Michelle Malkin » Seven years later: Remembrance and resolve

Seven years later: Remembrance and resolve

By Michelle Malkin • September 11, 2008 03:13 AM

Lan astaslem: Arabic for “I will not submit/surrender”

Remembrance is worthless without resolve. Resolve is useless without action. Here is how “Never Forget” is practiced 24/7/365 by ordinary Americans taking extraordinary steps to ensure 9/11 doesn’t happen again:

Sgt. Desion Fulks watched the World Trade Center towers come down on television from Fort Rucker, Ala. He re-enlisted three weeks later.

Capt. Joseph Mason, a reservist at the time, immediately volunteered for combat duty after watching what happened in New York and Washington, D.C. He deployed to Iraq two years later with the first wave a troops.

“I was sitting at home, looking at the television, seeing the carnage of the Pentagon and the Trade towers, and I felt I had to do something,” he said.

Both men, and about 5,000 other soldiers with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division from Fort Hood, Texas begin training at Fort Irwin on Thursday, the seven-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and one other commercial jet. Many of the soldiers, who will deploy to Iraq at the end of December, said the images of Sept. 11, 2001 still flash through their minds.

“I will never forget what happened on 9/11,” said Sgt. 1st Class Mark Linares. “It’s been so long since 9/11, but it is still in my mind like it was yesterday.”

Linares, who was with the 82nd Airborne Division when the attacks occurred and knew he would be one of the first soldiers on the ground where ever they had to go. Some soldiers in the 82nd Airborne were in Afghanistan the next month. Capt. Jennifer Bowersox was part of a unit that went to Kuwait when the ground war in Iraq began in 2003. She said then soldiers talked about Sept. 11 as their reason, and they still talk about it today.

“It must be on every soldier’s mind. It’s certainly on mine,” she said. “You’re wearing the American flag on your sleeve. You’re thinking this happened in my nation, and we can never allow it to happen in the United States again.”

And here’s how NY National Guardsmen who served as first responders at Ground Zero are putting “Never Again” into action:

New York Guardsmen in Afghanistan to Commemorate Terror Attack Anniversary
By Army Lt. Col. Paul Fanning
Special to American Forces Press Service

CAMP PHOENIX, Afghanistan, Sept. 10, 2008 – Men and women of the New York Army National Guard who served at Ground Zero are commemorating the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in Afghanistan this year.

A ceremony is planned tomorrow at this base in the Afghan capital of Kabul, and it will be timed to coincide with the first plane strike at the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. EDT.

More than 1,700 members of New York’s 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are serving here with Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix, part of Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan. Its mission is to mentor and train the Afghan National Army and police, and provide assistance to the government of Afghanistan and its people.

The task force is led by Army Col. Brian K. Balfe, who is also commander of the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, which took over command and control responsibility April 26.

The task force is composed of nearly 9,500 servicemen and women from all U.S. branches, coalition partners and civilian professionals serving at nearly 260 forward operating bases throughout Afghanistan.

“The New York National Guard is the only part of America’s military team that has literally gone from Ground Zero to the Sunni Triangle [in Iraq] and is now here amid the mountains of Afghanistan,” Balfe said. “Soldiers from this brigade were among the very first to respond to the attacks and served at the World Trade Center on 9/11 and for weeks later.

“At least a third of the team that came from New York has also already served in Iraq,” he continued. “For those of us who were there, [who] served at Ground Zero, 9/11 is deeply personal.”

When the World Trade Center collapsed, hundreds of New York National Guard personnel were on the ground. By evening, 1,500 were there and thousands more were poised at more than 63 armories and five air bases around the state.

For the first 40 hours, Guard personnel were on the debris pile, conducting search-and-rescue missions alongside fire department, rescue, police and other emergency personnel. The New York Guard’s Civil Support Team for Weapons of Mass Destruction was the first unit of its kind to respond to a terrorist attack and was quickly mobilized.

On the second day, the civilian incident commander — the New York City fire chief — directed the Guard to establish a security perimeter and then sweep the pile to clear all personnel to better organize the search-and-recovery effort.

In the weeks stretching into months that followed, New York National Guard personnel performed a myriad of homeland defense missions in state active duty, federal duty under state control, or Title 10 active duty.

At the mission’s peak, when recovery and security operations were running concurrently, more than 5,000 New York troops were on duty in New York City; at 19 commercial airports; at bridges, tunnels and train stations; at nuclear power plants; and at military installations.

