9/11 Plus One

There has been a lot of talk about how we should mark this one year milestone of the September 11th, 2001 attack. How much is too much? How little is not enough? Should it be a party or should it be a wake? Is patriotism appropriate, or will it make us appear jingoistic? Should we show the event on TV for all to relive, or rely on the images burned into our minds eye? Should we be angry or sad?

I don’t know what the answer is, but I know what I don’t want. I don’t want what happened a year ago swept under the rug and buried in the name of sensitivity, diversity, or any other politically correct platitude. I want the fire that burned in our bellies that fateful morning stoked anew. But I don’t think that is going to happen. Not much anyway.

On 9/11, a year ago, war was declared on America with a cowardly sneak attack against civilians on our home soil. But already the word “attack” has been stricken from the dictionary of our mainstream media. They refer to the event as a “tragedy” no different from a natural disaster. Pass out the blankets and bottled water, call in the Red Cross, cluck our tongues and move on. Don’t mention anything that might get people mad - especially if it will make them mad at the people who did this.

But this shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s been happening since the day 19 Arabs, followers of Mohammed, highjacked four jet aircraft and used them as cruise missiles pointed at the heart of America (shhh... don’t tell anyone, it might upset the muslims).

Our press, which prides itself on being defenders of the First Amendment of our Constitution (held in contempt by Atta and his ilk), have decided that we are not grown up enough to know what really happened on 9/11 (we might get mad and do something rash), and have therefore decided that censorship is really a good thing. The censorship began a year ago. It began when our noble press decided not to show us what the rest of the world got to see - what really caused Palestinians and other Muslims to dance in the streets.

Sure. We saw the horrific footage of fully loaded jets slamming into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We stared in disbelief when the towers came crashing down. We shed tears of sorrow and anger - and pride when we learned what transpired on flight 93. But we didn’t see, in real time, what the rest of the world saw - what shocked some and amused others. No. Our media decided that Americans were not grown-up enough to see it all, so they censored it for our own good. But was it for our own good?

Some of you know what I’m talking about. For those that don’t, I’m talking about the real terror. Not the abstractions that we create in our minds when we imagine the choice of burning or jumping to our death, but the raw footage of people making that choice and then having eighty stories of free fall to think about it. I’m talking about the gore. Not that which we can imagine in our worst nightmare, but an 8x10 glossy of what making the choice to jump looks like when it’s splattered on streets below the trade towers. The footage of firefighters having to dodge falling bodies on the way in to the towers.

Our pundits and talking heads showed us a few stills of the jumpers, days after the event, and told us that we were not mature enough to see more. That’s not what they said, of course. They said it was out of sensitivity for the victims (since when has the press ever shown sensitivity towards the victims of violent crime? “If it bleeds, it leads,” it practically a cliché). They said it would be gratuitous and serve no purpose (not their purpose, anyway). They said it would unnecessarily inflame Americans to take revenge on innocent Muslims (after all, Islam is a religion of peace and God Fearing Americans are always looking for someone to lynch). No. We weren’t weren’t grown-up enough to see what really brought smiles to the faces of the Arab street, and Osama bin Laden in particular.

It might make us mad. And that would be bad. Because then we would demand that something be done. We might even insist that we use our military to go and hurt someone. And they can’t have that.

But try as they did, they could not squash the righteous fury that swept this country and resulted in the first successful invasion of Afghanistan since Ghengis Khan came down from the north and started putting heads on spikes. They could not stop the patriotism that saw American flags bloom from coast to coast, even if they themselves refused to pin them on their $1,000 lapels in the name of objectivity. They found themselves cowed, like many of the left, and were exposed as being largely irrelevant. They didn’t like that, but they couldn’t do much about it either - except to hide in their editing rooms and try to alter our reality to look like theirs.

On the six month anniversary was aired a documentary of the firefighters that went into the towers. It showed a scene of the command center they had set up on the ground-floor mezzanine between the towers. Every few seconds there was a loud “Bang” on the ceiling that made them flinch in horror. It was the sound of bodies hitting the Mezzanine roof. One of the firefighters, a big guy, obviously disturbed, asked, “what must it be like up there for them to jump?” Indeed.

The next day the pundits and hand-wringers were in a tizzy that such a disturbing scene should have been shown. But nothing was shown. It was just the sound of bodies falling. Of choices made in terror.

It’s been a year now. Much of our anger has been vented. Many of the flags have come down. Ground zero has been cleaned up. Life is back to normal in the sense that we are back to worrying mostly about domestic issues and not where Osama may be hiding. And the cowards have come out from under their beds to make their views known, now that the danger of receiving more than a dirty look for airing them has passed.

Politicians that sang bi-partisan renditions of “God Bless America” on the Capitol steps have gone back to their corners - some to get on with the job at hand, some to obstruct for obstruction’s sake. Near unanimous support for the war has turned into a split decision on whether a new vote on proceeding to Iraq should be taken before or after the elections - lest the voters hold some poor politician responsible in the voting booth. Mere eye rolls during his State of The Union Address have turned into a constant second-guessing and criticism of the President’s conduct of the war. Democrats who supported action against Iraq in ‘95 when Clinton was president, now urge caution and restraint in the face of overwhelming evidence (and simple common-sense), that says he was, is, and will be a threat to U.S. security.

And our beloved media now refers to a despicable ACT OF WAR as a “tragedy.” It was nothing more more than a natural disaster. Natural because it is natural to hate America and its values. Natural because we did not do enough to understand our attackers. Natural because whatever bad happens in the world is probably our fault, at least in part. So let’s just put it behind us and try not to make anyone else mad again. Oh, and here’s a billion more in foreign aid - please like us.

