Free Republic

Full title: Breathtaking video shows installation of final section of the World Trade Center spire as it's fastened to America's tallest building A camera attached to the bottom of One World Trade Center's highest component has provided dizzying footage from the top of New York City's tallest building.The final section of the spire, adorned with an American flag, was lifted by crane to the top of the skyscraper on Friday.A GoPro camera mounted near its base documented the careful rise of the iron piece, as dozens of construction workers watched in awe.    (edit)

NEW YORK – A New York judge has tossed out a lawsuit seeking to stop the display of a cross-shaped steel beam found among the World Trade Center's wreckage. Federal judge Deborah Batts on Friday rejected the arguments of a national atheists' group. American Atheists had sued the National September 11 Memorial & Museum's operators in 2011 on constitutional grounds...

By John Crewdson, Tribune senior correspondent. Reporting and research assistance was provided by Drew Crosby in Madrid MADRID -- The most sweeping criminal indictment to arise thus far from the Sept. 11 attacks reflects a quiet but dramatic change in understanding by investigators here and across Europe of the terrorist organization known as Al Qaeda, and the international Islamic radical-terrorist network of which, they now agree, it is merely a part. As laid out in the indictment, the defendants' alleged activities--from arranging travel and providing introductions to procuring false documents and, especially, moving money--provide the first detailed look at one...

Behold, the new One World Trade Center — the unfinished, imperfect end-product of maybe the most anguished public soap opera ever to bring forth a single building. Still in a raw state, it’s already cause to celebrate. The nearly $4 billion, largest, most fought-over piece of the puzzle in downtown’s epic skyline restoration turns out to be a gentle giant, graceful and humane as the Twin Towers were not. Architectural eggheads will sneer at it, but the masses will just as surely love it. Include me in the common rabble. What scant pleasure the old towers afforded lay in their...

Photos are from: The World Trade Center: A Tribute by Bill Harris Requiem World Trade Center: Once Upon a Time in New York City by Hideaki Sato

New CGIs released by the Port Authority

The 104th floor of the tallest building in the western world features steel signed by the president The steel beam signed by President Obama during a visit to One World Trade Center was installed on the 104th floor Thursday. Obama, along with First Lady Michelle Obama, Govs. Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo, and Mayor Bloomberg signed the beam during a visit to the construction site on June 14. The beam was installed on the 104th floor as the tower continues to inch closer an expected completion date of late 2013 or early 2014.

A simmering controversy surrounding the "Ground Zero Cross" exposes the intolerance and absolutism behind ongoing battles over religious symbols on public property. Contrary to popular belief, it's not Christian conservatives who normally start these bitter disputes. It's more often atheist activists who seek to alter the long-standing status quo by scrubbing the landscape of the most visible signs of the nation's religious heritage. American Atheists, an organization representing the civil liberties of agnostics, filed suit in 2011 to block display of the Ground Zero Cross anywhere on the grounds of the new memorial museum planned for the World Trade...

(CBS/AP) On Monday, the new One World Trade Center is due to reach and surpass the height of the Empire State Building, to become New York City's tallest building. Workers will be putting steel columns in place that will make the unfinished frame of the building a little more than 1,250 feet high—the level of the Empire State Building's highest observation deck. The tower still isn't as high as the antenna that sits on the Empire State Building. (Experts usually don't count antennas or flagpoles when measuring building height.) The "Freedom Tower" isn't expected to reach its full height for...

In 1891, Yusuf Sadallah arrived in Lower Manhattan from the town of Baskinta, in the part of the Ottoman Empire that is now Lebanon. Going by the name of Joseph Sadallah, he set up a trading shop on Washington Street, where other immigrants from the Levant — Syrians, Lebanese and Palestinians — had created a vibrant Arab quarter known as Little Syria. Most residents were Christian, their loyalties divided only between St. George’s Syrian Catholic Church at 103 Washington Street and St. Joseph’s Maronite Church at 57 Washington Street, later at 157 Cedar Street.

