Exactly nine years ago to the minute, hundreds of people were dying. Many died of burns, trauma, or smoke inhalation. Just minutes later would almost 3,000 in total be murdered by an imperialist attack by the forces of Islamist terrorism. People jumped from the Towers in order to not suffer burns any longer-- people walked stunned over the Brooklyn Bridge-- over 200 firefighters did not return home.
And few remember.
We should be ashamed of ourselves. In the days following the attacks of September 11th, 2001, some of the most parroted lines were "Lest we forget" and "Never forget." By the end of 2005 it was apparent that the majority of Americans had forgotten, or just did not care.
Think about the resolve of the 90% of Americans who stood up to call for a blistering attack on the center of Islamist terrorism. That not only meant the Taliban, but state sponsors, like Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Time had come to finally destroy those who had funded this type of murder for decades.
Do you remember how idiotic the 10% of the rest of the country looked when they opposed attacking Osama? Those people formed the core of the anti-Iraq War detractors and the Kerry '04 and Obama '08 campaigns. They are just as stupid now as they were while Ground Zero was still smoldering.
President Bush made a roaring and strong speech just nine days after the attack, showing just what we had to do. Americans were supportive of it then, when we actually remembered the attack:
We're really so concerned that three terrorists were waterboarded? We're so concerned that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the planner of the deaths of 3,000 Americans and the decapitator of Daniel Pearl, had a gunshot fired near him to scare him? I don't care. He murdered thousands of innocent people. I just don't care about him getting waterboarded, and neither should you.
We whine so much about the tools which prevented the next attack. We are disgusted by the lessons learned from the attacks.
Say what you want about George W. Bush, but he kept his promises. He promised that he wouldn't forget. He promised that he would make sure to avenge September 11th, 2001, and make sure that it would not reoccur on his watch.
He kept his word-- that is his legacy.
Originally posted September 11, 2009
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