Not since World War II had the New York National Guard been deployed in such numbers for such extended time participating in both state homeland defense missions and federal military operations.

(Army Lt. Col. Paul Fanning serves in the Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix Public Affairs Office.)

While our men and women in uniform fight on the front lines, we can resolve:

To fight jihadi propagandists in our neighborhoods, schools, and on the airwaves.

To be vigilant John Does — willing to report suspicious behavior and illicit activities, even if it means CAIR lawsuits and smears.

To continue demanding homeland security, real borders, and immigration enforcement — whichever party is in power.

And to actively reject 9/10 thinking and 9/10 politicians and 9/10 apathy after the memorial candles are blown out.

What will you resolve today?

***

The Pentagon 9/11 Memorial will be dedicated and open to the public tonight.

John McCain and Barack Obama have agreed to a truce:

John McCain and Barack Obama were to observe a truce Thursday in their increasingly bitter White House contest with a joint appearance at Ground Zero on the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Their visit to the site of the former World Trade Center in Manhattan promised a rare break from hostilities in the frenzied last two months of the presidential race.

“There will be no speeches,” Democrat Obama’s spokeswoman Linda Douglass said. “This is going to be a moment when politics are set aside.”

Both Obama and his Republican rival McCain were to suspend campaign advertising for the day.

Heavy security was in place well ahead, with streets near Ground Zero closed and buses re-routed before ceremonies starting at 8:40 am.

Two separate minutes of silence were to mark the moments when the two hijacked airliners struck on September 11, 2001, destroying each of the Twin Towers and killing some 3,000 people — at 8:46 am and at 9:03 am.

Ceremonies included additional minutes of silence commemorating the collapse of each tower, as well as the traditional reading out of all victims’ names.

McCain and Obama — expected by staff to be arriving later in the day, after the official ceremonies — have promised to bury the hatchet in honor of the anniversary.

Along with remembrance and resolve, there must be recognition. Recognition of our enemies, where they live, and how they are enabling endless jihad against us. Here’s a beginning road map (via Allahpundit):

***

Bloggers remember…

Lorie Byrd
The Anchoress
Op-For
Abe Greenwald at Commentary
Andy McCarthy
Allahpundit
Blackfive
Urban Infidel reports from Ground Zero.
Jawa Report
LGF
Lawhawk

***

Watch this: Blocking the Path to 9/11.

Posted in: 9/11

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#451598

On September 11th, 2008 at 5:08 pm, Goldwater Knight said:

edelweiss has no clue about the struggle between Christianity and Islam throughout the ages. I suppose you’d have to be a scholar to understand that and not a socialist liberal automaton. At the very least you could visit The Museum of Natural History instead of peeing your pants everyday.
#451608

On September 11th, 2008 at 5:12 pm, RetFireman said:

For about a month after the attacks, we had more cookies, cakes, pies, fresh vegetables from gardens, dishes of all sorts brought to us at the firehouse…we couldn’t possibly eat all of it between all three shifts. We had to send some home just so it wouldn’t go to waste. I swear, we all must have packed on about 10 pounds after that. The public outpouring was beyond amazing, and embarrassing as well. But a good type of embarrassing.
#451624

On September 11th, 2008 at 5:17 pm, Goldwater Knight said:

RetFireman said:

For about a month after the attacks, we had more cookies, cakes, pies, fresh vegetables from gardens, dishes of all sorts brought to us at the firehouse…

Raise a glass in remembrance of the 343.
#451698

On September 11th, 2008 at 6:03 pm, navywife91 said:

September 11th, 2008 at 4:55 pm, K2 said:
navywife91 – Thank you for posting the Iraq War Veteran video. It is great.

I will post it everywhere I can….hope you don’t mind.

You are welcome and please pass it along!

idle vice you’re a…oh never mind.

Mookie
That’s a wonderful idea, but a little late here, like you said. It’ll definitely be a plan next year. One of our local radio stations has been thanking everyone from first responders, military, state troopers, etc. and I think it is great.
#451726

On September 11th, 2008 at 6:19 pm, FilmLadd said:

edelweiss said:

Did you fail your HIST 101 class? Christianity is by far the worst religion on the face of the earth; far worse than any other religion, including Islam.

Indeed, Christianity is by far the worst religion on the face of the earth for collectivists, who find the concept of Free Will repugnant and disgusting.