Tom Hanks narrates the epic story of the 9/11 boatlift that evacuated half a million people from the stricken piers and seawalls of Lower Manhattan. Produced and directed by Eddie Rosenstein. Eyepop Productions, Inc. BOATLIFT was executive produced by Stephen Flynn and Sean Burke and premiered on September 8th at the 9/11 Tenth Anniversary Summit:

Nearly six years ago, in November 2003, a design called 'Reflecting Absence,' conceived by NYC Housing Authority architect, Michael Arad, was selected as one of the finalists for the World Trade Center Memorial. Arad's poignant design featured two pools in the footprints of the destroyed WTC's towers, each an acre in size, with waterfalls cascading down their sides, representing endless tears shed for the victims. In January 2004, the design, now-revised with landscape designer Peter Walker's eastern white pine trees, was chosen as the winning design slated to open on September 11, 2011, for the tenth anniversary. WIKI Michael...

I'm going to tell you my 9/11 story at the end of this post. It's not exciting, nor is it poignant. It is, I suspect, a lot like your own 9/11 story. I'm also not going to pontificate on the significance of 9/11. We all know what happened, who caused it, and why. We know about the Pentagon, the World Trade Center, the heroes that took down UAL Flight 93. We know about the three thousand -- the fallen. What I will say is this: to me, those airplanes are still falling, those buildings are still falling, those people...

EXCERPT: Even given its size and complexity, the World Trade Center has taken an unusually long time to rebuild. If everything goes according to plan, the site won't be finished until 2016. That's nearly 8 years longer than the initial projections offered by New York's then governor George Pataki in 2003. To give you an idea of how long that is, the original towers were completed in just five and a half years. "It's easy to ask, 'What's taking so long?'" says Chris Ward, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, "but it's harder...

Ten years ago on 9/11, Rick Rescorla was on duty on the 44th floor of the World Trade Center, tower two. He was vice president for corporate security at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., and a jumbo jet had just plowed into the other tower.

From executive producer Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Television, Discovery Channel and Science Channel comes the story of hope from darkness, life from ashes, a dream born from a nightmare. RISING: REBUILDING GROUND ZERO, premiering Thursday, August 25 at 8PM E/P on Discovery Channel, showcases the men and women determined to rebuild and restore a sacred site, constructing the new, 104-story One World Trade Center. "Discovery Channel is proud to be sharing this important story and transitional moment in the history of our country. With incredible access and deft storytelling, RISING: REBUILDING GROUND ZERO captures a city and a country moving forward...

There is nothing wrong — and much that is right — with building a national monument to memorialize the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 9/11 attacks a decade ago. The awful events of that day traumatized the country — and changed it. The dead deserve to be remembered. Far be it from me to suggest otherwise. What I do want to suggest, though, is that what’s being built in the name of 9/11 — a staggering $11 billion worth of government-sponsored construction on the 16 acres we now call ground zero — is an example of just about everything...

It has been just about a decade since Islamophobia exploded in this country. That was of moment that the World Trade Center and Pentagon were hit by al Qaeda terrorists. It existed prior to 9/11, but the losses that day and the general terror it inflicted upon this country made many, many Americans much more wary of Arabs and, fairly quickly, fearful of the religion the terrorists professed. The first sign that 9/11 would be exploited to advance various agendas came from Binyamin Netanyahu, who was quoted in the New York Times as saying the attacks would be good for...

The New York City medical examiner’s office said on Tuesday that it had identified the remains of Ernest James, 40, a victim of the World Trade Center attack. The remains were identified “within the last few days” through DNA testing, said Ellen S. Borakove, a spokeswoman for the office. She declined to disclose more specifics about what type of remains were tested. Mr. James, who worked for the professional services company Marsh & McLennan, was one of nearly 300 members of the firm who died on Sept. 11, 2001. In addition, more than 60 consultants working with the firm that...

Eleven days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Debra Tosch arrived at Ground Zero with her partner Abby to search for survivors. “We turned this one corner and there it was: the collapsed towers. It was overwhelming, like, where do you even start?” Tosch recalls. Abby, a black Labrador trained to lead rescue teams to trapped victims in disaster areas, was more assured. “She knew it was time to search,” says Tosch, the executive director of the Search Dog Foundation. As one of 13 SDF teams deployed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the Trade Center...

