CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Fort Hood hero: President Obama 'betrayed' shooting victims

ABC News reports that Sergeant Kimberly Munley, one of the two then police Sergeants who stopped the deadly shooting at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009, says President Obama broke the promise he made to her that the victims would be well taken care of:

"Betrayed is a good word. Not to the least little bit have the victims been taken care of. In fact they've been neglected."

During the shooting that many consider a terrorist attack, Major Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist and a practicing Muslim of Palestinian descent, shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he opened fire and mercilessly shot 44 soldiers preparing to deploy to Iraq and one civilian killing 13. Munley was shot three times in her confrontation with Hasan.

You can watch video of the shootings aftermath below:

Initially, Obama tried to capitalize on the heroic actions of Munley and her partner Sergeant Mark Todd. They were included as guests in the First Lady's box for the 2010 State of the Union address. A few months later they were again honored by Obama at the 2010 National Association of Police Organizations TOP COPS award winners ceremony in the Rose Garden.

Despite the fact that there is extensive evidence that Hasan was in communication with al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki prior to the attack, the victims were denied  Purple Hearts and the government shooting has been treating the incident as "workplace violence" instead of "combat related" or terrorism. You can read a redacted report on the FBI's investigation of Hasan's ties to al-Awlaki here. Al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone attack in Yemen on Sept. 30, 2011.

To add insult to her injuries Munley was laid off from her job with the base's civilian police force last year.

Last November, Munley and 147 other plaintiffs sued the U.S. government, Hassan and the estate of Anwar al-Awlaki seeking damages and a ruling that the shooting was a terrorist attack. Such a finding would clear the way for them to receive benefits available to those who injuries are classified as "combat related," which aren't available as the result of workplace violence. You can read the lawsuit here.

According to ABC News, former Sgt. Munley now believes Obama used her for political advantage in arranging for her to sit next to Michelle Obama during the President's State of the Union address in 2010. Munley says she  wants to help the others who were shot that day and continue to suffer.

"We got tired of being neglected. So this was our last resort and I'm not ashamed of it a bit."

Something to think about as you watch tonight's State of the Union political theater with its shooting victim props.

Obama's seven point lead up in smoke

Gallup's Presidential Election tracking poll for September 5-11 had President Obama leading Governor Romney by seven points 50% to 43%.

Now the Gallup tracking poll shows that Obama's seven point lead has gone up in the smoke from burning U.S. embassies. For the last two days Obama only leads Romney by a single point. That is why the biased media wing of the Democrats' party is desperately trying its darnedest to convince you the election is over.

As Obama's convention bounce rose to seven points, we saw the smoke from the burning U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya and we saw the smoke from the remains of the stars and stripes that riotous Muslim mobs pulled down from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. We also learned al Qaeda attacked the American-lead multinational peacekeeping force in the Sinai. They also attacked a U.S. Marine base in Southern Afghanistan in an effort to kill Britain's Prince Harry.

The next day, September 12, we learned that four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Stevens, were killed in what the Obama regime finally admits was a terrorist attack in Benghazi. We also saw the smoke from the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, as more riotous Muslim mobs attacked there, in Khartoum,Sudan and Sana'a, Yemen.

On September 13, we learned that Obama did not attend any of his daily intelligence briefings since September 5. Obama didn't care enough about the fact that our adversaries are known to use the anniversary of 9/11 to target the United States to attend intelligence briefings during the six days before the terrorists' 9/112012 offensive. American Crossroads took Obama to task for his lackadaisical approach to critical foreign policy issues in this hard hitting video.

On September 16, we saw Susan Rice, Obama's ambassador to the United Nations, appear on several of the Sunday morning news shows and mislead the American people by claiming the vicious attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was unplanned and provoked only by an anti-Islam video.

