9/11 remembrance: Set your alarms and steel your resolve
At 8:46am this morning, nine years ago, murderous jihadists crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
At 9:03am this morning, nine years ago, murderous jihadists crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
At 9:37am this morning, nine years ago, murderous jihadists crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.
At 10:15am this morning, nine years ago, the official notification of the downing of United Airlines Flight 93 into a field at Shanksville, Pa. by murderous jihadists was received by the feds.
This is a day to honor the 2,977 innocent men, women, and children slaughtered by evil Islamic jihadists — and to resolve that “Never again” remains America’s operational stance, not an empty slogan.
Let nothing overshadow their memories today.
Remember: “Let’s roll!”
Remember: The heroes.
Remember: The angels on loan from God.
Remember: The 9/11 babies.
Remember: Falling Man.
Remember: Barbara Olson.
Remember: Father Mychal Judge.
Remember: Rick Rescorla.
Remember John O’Neill.
Remember: Kevin Cosgrove.
Remembrance is worthless without resolve.
Resolve is useless without action.
Start with a renewed pledge:
Lan astaslem: Arabic for “I will not submit/surrender”
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Theres the Rag Rage boy talking about (integrity) something he has no clue about!
Beseeching will be seen as weakness, and will have the effect of throwing gasoline on the fire of the muslm jihadi barbarians’ savagery.
la
The muslim problem is something we will have to live with unless someone has the ba!!s to take the Macauther approach!!!!
Damn, but that could cause celebacy yesterday
– but I do love the Big Sky (Montana).
===
And thanks 24Klady-it is somewhat nice to be home. I was hoping to come home to a McCain Free Zone but it is not to be
OK, I’m back now from a great day of football to see the news reports for the day.
It’s good news that our president used this day to promote Islam and make sure nobody blamed the motivation for the terrorist attack for the terrorist attack. Without Islam there would have been no 9/11.
So that’s good news that Muslim feelings are more important than the feelings of the people that the Muslims killed, and our president lectures us on that during a day of mourning for an American loss.
And fortunately for all of those calling the dude in Florida names, you can all rest easy knowing that Sharia law was not broken. Because peaceful religion means only kill and riot and protest violently when you want to get your way like a spoiled child. I’m certain that the reaction this week has been celebrated by Al Qaeda and OBL. 9 years later and they live in an area supported by US tax dollars, with US soldier targets for our enemies to attack, supporting a corrupt government that enforces Sharia law, and forces Americans at home to recognize Sharia as well.
But hey, there’s a bunch of pro military people here, and this post sounds like they summarize victory to me.
woo hoo. Americans get to submit to sharia and get lectured to by our ‘leader’ (and don’t forget that Obama is Christian by the way). If you think Obama is a Muslim you are mistaken.
Maybe the Christian right can learn from the Muslims. Should Christians react to the judge in California promoting gay marriage by calling in death threats and rioting? Instead, it was the gays threatening the evil evil Christians for disagreeing with them – and that is perfectly understandable because Christians are such meanies.
Anyway, my life is good because I’m saved by Christ. I thank God for every breath that goes into my body. I don’t look to other people for validation. People always let you down.
I just wish others wouldn’t try to impose their ideology on me. . . ie sharia and gay marriage.
Amen. Remember “Piss Christ?” Some cretin using a $10K NEA grant put a crucifix in a jar of urine – obviously to enrage and prove how violent and angry Christians are. The overall reaction – “You’re one sick pup.” Next.
If your faith is strong, no need to worry about injustice, progressives or even Jihad. God will take care of it in the end. God bless, prosper and protect our nation and our warriors in harms way – and on this sad day comfort the families of those who paid the highest price 9 years ago.
Amen. Nite all.
Love all those burqua babes! Adds new meaning to the bag over the head. Only they spend their lives under one. Nothing to see; just hiding ugly.
What I have found totally missing in MM posts and those of the other conservative bloggers is any mention of the “head of the hydra.”
American wins wars by focusing on the enemies logistics and supply bases.
We have terrost tenacles in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Leabonon, Gaza, The West Bank, EUrope, Yemen, Somalia, America, the Phillipines, etc.etc. etc.
The Taliban, Hamas, Hezbollah, for example cannot funtion without money. Charities, heroin etc. or not enough to sustain them.
Which brings us to the head of the hydra. Iran, the elphant in the room that no one talks about. They are actively killing Americans evcerywhere.
I think its high time they started paying in spades.