The horrifying images of Islamic terror victims tumbling through the air to their deaths and the massive collapse of steel and concrete that followed are seared into the memories of anyone who saw them, but it's been nearly 10 years, and what should America do? Follow the advice of famed Democratic pundit, Bob Beckel? "I know it's still sensitive here in New York and New Jersey, but we are gonna have to get OVER 9/11," he said. Absolutely the last thing Americans should consider, unless they wish to ignore the second round of 9/11 attacks, according to those who are...

Ground Zero hardhats are hitting the hard stuff at lunch -- guzzling beers and shots at nearby bars before stumbling back to their dangerous jobs on the hallowed site, The Post has learned.With cost overruns crossing the $2 billion mark and the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, some reckless workers were seen on midday breaks last week filling their bellies with enough booze to become legally drunk. The men then stumbled back to the site, where workers have reached the 78th floor of 1 World Trade Center as they attempt to build a virtually indestructible skyscraper.

The centerpiece of the new World Trade Center complex is taking shape as we get closer to the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The steel of number one World Trade Center now pokes above the skyline. It’s the tallest building in lower Manhattan, now up to the 76th floor with concrete decked boards up to the 68th story and glass curtain walls installed to the 49th floor. Port Authority executive director Chris Ward says on 9/11, the family members of the victims will find some solace in the memorial plaza.

Hundreds of unionized concrete workers refused to work Monday at the World Trade Center and a smattering of other sites, setting the stage for a possible strike in the coming days. The work action stopped construction on part of the World Trade Center's 800,000-square-foot transit hub, according to a person familiar with the matter. Some construction tradesmen continued work there Monday, but a prolonged work stoppage could affect all construction that needs concrete to proceed, according to that person. Construction proceeded at other sites where workers didn't show up Monday, including the new basketball arena at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn....

Water pours through the north memorial pool at Ground Zero. On Sept. 12, 2011, when the public is allowed to step onto the World Trade Center site for the first time in 10 years, the approach will be more pedestrian than poignant. Visitors will pass through police screening gates and walk past barriers designed to prevent bombs from tearing through the site again. But this sobering reintroduction to the World Trade Center site is perhaps a fitting transition from the past decade—when the public's last direct experience of the site was a morning of terror—to a new era. As visitors...

A special shipment of 8,200 pounds of steel that once held up the World Trade Center arrived Monday morning at Miramar City Hall amid clapping and some tears. The two beams were salvaged from the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks and will become part of a 9-11 memorial to be completed in 2012 behind City Hall. The design will encompass all three crash sites, with the steel as the centerpiece. Miramar police officer Michael Yepez, a New York City police officer at the time of the attacks, said he saw the second plane hit the tower as he was...

Dozens protested Thursday in front of the US Embassy in Cairo, calling for the release of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, leader of the Islamist group Jama'a al-Islamiya, who is detained in the US on allegations of inciting terrorism. Abdel Rahman's son Abdullah said his father's release is first a human request and second a popular one. he also added that the grand sheikh of Al-Azhar called on US President Barack Obama to release Rahman.

Secret documents reveal that the three Qatari men conducted surveillance on the targets, provided “support” to the plotters and had tickets for a flight to Washington on the eve of the atrocities. The suspected terrorists flew from London to New York on a British Airways flight three weeks before the attacks. They allegedly carried out surveillance at the World Trade Centre, the White House and in Virginia, the US state where the Pentagon and CIA headquarters are located. Ten days later they flew to Los Angeles, where they stationed themselves in a hotel near the airport which the FBI has...

The waterfalls of the Sept. 11 memorial at ground zero are showing signs of life. Engineers began testing one of the twin waterfalls on Tuesday, circulating hundreds of thousands of gallons of water into the north reflecting pool. The cascades are the largest manmade waterfalls in North America, and they empty into pools that mark spots where the World Trade Center towers once stood. The 176-foot-perimeter pools are the centerpieces of Michael Arad's "Reflecting Absence" memorial plaza, which will cover nearly half the 16-acre lower Manhattan site and will be surrounded by thousands of trees. The head of the foundation...