The hateful Muslim mobs have continued their rioting against American and the Obama administration was forced to close the U.S. consulate in Medan, Indonesia on September 19, due to ongoing "protests." An event which disproves Obama's naive belief that he could just say nice things, and because he had lived in Islamic country of Indonesia during his youth and his half-sister is Muslim, the Muslim hate for America would dissipate. On September 21, all U.S. diplomatic missions in Indonesia will be closed. 

So it is not at all surprising that the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that Obama's approval rating on foreign policy has dropped five points since August. Now, only 49 percent approve of the president's job in handling foreign policy. Last month, 54 percent approved of Obama's foreign-policy handling. Worse, only 41 percent of Independents approve of Obama's foreign-policy handling, versus 53 percent who did so last month.

The biased media incorrectly insisted Romney was wrong to Obama's incoherent response to the Cairo debacle, and to question Obama's now discredited policies of appeasement and apology that have left us so dangerously vulnerable in the Middle East and still hated in the Muslim world.

The lesson to be learned from the terrorists' 9/11/12 offensive is that despite Obama's protestations to the contrary, the War Against Terror is not over, and Governor Romney was right to criticize Obama for sending mixed signals about the violence of the hateful Muslim mobs.

Do not submit

Do you have enough faith in you religious convictions and your belief in the First Amendment to refuse to submit to the murderous Muslim religious zealots who not only believe, but actually preach, that it is okay to murder innocent people simply because you perceive yourself to be offended by something?

I'd like to think I do. My friend Peter Ingemi, also known as DaTechGuy, proved he does. After a fatwa was issued by one of those murderous Muslim religious zealots calling on the Muslim youth in America and Europe to kill the director, the producer and the actors and everyone who helped and promoted the so-called film, "Innocence of Muslims," Peter posted this video titled, "I will not submit to Islam."

Peter describes his video as follows:

"My response to the declaration of FATWA on anyone who makes a film insulting Islam, come and get me you murderous bastards, I won't give up my 1st Amendment rights I'm a American."

Before you say you are that courageous think about the ordeal the murderous Muslim religious zealots have put some folks through when they have been unable to actually have them murdered. Think about Salman Rushdie, who has been living in hiding and under police protection since 1989. Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death following the publication of Rushdie’s 1988 prize winning book, The Satanic Verses.

Like Peter, Salman Rushdie is courageous. He eloquently denounces the murderous Muslim zealots. Here is some of what he had to say during an interview broadcast yesterday on NPR's "Morning Edition.":

"STEVE INSKEEP: What do you think when you hear about violence in the Muslim world, because people perceive that their religion has been insulted?

SALMAN RUSHDIE: Yeah. Well, what I would say, in a general sense, is that I feel that something has gone wrong inside the Muslim world, because I can remember - within my living memory - when some of these now-beleaguered, embattled cities like Beirut, Tehran, Damascus, Baghdad, when these were cosmopolitan, outward-looking, cultured cities which were interested in the rest of the world and were much more like open societies.

And the fact that, in the last half-century, these cultures seem to have slid backwards into medievalism and repression is one of the - I think it's one of the great self-inflicted wounds. And out of that comes the rise of this new, much harsher Islam, come all these phenomena that you're talking about: the thin-skinnedness, the paranoia, the ease with which violence is engaged in, the readiness to believe that it's OK to kill people if you declare yourself offended by something. This is the mindset of the fanatic, the mindset of the tyrant. And it's a real shame that it seems to have spread so widely across the Muslim world.

INSKEEP: You're saying that it says more about the perpetrators of violence than it does about whatever was written that offended them.

RUSHDIE: Yes, of course. Of course it does. I mean, I think if we wish to live in any kind of a moral universe, we must hold the perpetrators of violence responsible for the violence they perpetrate. It's very simple. The criminal is responsible for the crime. I mean, it's quite clear that this YouTube film is a disgraceful, shoddy little thing. And it's, I think, perfectly proper to condemn it and the people who made it. But to murder people who had nothing to do with it because you deem yourself insulted and therefore other people's blood can randomly be spilled, that's clearly a deeply uncivilized attitude [Emphasis added]."