Two golden opportunities we have (assuming we could ever get the right leadership) for helping to bring about regime change in Iran:
1. Stabilize Iraq as much as possible, and then start providing as much exposure as we can to the anti-freedom antics of Tehran. Iraq is a majority Shi’i country, like Iran, and a living, breathing example of Shi’ites living in democratic freedom has to make an impression on ordinary Iranians. On top of which, getting the truth out to the Iraqi people loudly and clearly ought to result in an Iraqi movement for Iranian freedom.
2. Unleash Israel. Israel still is beholden to the U.S. because of our funding, and so pressure from our government pushes them to make concession after concession to the barbarians. If instead we could get Israel to scatter Iran’s clients Hizballah and Hamas to the four winds, Iran’s government would lose face in a big way and look weak to its own people. And that would make it all the more vulnerable to revolution.
Two good ones, Blackstone!!
@Flyoverman I humbly disagree. I think the head of the hydra is Saudi Arabia. They export this “religion of peace”, fund Al Quieda, it’s headed by a prominent Saudi called Bin Laden, and 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi.
Add your memory of 9/11 to the National 9/11 Memorial. I did.
http://makehistory.national911memorial.org/
It’s going to happen again. In my gut, I am heartsick and heartbroken because so many have closed their minds and hearts to the truth.
I’m having a hard time today. This is one of those anniversaries you don’t look back fondly on. While people go about their lives, I live with this day every day. It never goes away for people like me.
I lost two of my college friends in the North Tower. I had lost touch with them after college as I often moved, quite frequently, with my military husband. As recently as 4 years before 9/11, almost to the day of the attacks, I had lunch with a friend in one of those towers. To this day, it boggles my mind that both towers are gone.
A couple of months after 9/11, I found out through my college alumni association that my friends were presumed dead and had not been found alive after the North Tower collapse. They were on the list of the missing. They left behind pregnant wives and fatherless children. They were part of my life and memories of a more innocent time. To this day, neither of their remains have been found.
Time has not diminished my sorrow or my pain. I know where I was, who I was, what I was doing that day. I was living in Montgomery, Alabama where my husband was stationed. I was unemployed at the time and eating breakfast with my pug puppy nearby when the whole event unfolded live on my television. I had, and still have, a lot of friends from college who live and work in NYC. When the attacks happened, I was hoping, desperately hoping, that nobody I knew was in those buildings… or in the Pentagon since my husband had many military friends as well.
After the attack, I couldn’t get in touch with my husband. Or any of our families. I was one of many panicked people trying to track down my loved ones. All over the country, military bases were on lockdown, including my husband’s. I learned later that day, from my father-in-law, that my sister-in-law saw both towers attacked and their resulting collapse in front of her office window in a nearby office building. It still haunts her.
This dark day already compounds what has been a very difficult summer. A recent, unexpected move. My mother-in-law passing away. The joy of a first pregnancy only to be diminished by a miscarriage. So, today adds to my recent grief and weighs on my mind.
I had to get out of Colorado Springs just to escape the news. I had already shed my tears during the Fox News 9/11 special. My husband had anticipated this day and decided the best way to spend our time was to go to Denver and see the new King Tut exhibit. He was worried about me and how this awful, terrible day greets me and the others who’ve lost friends and loved ones on 9/11.
The only thing that really abated my grief today was seeing what was an awe-inspiring sight: as we were traveling down I-25 North, a very long motorcade of motorcyclists, fire and rescue vehicles, police, and National Guard vehicles with flags waving as they passed us on I-25 South. For a little while, I felt like there were other people besides me trying to deal with this awful day.
I will never understand how people think that 9/11 will be just nothing more than a bad memory that will pass and slowly lose all meaning in time. I haven’t forgotten. And neither have millions out there like me.
And President Dumba$$ bends over backward to their king. Ok, forward to their king and moons us in the process.
And I must humbly disagree with your humble disagreement. I have to believe the Saudi royalty is far more interested in oil $$$$ than religion. Obscene wealth becomes its own religion, no? They play the Islam game to appease the masses – and must tend to Mecca, their holiest site – while appeasing and cowtowing to the west to keep the oil/$$ pipeline flowing. You don’t really see devout Islam practiced by the royal family – but they do indirectly fuel the radical Islam machine with huge ammounts of money via oil families – Bin Laden himself was empowered and enabled by Saudi oil money.
Iran’s Theocracy is more Islamic per se, but radically Sheite, and other sects – most notably the Sunnis – will never follow the Ayatollas or Imams.
Truth be told, it seems Islam is a monster with multiple heads, which is what makes it nigh impossible to fight. You can not point to a person, place or group that represents all Islam. Perhaps the best hope is that the intense rivalries within Islam will destroy one another. IMHO
@swede
That “humble opinion” is probably the most correct one my friend. I am in “humble” awe at your wisdom and insight.