I don’t know for sure what would be appropriate for this one year anniversary of 9/11. I’m still waiting for the coverage that would have been appropriate a year ago. Not because I love gore. Not for the shock value. Not to hurt anyone’s feelings. I want it so that when Tom Daschle and his ilk say we should slow down the war on terror, I can point to the appropriate picture, or news footage, and ask him why he didn’t make Clinton follow thru in ‘95. I want it so I can rub it in the noses of the pacifists who say that we “need to find another way out,” and ask them what other way out those poor jumpers were given by the terrorists. So I can ask them all what it is about that attack that they don’t understand.

Early one Monday morning at Ft. Campbell, my Bn. Cmdr formed our battalion (400+ men and women) and marched us to the scene of an auto accident near our barracks. Two members of our unit had been out late celebrating and drinking. One of the two soldiers was getting out of the Army the next day and would be going home with his GI Bill to start the rest of his life. That night was not only his last night in the Army, it was his last - period. His friend spent three weeks in the base hospital. One-by-one our commander made us walk up to the wreck and take a good look at it inside and out. There was blood everywhere (and that was all). Fortunately, we had not had breakfast yet, but it didn’t matter for some. We got the message.

Most of us don’t need to see the pictures I speak of to “get the message.” The fire still burns hot in our bellies. Carrying the war to the furthest corners of the planet is not in question. The steel in our spines has not lost it’s temper. But that cannot be said for a growing number of our fellow “Americans.”

There is a growing cacophony of voices from the left and elsewhere that say we have no right to defend ourselves. That we have no right to strike pre-emptively when danger stalks us in the night. That we must wait for signed confessions from people like Saddam, Osama, or Assad. That if we were nicer and more understanding of others, people would stop wanting to kill us and we could go back to living in our imaginary comfort zones.

These people need to see what made the Palestinians dance in the streets and hand out candy to their children. They need to see what brought cheers to the “Arab street.” They need to be formed up in their battalions, marched to the scene of the crime, and made to look at it with their eyelids pinned open until they get “the message” that the highjackers sent us on September 11, 2001. WE ARE AT WAR!

So, if one year later, the networks decide to show footage of people jumping from burning buildings, following them till they hit the ground in technicolor gore, again and again - I will not complain. It will mean that our media finally gets it. It will mean that they are ready to start treating us like adults. That will be a good thing. And if it is too much for you - turn off the TV. And if you still don’t “get it” after seeing these images, then have the good grace to shut up, go home, and hide under your bed until we tell you its safe to come out again.

But I don’t think we’ll see that. What we’ll probably see are talking heads urging us to move on and find closure. Psycho-bable experts will tell us to get past the anger and let the healing begin. University students and professors will urge us to embrace diversity and sing “Kum-Bye-Yah” in its original Arabic. So it will probably be me turning off the tube in disgust.

But, I will never forget those who died a year ago. I will never forget who did this or who helped and supported them. I will never stop insisting that those responsible are brought to justice by whatever means necessary. I will never forget that I live in the greatest nation history has ever known. I will never look at the New York City skyline and NOT see the Twin Towers standing proudly in my mind’s eye.

"The fact that slaughter is a horrifying spectacle must make us take war more seriously, but not provide an excuse for gradually blunting our swords in the name of humanity. Sooner or later someone will come along with a sharp sword and hack off our arms." - Karl von Clauswitz, On War, 1832.

"With clinton, 100% support on the same stuff they now bitch about constantly."

The depths of their hypocricy never ceases to amaze me. I think the reason they refuse to confront evil is because they know how much of they themselves are capable of. Confronting the truth about oneself is always uncomfortable.

" Now Every year I grieve her death..."

You have my deepest sympathy for our loss. I think I know how you must feel. I have a similar situation in my family - though that person has not passed and is not ill that I know of. But I know that time is short and wonder if the rift can be healed before it too late.

You cannot blame yourself for that death, whatever other guilt you may feel. Try to remember the good.

my ISP had system maintenance scheduled early this morning.
so of course the process went t!ts up, and i've just been able to get back on.

there's an excellent documentary of 9-11 on the History Channel right now.
i simply cannot abide any more of the wailing and gnashing of teeth and
characterizing what happened as a 'tragedy' instead of the evil, animalistic atrocity it was.

the anger i feel this morning is really not translatable to words.

maybe god, whatever it is, can forgive what happened.
i cannot.

Lots more than 2 bits here, PsyOp. Great Essay --

Not much apparently....

Keep the rage and the anger.....

Thought i'd stay detached today. I was wrong.

I'm with you....the most fitting memorial to our fallen/murdered countrymen is more Dead Islamists and other terrorists bent on doing us harm..

"Thanks for sharing."

None needed. Thanks for reading it. I know from a few threads that this subject has been discussed on in the past that it's a touchy subject - showing the unedited event of 9/11 that is.

"Where is this footage? Is it on the web?"

Its on the web, or was. Much of what I have I downloaded in the weeks after the event. I've searched since then and have not been able to relocate much of it. I a few cases there were brief glimpses on TV (mostly cable) that were never repeated.

A good example is the cheering Palis. That aired, as far as I know, on one day only and then was squashed by the networks after Arafat threatened everyone (footage of the fat woman we see only in stills now). There were some things I did not download at the time that I now wish I had.

If you want to send my your private e-mail I will send you what I have. But I warn you - it's not easy to look at.

"Thought i'd stay detached today. I was wrong."

Anyone who can stay detached about it what happened simply doesn't get it. You get it.

People who can stay detached are the ones we need to fear.

"Much of what I have I downloaded"

Transpose it to a CD/VCRtape and i'll buy a copy....Thought i'd see something like that by now available commercially.

Apparently in Europe Germany they never really stopped showing the impact footage from many different sources.

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