I can't say it any better than that.

Obama's U.N. Ambassador misleads America about Libya; earns two Pinocchios

Susan Rice, Obama's ambassador to the United Nations, appeared on several of the Sunday morning news shows and mislead the American people by claiming the vicious attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, was unplanned and provoked only by an anti-Islam video.

On CBS’s "Face the Nation," Libya’s head of state, Mohamed Yusuf al-Magariaf, president of Libya’s General National Congress, said that the attack on the U.S. Consulate was "preplanned, predetermined." You can watch Mohamed Yusuf al-Magariaf's comments here.

Shortly thereafter, on the same show, Rice disagreed with the Libyan leader

"Based on the best information we have to date ... it began spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo, where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest outside of our embassy sparked by this hateful video. But soon after that spontaneous protest began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that it looks like extremist elements, individuals, joined in that effort with heavy weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available in Libya post-revolution. And that it spun from there into something much, much more violent.... We do not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned.”“Based on the best information we have to date ... it began spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo, where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest outside of our embassy sparked by this hateful video. But soon after that spontaneous protest began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that it looks like extremist elements, individuals, joined in that effort with heavy weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available in Libya post-revolution. And that it spun from there into something much, much more violent.... We do not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned."

Rice's comments were so misleading that even  a member in good standing of the biased so-called fact-checking wing of the Democrats' party, the Washington Post's Glenn Kessler, awarded Rice two Pinocchios.

Here are some of the facts relied upon by Kessler:

• The attack that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans took place on the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. That may simply be a coincidence, but if so, it would be a pretty big one.
• In his interview, Mohamed Yusuf al-Magariaf, the president of Libya’s National Congress, said Libya had arrested 50 people, many connected to al-Qaeda. That would certainly bolster the notion that the date — Sept. 11 — was not a coincidence.
• One media report claims that key documents, including one with the names of Libyans working with Americans, were taken from the consulate. 
• That same report, in the Independent, quotes a Libyan military official as saying that a separate safe house also came under attack: "The building then came under fire from heavy weapons. 'I don’t know how they found the place to carry out the attack. It was planned, the accuracy with which the mortars hit us was too good for any ordinary revolutionaries,' said Captain Obeidi. 'It began to rain down on us, about six mortars fell directly on the path to the villa.'"
• News services reported last week that Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy, briefing lawmakers last week, said the attack appeared to be planned because it was so extensive and because of the “proliferation” of small and medium weapons at the scene. That also would seem to contradict Rice’s stance.
• ABC News reported that Glen Doherty, one of the former Navy SEALs who was killed, was not there to provide security but was on a mission to track down shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles and destroy them. “Doherty said that he traveled throughout Libya chasing reports of the weapons, and once they were found, his team would destroy them on the spot by bashing them with hammers or repeatedly running them over with their vehicles,”
• According to ABC,  while Rice pointed to anger at an anti-Muslim film that appeared on YouTube as the spark for the demonstration, Doherty’s mission suggests that there were aspects of U.S. policy that may have directly affected militants in the country — and angered them. That also would strengthen the case that this was a planned attack. 

What Kessler didn't take for fact was the Independent's report that the Obama administration was warned, but failed to act on the warning:

"According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and 'lockdown', under which movement is severely restricted."

Nor did Kessler emphasize the CNN report that American intelligence warned the embassy in Egypt.

"A U.S. official told CNN's Suzanne Kelly that American intelligence was sufficiently concerned about the attention the movie was receiving online to warn the embassy in Egypt in a bulletin a few days before protesters stormed that compound in Cairo on Tuesday, the same day the consulate in Libya was attacked by armed militants."

