations. They are convinced, as Karzai is convinced, that President Obama will begin pulling out next year, just as he said he would. We imagine a cozy life with a “moderate” Taliban; the actual Taliban intend on ruling with remorseless sharia.

At home, even as al-Qaeda continues its efforts to reprise 9/11, a network of Islamist organizations — coordinated by the Muslim Brotherhood and financially backed by our friends, the Saudis — proceeds with what it calls its “grand jihad” to eliminate and destroy Western civilization by sabotage. This is not a secret. The Brotherhood’s internal memoranda were seized by the FBI. They boldly announce these claims in black and white. Two years ago, the Justice Department aptly labeled the constituent organizations — including the Islamic Society of North America and the Council on American Islamic Relations — as unindicted co-conspirators in a terrorism-financing case in which several of their partners were convicted of funneling millions of dollars to Hamas. Today, those Islamist organizations are right back in business, with an open door to “engaging” government policymakers, as if nothing ever happened. In our imagination, they’re moderates, too.

One thing never intrudes on our make-believe world: the real 9/11. Before it was Ground Zero, the World Trade Center was a real place, where flesh-and-blood Americans were slaughtered — some of them leaping over 70 stories to their grisly demise because it seemed more merciful than immolation in the fires that raged within. We try not to think about that much anymore, except for a fleeting moment or two every September 11. We just imagine it can never happen again. After all, we’ve got Islam in our corner.

— Andrew C. McCarthy, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, is the author, most recently, of The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America.

[Sam]

Doesn't the word Islam come from the Arabic word for peace?
And don't Muslims envision world peace to be everyone in the world submitted to sharia law under an Islamic government?

[pelathais]

I was getting my kids ready for school. I remember tying my daughter's shoe just before the North Tower collapsed. At first I thought that pieces of the facade were just falling off. Then, immediately, you could see it was pancaking down. With the "Tube within a Tube" design, there was no facade on the WTC towers.

I told my kids right then that they could stay home if they wanted. They were puzzled. I remember telling them that it was going to be pretty weird at school that day. "Why?" they asked. "Because while that building was coming down, there were hundreds of firemen running up the stairs."

The thought of so many people running to help and then being murdered stays with me to this day.

I tried to explain that this was an attack, and not an accident. The kids still went to school. It wasn't until later in the day, I think, that what they had seen really sank in.

[pelathais]

Doesn't the word Islam come from the Arabic word for peace?
And don't Muslims envision world peace to be everyone in the world submitted to sharia law under an Islamic government?

That is the stated goal of the Islamic faith as articulated in the Koran. It is the story of a group of nomadic traders who were harried by their own tribesmen. They saw "everyone" as an "outsider" that needed to be subjugated. Unfortunately, while the tribalism of the Hebrew Bible has been lost to time, Islam stills sees itself in the same light its founders had.

[ILG]

Do any of you believe the buildings were imploded? What about the building beside the towers?

[pelathais]

Do any of you believe the buildings were imploded? What about the building beside the towers?

Please.

[ILG]

Please.

I read in the newspaper that 38% of Americans now believe that the government has some involvment in this, so I think it is a valid question.

[pelathais]

I read in the newspaper that 38% of Americans now believe that the government has some involvment in this, so I think it is a valid question.

No disrespect, ILG. I like you. And, I know you were just "throwing it out there" for discussion.

But if this were true, then instead of attacking Afghanistan, we need to be lining up our jets to do bombing runs on Washington DC. Why would anyone actually believe "our government" did this and NOT act?

The whole "Truther" movement is just a hateful way of spreading infamy and suspicion against the Federal government without actually having to come up with any facts.

Instead, let's speak the truth about the Federal government (it's a wasteful cesspool of corruption and irresponsible spending) and address that issue.

Meanwhile, let's continue to press the Islamic extremists who were actually behind the 9/11 attacks and do something to improve the world's civilization there. The whole "Truther" charade is just a smokescreen to hide the truth. Unless you're Alex Jones, then it's a "really cool" wealth building scheme.

[mfblume]

Doesn't the word Islam come from the Arabic word for peace?

Not really. Islam is derived from the Arabic root "Salema": peace, purity, submission and obedience. That puts a little bit of a difference on the thought of peace.

[Sherri]

My MIL called that morning and told us to turn on the TV. We sat in shock most of the day, watching the news coverage. It was just so unbelievable. We had just stayed in that World Trade Center Marriott that was destroyed, and had reservations to go back in October 2011 and stay there again. Marriott kindly moved us to another location in Manhattan and we went ahead and flew up there, but there were only 10 people on our jet, including the four of us. Manhattan was really weird - no one on the streets after about 8 pm.

[Sherri]

We just visited the World Trade Center site again this week, as well as Trinity Church down the street, where people took cover during the attacks. I told Eddie when we were standing there looking at it, that when trouble came, everyone literally ran to the church. Not just Trinity Church there in the Financial District, but all churches. People showed up at our church that we hadn't seen in years. But nine years later, it seems that people have forgotten again.

[Margies3]

I was at home with my daycare kids watching the morning news shows. Also washing clothes and packing my suitcase to leave the next day for a flight to Mexico for a medical mission trip.

That trip immediately got put on hold. In the end, several people went on the mission trip, but they drove down in rented vans. And all those who went were older people who had retired. Those of us who had small children chose not to make that particular trip at that particular time.

[coadie]

We just visited the World Trade Center site again this week, as well as Trinity Church down the street, where people took cover during the attacks. I told Eddie when we were standing there looking at it, that when trouble came, everyone literally ran to the church. Not just Trinity Church there in the Financial District, but all churches. People showed up at our church that we hadn't seen in years. But nine years later, it seems that people have forgotten again.

Our church had a long prayer meeting the night before. On the 11th many churches opened and we were at peace knowing God was in control. I visited my father on the 11th and found at dinner time, restaurants were empty. People were glued to the television.

[Sam]

Off and on today I watched some of the 9/11 stuff on tv er.. uh... I mean on the monitor.....

Maybe I missed it but a couple things I didn't see today were:

--leaders of Muslim nations apologizing and assuring us here that they condemn the actions of a few "extremists" who do not represent the beliefs and feelings of Muslims around the world.

--the imam from the proposed cultural center/victory memorial that has been traveling on our tax dollars to promote unity among us and the Muslims taking part in any of the remembrances.

--the news clips of the dancing and rejoicing among our "friends" as they celebrated the successful attack on the U.S. by Muslims. Those sure didn't stay on the news for long 9 years ago, did they?

[Fiyahstarter]

Off and on today I watched some of the 9/11 stuff on tv er.. uh... I mean on the monitor.....

Maybe I missed it but a couple things I didn't see today were:

--leaders of Muslim nations apologizing and assuring us here that they condemn the actions of a few "extremists" who do not represent the beliefs and feelings of Muslims around the world.

--the imam from the proposed cultural center/victory memorial that has been traveling on our tax dollars to promote unity among us and the Muslims taking part in any of the remembrances.

--the news clips of the dancing and rejoicing among our "friends" as they celebrated the successful attack on the U.S. by Muslims. Those sure didn't stay on the news for long 9 years ago, did they?

How about it.