RICK RESCORLA: THE MAN WHO PREDICTED 9-11 Colonel Cyril Richard "Rick" Rescorla May 27, 1939--Sept 11, 2001 Rest in Peace Andrea Shea King at The Radio Patriot pays tribute.*** Labels: "We Were Soldiers Once... And Young", 9-11, Andrea Shea King, Islamic Jihad, Morgan Stanley, Rick Rescorla, Terrorism, The Radio Patriot, World Trade Center

Judson Box has never known exactly how his son, Gary, died on September 11, 2001. But an unexpected find nine years later has given him a glimpse into his son's final hours. Gary, then 35, had been working as a firefighter in Brooklyn for roughly five years when the terrorists attacked. He did not speak to his father the day of the attack and his body was never recovered, leaving the circumstances of his death a mystery. On September 11, 2009, Gary's sister, Christine, was visiting the Tribute Center when an employee asked her if she was looking for someone...

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...

As we commemorate the loss of life as a result of terrorist attacks on 9/11 in NYC, at the Pentagon in Washington, DC and over the fields of Shanksville, Pennsylvania, here are two video versions of the 2003 Darryl Worley country song "Have You Forgotten". The first one was posted on Youtube by Worley himself, I believe. It may have been edited a bit since it was first released in 2003. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6yLQRF-cEU The second version is much more graphic in showing victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. All of the footage from 9/11 is real except for a...

Share your memories of September 11, 2001 with Free Republic and RFFM.org readers Note from the Executive Director: Every generation can recall an event that is collectively seared into the mind of a nation and its people. From the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 to the assassination of John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963 and now including that horrible day on Sept. 11, 2001, individuals can tell you where they were, what they were doing and the thoughts that were permanently seared into their minds on those days. The most mundane recollections became riveting stories of...

It turns out there was a Muslim prayer room on the 17th floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center, where Americans and other traveling Muslims prayed every day. On September 11th, 2001, when a handful of terrorists flew planes into the towers, some of the folks who used the room evacuated in time. Others probably didn't. In other words, there already was a "ground zero mosque"--used by Muslim Americans who were murdered just like everyone else.

The reactions of Freepers after the first plane hit.

Nine years have now come and gone since the 9/11 attacks. In 1996, I steamed past the Statue of Liberty into the Hudson River onboard the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy. The World Trade Center rose majestically from lower Manhattan. I recalled my enormous relief three years earlier when terrorists bombed the towers and they did not fall. In "The Fountainhead," Ayn Rand wrote: "I would give the greatest sunset in the word for one sight of New York's skyline. ... the will of man made visible ... I feel that if a war came to threaten this, I would...

What is the reason we are upset about Cordoba House and offending terrorists? Here is the best video ever done on this terrible day and we should pass it along for 2 days - there are young men and women only 10 who are now in the military and serving in war zones because of this day. CLICK ON GUNSTUFF.COM TO START THE VIDEO

The battle raging over the Ground Zero mosque is bringing new attention to another, less publicized controversy involving a house of worship in Lower Manhattan. St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which once sat right across the street from the World Trade Center, was crushed under the weight of the collapse of Tower Two on September 11, 2001. St. Nicholas was the only church to be lost in the attacks, and nine years later, while City of New York officials are busy removing every impediment to the building of the Cordoba mosque two blocks from the site, St. Nicholas’ future remains...

Ever since the horrific public assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane at the Marriott Hotel in New York City in 1990, there has been a small, yet vocal group of individuals trying to get certain US authorities - both state and federal - to pay attention to his murder. Their many entreaties both for personal justice and for a wider investigation fell on deaf ears. Nonetheless, the ramifications from the inaction of these US authorities can no longer be ignored. This small group's personal pain at the rabbi's cold-blooded assassination fueled their initial anguished pleas. However, there was much more underlying...

To quote the old proverb: “If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck.” So it is with Islam. There is no radical Islam, no hijacked Islam, no corrupted Islam, no extreme Islam and no moderate Islam: There is simply Islam. Listening to White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, answering questions from reporters about the planned 15 story high mosque mere yards from ground zero was revealing. He said: “I think you’ve heard this administration and the last administration talk about the fact that we are not at war with a...