Well said!
granite said:
I don’t consider it as weakness to ask that the more moderate Muslims make their voices heard over the more radical Muslims, which was what I meant when I wrote that the radicals need to be marginalized–I ran out of time to edit myself. Nor does the act of beseeching upon moderates add fuel to the radicals’ fire. Radicals will be enraged at us regardless of whether or not we’re engaging moderate Muslims in real dialogue (not to be confused with the embarrassing “go-out-of-my-way-to-kiss-the-ring” Obowma approach to dialogue). We’re not going to gain a mutual understanding if all we do is get mad at all of them like their radicals do toward us. It should be considered a virtue–not a weakness–to express our desire for Muslims to drown out the message by the radicals within their religion.
It is indeed difficult to know how many open-minded Muslims there are if we hear so little from them, which was the point I was making. Refusing to ask for internal deconstruction of the hate does not keep us safe. It keeps us trapped in a cycle of perpetual and mutual resentment.
emjem24 said:
And I hope you find some strength and faith because of the knowledge that you’re not alone.
@Random63,
I failed to mention that your comments regarding the Saudi’s are descriptive. One could argue your position. They are a problem and NOT an ally.
Wahabism comes from their country and they do nothing to stop it.
But here is the problem. We have been beseeching the ‘true’ moderates to step forward ever since thousands of us were mass murdered on 9/11.
What they have given us is Rauf and the victory mosque.
Yet when some of us start recognizing there are not a significant percentage of true moderates of muslims, even conservative leaders still berate us as being intolerant.
Try a mental exercise. Consider for a moment the possibility the problem really is Islam itself. Consider the possibility the only true moderates in Islam are the apostates (who would not care about burning korans … or might actually consider burning korans a hopeful sign) too afraid to leave. At what point will you recognize the terrible danger? What will it take for you to awaken to the danger?
Roland, you hit the heart of the problem with this sentence in your quote above. Had more “moderates” immediately stepped up on 9/12/01, I would have more hope for Islam.
This question has been debated for a long time: moderates vs extremists in Islam.
In 1999, at a US Department of State meeting, this was discussed by Sufi leader Hisham Kabbani. This link also discusses the money behind the radicals, and how many of the people speaking for Islam pretend to be moderates. Here is what Hisham Kabbani said about US mosques a decade ago:
http://members.fortunecity.com/amirm/Extremism.html
as discussed in this link:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/05/moderate_and_radical_muslims_t.html
Thanks for the links, Lindsay. Both are worth reading, but if a reader is just going to read one, make it the second one.
It is in some ways even more disheatening to see there are some Muslims trying to stand against the madness, but they are left to fend for themselves at great hazard because the ‘leaders’ of the West prefer to put forward their rich Muslim business associates as ‘moderates’ even though they are anything but.
We have been sold out. Really sold out. Thirty pieces of silver and all.
Here is another example of Islamic tolerance. I am surprised Geert Wilder didn’t tell the cleric in Australia to get in line as there are many fatwas against him.
Please read his speech yesterday that probably motivated this example of the religion of peace.
Great speech by a courageous leader. I’d say I wish Wilders was ours, but the Netherlands needs him even more.
And the Australian cleric once again shows us the lie about the religion of peace. If this homicidal lunatic belonged to any other religion, he would be immediately condemned by all of the leading believers in the faith around the world, and he’d be immediately and permanently ejected from any position of authority of any kind.
It most certainly is weakness if you ask – weakness, and nothing more..
You won’t get any further with your approach if you demand, at the same time as you are relentlessly killing numerous jihadi savages; but, at least you won’t be laughed at as weak.
But, beseeching? Asking?
Totally worthless and futile.
Perhaps not in your opinion, which is absolutely wrong.
With respect – sincere respect – the 60s are over.
These savages will never “respect” us in the sense of respect as most of us understand it.
They will only respect us, in the sense of respecting our strength, if they fear us.
I have seen “mutual respect”, mutual this-that-and-the-other-thing brought up in discussions of muslims and islam for years…and, that term is a joke.
“Mutual respect” to a muslim means heads he wins and tails we lose; or, if you prefer, what’s ours is his, and what’s his is negotiable.
It’s fine to desire that.
Just do not depend upon that.
The barbarian savage jihadis need to eliminated until they are so insignificant that they can be easily controlled by permanent isolation and quarantine.
In the long term, I have my doubts even about that.