Religions such as Muhammadanism, on the other hand, which advocates conversion at the point of a sword, are just their cup of tea.

Winston Churchill on Muhammadanism:

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science – the science against which it had vainly struggled – the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.
#451771

On September 11th, 2008 at 6:37 pm, Mookie said:

Mookie
That’s a wonderful idea, but a little late here, like you said. It’ll definitely be a plan next year. One of our local radio stations has been thanking everyone from first responders, military, state troopers, etc. and I think it is great.

Whatever the first responders get paid, whether it’s cops, firefighters or military, it isn’t enough.

I was thinking about the 30 dozen donuts and I think next year, we might give them Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards. They could use them whenever they wanted. The idea of 360 donuts is staggering. Those poor guys!
#451775

On September 11th, 2008 at 6:42 pm, navywife91 said:

On September 11th, 2008 at 6:37 pm, Mookie said:

Giftcards are always a good thing.

BTW, I do not always agree with you, but I think some of us are getting a little off track here. There are plenty of issues to go after Obama and we need to focus on them. This election is only going to make things worse, unfortunately.
#451792

On September 11th, 2008 at 6:53 pm, Mookie said:

BTW, I do not always agree with you, but I think some of us are getting a little off track here. There are plenty of issues to go after Obama and we need to focus on them. This election is only going to make things worse, unfortunately.

If we all agreed on everything, this place would be an echo chamber and I don’t think Michelle would want that. Makes things dull.

You’re right: this election is going to make things worse. There was already some nastiness but it went off the charts after Palin was chosen. It’s sad because I think we, as a country, are better than this. Look at how unbelievably united we were seven years ago. The firefighters who rushed up those stairs didn’t care if the person they were saving was a conservative or a liberal. They only cared about getting things done. I know it’s incredibly naive to even think that could carry over to politics but it’s still a nice thought.
#451839

On September 11th, 2008 at 7:18 pm, ITookTheRedPill said:

Michelle,

Thank you for the way you posted this morning. It was very powerful the way you published posts at the same minute of the day as when those events happened seven years ago. It really helped us all remember the events of that morning as they occurred.

I assume you wrote these posts late last night / early this morning, and then switched them to “published” status at the appropriate times this morning. I can see from the timestamp of this post (3:13 AM) that you were up very late, and then on TV this morning. You are incredible, and our hats are off to you.

Thank you for helping our nation remember.

Thank you for all you do.
#451876

On September 11th, 2008 at 7:35 pm, NY Andy said:

I put this in the wrong thread a few minutes ago, this is a better home for it.

This is a good tribute from last year done by an artist who gets it.

It’s awesome too!
#451907

On September 11th, 2008 at 7:55 pm, Boomer said:

Michelle thanks for everything you posted on this day of remembrance for the 3,000 souls our country was deprived of on this day. Every time I walked outside on base today I walked past the Wing’s flag pole with the colors at half staff in tribute to those murdered and the horrors many of us helplessly watched 7 years ago. The hardest part was reading the names, ages, and short biographies available on those we lost. I found my jaw tightening and teeth clenching as it all came rushing back. I will never forget or never surrender!

Our Wing was the first to deploy, because they were ready and unfortunately the first to suffer a casualty to avenge this devastating attack on our nation. We are currently in the process of sending a large portion of our active duty folks over to the war zone for the 4th time as part of the Air Expeditionary Forces (we usually have 100 – 200 souls gone at any given time). I wish I was still young enough to go with them, but my duty is to stay behind and fight the battle of the budget to obtain the resources they need to win this thing. Please keep them along with all our troops in your prayers as we do everyday in our household hoping for their safe and swift return after achieving their goal of total victory.
#451948

On September 11th, 2008 at 8:28 pm, Republicanvet said:

Watch this: Blocking the Path to 9/11.

VERY irritated. I have wanted to watch Path to 911, and have searched a very long time trying to find a DVD somewhere, so I thought I could finally order it.

I go to the link, click a few times, and find their order page is not working.

I dial the number listed, and am told the wait time is 2 minutes. After 10 minutes, I am told my wait time is 7 minutes.

Yes, I would like to watch this since I never got to see this when it aired, but fix the web site/phone number.
#511040

On October 22nd, 2008 at 4:18 pm, ITookTheRedPill said:

What Bill Ayers posted on his blog on September 10, 2008.

…more…