Don't Commemorate Sept. 11

Slate ^ | September 8, 2003 | Christopher Hitchens

[HitmanLV]

I agree with Hitchens. I have come to loathe the hand wringing, incessant talk of coping and therapy by my old neighbors in NYC, and a procession of articles and specials which, while honoring the dead and serving as a solemn reminder of our dangers, inexorably includes a healthy dose of celebration of victimhood, protracted angst, and ultimately feed the desire to feel sorry for ourselves.

One thing we don't need to to feel sorry for ourselves.

I lived 1/3 a mile from WTC and showed up to work the next day (unlike about 90% of my coworkers.) I did my work, took care of my department single handedly, and did what I had to do. I did it again on Thursday the 13th. My firm announced a policy of Two Free Personal Days Off to get things in order - the catch: they had to be used that week. My mamma didn't raise a fool, and my coworkers had all taken the week off unnanounced, so I took Friday off, but I was bored.

The Lesson: Negative feelings and emotions feed themselves. Don't feed this process.

[radiohead]

What is required is a steady, unostentatious stoicism, made up out of absolute, cold hatred and contempt for the aggressors, and complete determination that their defeat will be utter and shameful.

Works for me.

Never forget!

[NonZeroSum]

Pardon me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the same Chris Hitchens who, as a reporter for the NYT, got himself booed off the stage for an anti-Bush/anti-war/anti-US "commencement" agenda speech?

You're wrong.

That was Christopher Hedges...

[Choose Ye This Day]

No, I can't remember that guy's name...at Rockford College?

This is Christopher Hitchens, right-wing socialist. Great British writer and huge thorn in the side of the Left (that he left), but still wrong on many issues.

[Cboldt]

What is required is a steady, unostentatious stoicism, made up out of absolute, cold hatred and contempt for the aggressors, and complete determination that their defeat will be utter and shameful.

> bump <

[Kozak]

I'm going to watch the Flash file I have on 9/11. Then watch 911 inside where you can hear the sound of our countrymen hitting the ground. Then I'm going to watch DC 9/11 on Showtime. And I'm going to get quietly angry and determined to see our enemies, and the enemies of civilization crushed.

[boxerblues]

It takes a cold hearted person not to tear up at the images of that day, but I do not shed a tear at the death of terrorists'

[Roscoe Karns]

bump

[Deb]

This is the mind of a self-described "extreme Marxist" at work, as it tries to think logically.

You can see the wheels grinding, but they don't quite make sausage.

Chris, in order to do what must be done, it's necessary to remind ourselves and the World why we are doing it. Americans have the shortest memories of any and need lots of reminding or else they go back to work and try to heal by denial.

[LibKill]

More dead jihadis would be a good remembrance on 09/11.

[Mr. Mojo]

But it is vaguely felt in many quarters that something ought to be done by way of an observance

It's an excellent day to go down to the local range and blast away at some photos of Jihadists. Arafat's face works very well, with all the moles, boils, and pocks to aim at.

[WarrenC]

I think it's been quite a while since Hitchens considered himself an "extreme Marxist". To me, this column is summed up in these sentences:

"Always think of it. Never speak of it." ... This steely injunction is diluted by Ground Zero kitsch or by yellow-ribbon type events, which make the huge mistake of marking the event as a "tribute" of some sort to those who happened to die that day. ... The time to commemorate the fallen is, or always has been, after the war is over. This war has barely begun.

Clearly he's not saying we shouldn't remember 9/11. Quite the contrary - he wants our remembrance to provide the energy for a purposeful and consistent response - not to dissipate energy in "ground zero kitsch".

[oldironsides]

It is our wedding anniversary. I believe they should show the aircraft crashing into the WTC every hour on the 11th to remind people of the horror. Some people need the reminder and they can start with Howard Dean and the 8 others.

[Deb]

I'm not sure what he's referring to as "ground zero kitsch", but that phrase seems to me to be his way of appearing intellectually superior and it's more than a little insulting, right now. I doubt he'd write with the same snobby attitude if Big Ben or Westminster had been destroyed on 9/11.

I'd much rather read something by his brother in reference to remembering this anniversary. Christopher is just a bit too hip for the room on this one. But I still love him.

[FreedomCalls]

"Remember September 11th" is like "Remember Pearl Harbor:"

So how was Pearl Harbor commemorated on December 7th, 1943?

[bicycle thug]

Never forget this horror, here are some some links with archived 9-22 information; http://www.alexa.com/search?q=9-11

[Starrgaizr]

Anniversary

December 7, 1942

"It should be observed as a day of silence in remembrance of a day of great infamy."

Thus Franklin Roosevelt, President and Commander in Chief, approached the first anniversary of a Dec. 7 that will live long in American history. Restrained official voices warned the American people not to underestimate the difficulties of the job still ahead. The war was not won. But victory for the United Nations never looked more certain.