The jihadis just night need to be exterminated, if there is ever going to be an actual, ultimate, safe, secure, permanent victory for civilization.
We are not engaged in a property dispute, nor in a disagreement over what meal should be served at the awards dinner.
We are in an existential war for the survival of civilization.
See above re the uselessness, even danger, of “asking”.
Similarly see above – again, with sincere respect – re the 60s are over, and the meaninglessness of applying the adjective “mutal” to this situation.
Roland, Americans have sent the Islamic world two main messages. The left has sent the weak-kneed message of appeasement, and the right has sent the back-atcha message of anger and intolerance. You can stay mad at all one billion of them, or you can try reaching out to some of them, even if it’s a small percentage. Gestures of goodwill and encouraging moderates to speak up will encourage more of them to come out of the shadows, and it will get the other open-minded amongst them to jump on board. But they’re not going to bother if all we do is bend over before them or insult them.
We can cite vague statistics over percentages of mosques built by extremist leaders, or we can appeal to those in their congregations who are just as sick of fighting as we are. Encouraging them to speak up is not a fool’s errand.
And I would appreciate if you would back off the condescending tone. My mind gets a good workout every day on this issue and many others. But I don’t do the same exercise every day. I change my routine often in order to get a full workout. There’s more than one solution to this problem. I suggested one that I don’t hear very often. Do I think Islam and the Koran itself is the source of this problem? Perhaps. But I can’t say for sure because I haven’t read most of it yet. It’s on my to-do list, as it should be for anyone who has an opinion on the subject. Do I believe that the forceful and immediate obliteration of an entire religion is the solution? Good god, no. We need to do more than just go to war. We need to pick our battles wisely. Blindly going out and fighting the entire Middle Eastern population is ridiculous, but that is the impression we give when we want to destroy the dominant religion in that part of the world. Stand firm against the violence, but don’t lump everyone into one Western-hating group.
The Green Movement in Iran a year ago should be thought of as a step in the right direction. But when the rest of the world sat on its hands and did nothing to assist the young men and women suffering under the oppressive regime there, the movement petered out. We know it isn’t gone altogether. If we can find ways to appeal to those younger people, we can appeal to others, as well. We don’t have just one option left on the table. And I would never imply that it’s out of the question to fight those bastards who killed or helped to kill 3,000 of my fellow citizens, so get that notion out of your head right quick.
But the plan to overcome radical Islam has to be comprehensive. Using torches and pitchforks may succeed against one of Frankenstein’s monsters, but it’s not going to work against a billion of them.
I see now that granite has responded to my reply. The game’s on now, so I have to go. I hope what I wrote here touches on some of the things you said. In fact, I don’t know what else to say other than:
1. Who gives a flying fart if the extremists laugh at us? We need leaders who will smack that smile right off their faces yet show the more tolerant among them that we only fight for the good of all people.
2. Getting mad mad mad mad and huffing and puffing shows that we no longer want to discuss anything with anyone. How should an average Iraqi citizen take that sort of attitude after so many of them were grateful to us for helping liberate them, some even asking us not to leave?
3. Did I say we should be asking anything of the radicals and extremists? Regarding the moderates, beseeching is not begging. Asking is not weakness. Anger that is absolute is about as weak as one can get. It shows that they’ve gotten into our heads. It shows that we’re succumbing to the rage that inflicts many of our enemies. We need to keep that fire lit inside us, but we have to calm down a bit and realize that there are some people on the other side of the world like us who are tired of all the lies and the exaggerations and the propaganda and the killing. We should try to speak to them and empower them to stand up for themselves. That’s not a hippie stance–that’s a desire to see them make their own declaration of independence.
I guess I addressed more of granite’s comment than I intended at this time. Game’s been on for a while now. Gotta go.
That is a lie, and you know it.
Given you have no hesitation about smearing conservatives as intolerant when the reality is that the conservative leaders have been bending way over backward to try to meet the phony ‘religion of peace’ at way more than halfway, I have been showing you more respect than you deserve.
I’ve been condescending to you??
Egad.
Get back to me.
I’ll lay off my lies and condescension and instead ask some questions, which I tend to do a lot.
What is the American conservative message to Muslims–moderate as well as radical? What should the conservative message be? Forget about the incumbent, politically-correct, RINOistic “conservative” leadership’s message.
How do conservative Americans go about appealing to the common Muslim? Is it just impossible to connect with any of them?
What solutions do level-headed conservatives propose to take care of this long-term conflict?
No appeal will work. They want us to submit to sharia. If conservatives will not submit, Muslims will continue to vote 90%+ for the Democrats. See my comments on the America’s Monumental Shame thread.
