Reflections on 9/11

Where were you on September 11, 1999 at 8:30PM? That’s the type of question lawyers ask to impeach your memory. The odds are that you cannot remember where you were at such and such a time on such and such a day years ago.

Where were you on 9/11? Where were you at 9:30AM eastern time on September 11, 2001?

You remember as do most Americans. By 10:00AM you were probably at home, work, or school watching the Twin Towers about to collapse after an act of Islamic terrorism.

The only other day in my lifetime with the same impact was the day Kennedy was assassinated. I was headed into gym when we heard Kennedy was shot, and coming out of gym when we were told he died.

For an older generation, Pearl Harbor Day and VJ Day might have the same impact.

The point is that 9/11 was not an ordinary day in the life of Americans. Islamic Terrorists attacked America, killing about 3,000 innocent men, women, and children
of multiple ethnicities and religion, including 343 New York Firefighters and paramedics. We cannot forget.

Prior to the collapse of the buildings, about 200 Americans voluntarily jumped to their deaths to escape the fiery hell of the twin towers. We should never forget.

9/11 was a direct attack on the United States. No sovereign nation should even forget or minimize the significance of such an act.

Statements 9 years later that the United States overreacted to 9/11 or that instead of being a day of remembrance, it should be a day of service to commemorate 9/11 shows a vacuity of thought, and is a disgrace to the innocent victims. It trivializes their deaths. We should not commemorate their deaths, but always remember.

9/11 is a memorial day of remembrance, to remember that Islamic terrorists are trying to destroy the United States and Israel. Those who do not learn from the lessons of history are destined to repeat them.

We did not learn from the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, or the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, or the USS Cole.

By daring not to call these attacks acts of terrorism, but rather "human caused disasters," this Administration displays a profound ignorance of reality. The Underwear Bomber, the Times Square Bomber, the Fort Hood Shooter, and the scores of other attacks are not random acts of violence or isolated anomalies, but part of a coordinated attack upon the United States and Western Civilization.

President Bush was right; we are not at war with Islam. But we are at war with radical Islam; Islamic fascists who have wrapped their warped beliefs around a perverted interpretation of the Quran. Their messianic Islam defies the notion of Islam as a religion of peace. Islam may be a religion of peace, but not theirs.

Moderate Muslims should reject the preachings of the Islamic fascists, just as good Catholics, regardless of the strength of their pro-life feelings, should reject the
bombers of abortion clinics and murderers of abortion providers.

That the Imam behind the proposed mosque at Ground Zero refuses to do so, but instead tries to shove it in our face, tells us all we need to know about him.

Ground Zero is a memorial – not a museum. 9/11 is not a day of celebration, or commemoration, or forgiveness, or tolerance, or service. 9/11 is a day of remembrance from which to ensure the deaths of 3,000 were not in vain.

The American people understand. The President does not.