Clearly revealed at last were the inadequacies of Axis power. Not so clearly revealed, but, beginning to emerge, was the possibility that the major leaders of the Untied Nations had had a global strategy from the beginning. Columnist Major George Fielding Eliot last week essayed to outline it and concluded that nothing happened by accident, that all had been planned and carried out with "magnificent precision." Reasoned Major Eliot: Last August when Russia was fighting off Germany's renewed attacks and it seemed certain that Japan would seize the chance to invade Russia's Far Eastern provinces, the U.S. went into the Solomons. Japan "fell into a trap" and diverted the troops she needed for a Siberian adventure?.

If Major Eliot's hindsight conclusions were three-quarters correct the people of the U.S., with those of Britain and Russia, had good cause to feel exuberant. Leaders Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin had not failed them. Especially, Franklin Roosevelt had not failed the people of the U.S.

It might or might not have been as Major Eliot saw it, for all returns were not yet in. But the facts to date were good enough so that Major Eliot could advance as a plausible hypothesis the assertion that Roosevelt was "one of the greatest war Presidents" of the U.S., a man with a "grasp of total and global strategy." Concluded Major Eliot: "We may likewise face the future under his leadership with a serene confidence in victory to come."

[Starrgaizr]

Still working on 1943

[Starrgaizr]

Bomber Harris says he can win the war
Tuesday, December 7, 1943 www.onwar.com

[British Lancaster bomber being loaded for a mission] In London ... The Air Marshal Harris, commander in chief of RAF Bomber Command, tells his superiors that he believes he can win the war if he is supported in his continuing attacks on Berlin and other targets so that he can send off 15,000 Lancaster missions in the next few months. (In fact, Harris will be able to send 14,500 missions despite arguments about the effectiveness of the bombing.)

In Italy... The US 5th Army secures the Mignano gap and expands its offensive. The US 2nd and 6th Corps attack Monte Sammucro and San Pietro. There is determined German resistance. To the east, the British 8th Army attacks Orsogna.
________________

136 Communique on a Meeting with Churchill and the President of Turkey
December 7, 1943

MR. ROOSEVELT, President of the United States of America, M. Ismet Inonu, President of the Turkish Republic, and Mr. Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, met in Cairo on December 4, 5, and 6, 1943.

Mr. Anthony Eden, His Majesty's principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, M. Numan Menemencioglu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, and Mr. Harry Hopkins took part in their deliberations.

Participation in this conference of the head of the Turkish state, in response to the cordial invitation addressed to him by the United States, British, and Soviet Governments, bears striking testimony to the strength of the alliance which unites Great Britain and Turkey, and to the firm friendship existing between the Turkish people and the United States of America and the Soviet Union.

Presidents Roosevelt and Inonu and Prime Minister Churchill reviewed the general political situation and examined at length the policy to be followed, taking into account the joint and several interests of the three countries.

The study of all problems in a spirit of understanding and loyalty showed that the closest unity existed between the United States of America, Turkey, and Great Britain in their attitude to the world situation.

The conversations in Cairo have consequently been most useful and most fruitful for future relations between the four countries concerned.

The identity of interests and of views of the great American and British democracies with those of the Soviet Union, as also the traditional relations of friendship existing between these powers and Turkey, have been reaffirmed throughout the proceedings of the Cairo Conference.
__________

37 Remarks at Malta
December 8, 1943

Lord Gort, officers and men, good people of Malta:

Nearly a year ago the Prime Minister and I were in Casablanca ?shortly after the landings by British and American troops in North Africa?and at that time I told the Prime Minister some day we would control once more the whole of the Mediterranean and that I would go to Malta.

For many months I have wanted on behalf of the American people to pay some little tribute to this island and to all of its people- civil and military- who during these years have contributed so much to democracy, not just here but all over the civilized world. And so, at last I have been able to come. At last I have been able to see something of your historic land. I wish I could stay but I have many things to do. May I tell you though that during these past three weeks the Prime Minister and I feel that we two have struck strong blows for the future of the human race.

And so, in this simple way, I am taking the opportunity to do what all the American people would like to join me in doing. I have here a little token- a scroll- a citation- from the President of the United States, speaking in behalf of all the people of the United States. And may I read it to you:

"In the name of the people of the United States of America, I salute the Island of Malta, its people and defenders, who, in the cause of freedom and justice and decency throughout the world, have rendered valorous service far above and beyond the call of duty.

"Under repeated fire from the skies, Malta stood alone, but unafraid in the center of the sea, one tiny bright flame in the darkness?a beacon of hope for the clearer days which have come.

"Malta's bright story of human fortitude and courage will be read by posterity with wonder and with gratitude through all the ages.

"What was done in this Island maintains the highest traditions of gallant men and women who from the beginning of time have lived and died to preserve civilization for all mankind.
"Dated December 7, 1943.

Signed FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT."

I have signed it at the bottom and I wrote on it not today but yesterday, December 7, because that was the second anniversary of the entry into the war of the American people. We will proceed until that war is won and more than that, we will stand shoulder to shoulder with the British Empire and our other allies in making it a victory worth while.