As to solving the long term international problem, that is a huge question involving everything we are doing in the world that is counterproductive in a global struggle with Islam, like sacrificing our blood and treasure in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, strengthening the muslim world.
[wading in] Co2, this conservative’s message to both Muslims and illegal aliens is simply to assimilate like the rest of our ancestors did, and become Americans, not the hyphenated kind. Also, welcome to this century and quit being so thin-skinned and sensitive while we Christians, Jews, etc. have to ignore insults for our beliefs. I think that is all right now I’d like to say to them. Last night, watching the History Channel’s 9/11 special, however, I would have said it with a lot of expletives.
Bingo! people forget this is a very long war….they don’t have a clue….
better pray lots…cause secularism will fail…as we’ve seen in europe…
To Roland and Lindsay, thanks to both of you for addressing my comments. I wasn’t trying to antagonize you. We’ve got enough anger going around these days.
It’s been an emotionally draining week because of the memories of 9/11 as well as the multitude of other political issues happening in my neck of the woods. Though we may not totally agree with every aspect of this war against terror, we have plenty of common ground to keep us allies.
Also, forgot to add, the liberal MSM pile of excrement headlines today about how restless, suspicious and angry the American mob is getting towards Muslims (and frustrating their delicate sensitivities) is making me restless, suspicious and angry.
Yes. See you around, CO2.
I knew we could agree on something, Lindsay.
G’night, everybody.
On September 11, 2001, I was at work in Tulsa preparing one of our corporate classrooms for a new group of employees. When I went back into our L&D office one of my coworkers asked me to turn on the radio in my cubicle because a plane had hit the World Trade Center.
With my first thought that it was a replay of the B-25 hitting the Empire State Building during WW2, I turned on my portable radio. We listened in growing horror as events unfolded.
Moving to the theater/auditorium where someone had put the television on the main screen, we watched, some in horror, some in anger, as the second plane hit the second tower. I stayed to watch people jumping to escape the flames, to hear about the Pentagon attack, and to see both towers collapse. I was one of the angry ones.
We had an office in one of the towers.
We were all released for the rest of the day. By the time I left the building, the sky was empty of aircraft and what contrails crossed the sky were fading.
I went to get my corporate-length hair cropped, shaved my beard, and trimmed my mustache back to military regs. I called the Army and had a nice young sergeant advise me the that they weren’t currently accepting applications from members of the Retired Reserve to return to active duty.
On Saturday, September 11, 2010, I flew my flag and attended our neighborhood block party. Now too old to be recalled to active duty, having been too high mileage and beat up to be recalled before reaching the magic age 55, I listened to my neighbors chatter and the children play. In the nine years since the attack on our country, people seem to have forgotten.
I haven’t forgotten. I haven’t forgiven. Every time I see people shaking their fists in rage screaming, “Death to America!” for some presumed or pretended slight to their religion or culture, I get angry all over again.
I’m tired of waiting for “moderate Muslims” in the United States to decry the violence and demonic behavior by their co-religionists. I’m tired of being “deemed” a racist and hater by people who hate me because I don’t believe as they do. I’m tired of being treated like some barbarian because I advocate defending our country, our borders, and our families from anyone who would do us harm.
I’m not sure when the change took place, the lessening of the anger, the numbness that replaced the shock, the complacency that replaced the calls to action, but I don’t like it one bit. What has happened in this country is like losing interest in WW2 sometime after Operation Torch and before Operation Overlord.
It’s time to replay the images of that day, complete and uncensored. People need to be reminded of exactly what happened and why. Those foreigners who demand that we honor the freedom of religion of their co-religionists need to be told to do the same in their own countries, allow freedom of religion. Those who don’t want their holy books burned should stop burning holy books. Oh, and the next time someone claims that I am a member of the “Taliban wing of the Republican Party,” I may just punch his lights out.
ECS
Captain, Armor
Army of the United States (Retired)
Very effective comment, ECS. Even after everything I’ve written about the subject on this thread, I’m very tired of waiting, too. Moderate Muslims had better speak up quickly, because it seems evident that most people on every side of this issue are past the point of talking anymore.
Trust me, I’m not holding my breath that my message is going to connect with the right people. My hope diminishes steadily that the more moderate Muslims will ever act to counter the radicals’ message to the West of subservience or death. We’ve heard from a handful of such counterarguments by moderates in the last couple of months, but not nearly enough to make that big of a difference. This gives the impression to a lot of people that moderate Muslims are some sort of myth. If they haven’t said much after nine years, they’re not likely to say much later, and that’s lousy for everyone.