NEW YORK (AP) -- A group of Jewish activists and community leaders has rallied in support of a planned Islamic center near the World Trade Center site.....

Normal, average, mainstream, moderate Muslims seem to support the hell out of this upcoming, loathsome, heinous "Cordoba House." It isn't just the "radicals" and "extremists." Enthusiastic support for the massive new World Trade Center mosque is evidently the true face of current world Islam. Rather than call it the Cordoba House, it could easily be renamed the To Hell with Freedom or Death to America or 9/11 Victory Dance or Osama's Glorious Triumph Over the West mosque. Privately, no doubt, most Muslims do call it thus. Mainstream, moderate Muslims are being deliberately, grossly insensitive here, as usual. It's hard to...

The ship was buried as junk two centuries ago - landfill to expand a bustling little island of commerce called Manhattan. When it re-emerged this week, surrounded by skyscrapers, it was an instant treasure that popped up from the mud near ground zero. A 32-foot piece of the vessel was found in soil 20 feet under street level, amid noisy bulldozers excavating a parking garage for the future World Trade Center. Near the site of so many grim finds - Sept. 11 victims' remains, twisted steel - this discovery was as unexpected as it was thrilling. Historians say the ship,...

After reading this New York Post report, we hope New York's Mayor is merely confused: "Michael Bloomberg said it would be unAmerican to investigate the mosque [sic] that is planned for construction near where the World Trade Center once stood." We do not ask for an investigation without cause. The Cordoba initiative received its largest donation, $576,312, from Qatar, just prior to the purchase of the Burlington Coat Factory: [On May 17, 2010], representatives of 9/11 [Families for a Safe & Strong America] met with Sharif El-Gamal, owner and CEO of Soho Properties, the corporation that purchased the two buildings...

Thanks to U.S. taxpayers, an Islamic enclave is being carved out of the heart of the City of Brotherly Love. And how generous have you been with your tax dollars? You just gave $1.6 billion for the privilege of turning over all this cash to the Islamic community. The person doing the carving is Kenny Gamble, the author of such hit songs as “Love Train” and “Me and Mrs. Jones.” So far Americans have shelled out $1.6 billion in federal grants, loans, and “charitable” gifts to create an alleged “Muslims-only” community. A convert to Islam, Gamble, now known as Luqman...

Office of the Honorable John Boehner United States Congressman, 8th Congressional District (Ohio) Office of the Honorable Mitch McConnell United States Senator, Kentucky June 21, 2010 . Dear Congressman Boehner and Senator McConnell, Thank you in advance for your time. I would like to ask if you will review and share with your congressional colleagues the following information which includes, but is not limited to, a collection of quotes and documented activities pertaining to a number of Islamic preachers (Imams) in America. It is important to know that for them, being truthful to Americans would place their agenda in jeopardy;...

Nearly nine years after the tragedy of the World Trade Center attack, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has opened bidding on One World Trade Center, and one of the highest bidders may have ties to the people responsible for the worst attack on U.S. soil. • YOU DECIDE: Should Arab Royals Bid on WTC Site? http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/06/14/decide-arab-royals-bid-build-hallowed-ground/

Does Mayor Michael Bloomberg unequivocally support the Cordoba House being built within the kill zone at Ground Zero? You'd likely think so if you read the New York Post today (and you might be wrong): In his fiercest defense yet of the mosque proposed near Ground Zero, Mayor Bloomberg declared yesterday that it must be allowed to proceed because the government "shouldn't be in the business of picking" one religion over another. "I think it's fair to say if somebody was going to try, on that piece of property, to build a church or a synagogue, nobody would be yelling...

That is quite a headline 'NYers wage jihad vs. WTC mosque' in the New York Post this morning with their third report on last night's Community Board 1 meeting. Things got a little heated. But then, "things" were really heated on 9/11, in the Towers, and down in the Pit; 2,752 were murdered and 1,100 families have yet to receive even one speck of human remains after sharia-compliant Muslims slaughtered their loved ones. Debra Burlingame addressed the board last night, "I am actually, in a way, glad that this has happened, this controversy, because finally, maybe, Americans, New Yorkers will...