Rice's misleading Pinocchio statements are a sign that the Obama campaign is desperate to prevent American voters from learning that Obama failed to take proper and necessary measures to protect U.S. diplomats from a terrorist attack on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Blaming Romney, not terrorists, Obama fuels Middle East bloodshed

Like many Americans I spend time on September 11 contemplating the terror attacks. This year my contemplation didn't end on the 11th. I have spent the entire week watching as riotous Muslim mobs, first in Egypt, then Libya, Tunisia, Yemen and Sudan attack U.S. embassies espousing hate for American values and belief.

It got much worse. The hateful Muslim mobs multiplied throughout the Muslim world, even in countries not considered Muslim, such as Britain and Australia. And al Qaeda went on the offensive.

Under the cover of the rioting Muslim mobs in Benghazi, terrorists viciously attacked the U.S. consulate killing four Americans including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. That was the first time an American Ambassador had been murdered in the line of duty since the Carter administration.

Al Qaeda didn't stop there. They attacked the American-lead multinational peacekeeping force in the Sinai. They also attacked a U.S. Marine base in Southern Afghanistan in an effort to kill Britain's Prince Harry. So there was much to contemplate on this extended anniversary of 9/11.

The lessons to be learned from the terrorists' 9/11/12 offensive are despite Obama's protestations to the contrary the War Against Terror is not over, and Governor Romney was right to criticize Obama for sending mixed signals about the violence of the hateful Muslim mobs.

Obama is so wrong here. His naivete has always been there for us to see. On November 21, 2007, presidential candidate Obama said, "The day I'm inaugurated Muslim hostility will ease." He actually thought he could just say nice things, and because he had lived in an Islamic country during his youth and his half-sister is Muslim, the Muslim hate for America would dissipate. Well perhaps the Muslim hate for America didn't diminish while President Bush was prosecuting the War Against Terror. But we never saw an uprising or offensive like this during his war, because those that hate us respect strength.

Obama sees things differently. His administration says "the war on terror is over," and Obama won't even use the term "war on terror."

So yes, Governor Romney was entirely correct to criticize Obama's incoherent response to the Cairo debacle, and to question Obama's now discredited policies of appeasement and apology that have left us so dangerously vulnerable in the Middle East and still hated in the Muslim world.

The most important lesson of the week is that we now know that the Obama Administration has put us right back where we were 11 years ago before 9/11. 

That is why yesterday we saw Obama's Press secretary flat out said that the hateful Muslim uprising -- formerly known as the Arab Spring, and the murder of an American ambassador was exclusively the result of a silly amateur video - despite the evidence to the contrary.

This statement and appearance was a turning point. Why? 

Not because it flies in the face of the evidence.  But because it shows EXACTLY why we're in the position we're in under Obama. Team Obama just doesn't understand that terrorists hate America, not a "video" that was used as a diversion to kill Americans. This video of makes this point.

A day for remembering - September 11, 2012

Below I have republished my first written remembrance of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks as well as a piece my son wrote. There are a few other pieces I have posted about 9/11 that I recommend:

• The falling man
• Victims
• The AP's today in history for September 11th [published in 2008]
• 9/11: the day the world stood still Tthe 9/11 tribute produced for the RNC, which so offended Keith Olbermann]

[Originally posted September 11, 2004. I have also reposted "Flame Of Hope" which was written by my son and originally posted on September 14, 2004.]

Remembering

It was such a gorgeous day. I remember driving to the office and saying out loud to myself "what a beautiful day!" I don't remember ever doing that before, or since.

I was out of my office, but in the building, when I was told that a plane hit the World Trade Center. I was thinking how could a pilot hit the World Trade Center in such perfect weather. I thought of the Army B-25 bomber that crashed into the Empire State Building in 1945.

When I got back to my office I was told that both towers had been hit by planes. I still didn't get it. I was still thinking small private planes - then I saw a replay of the second plane, a 757, crashing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. That's when I realized the world was different.

We were short staffed, two attorneys were attending a conference in New Orleans, and I still had a lot work I wanted to get done, but I kept going back to the television. We watched the burning smoking towers.

The brother of one of our attorneys was working in the south tower, she was worried. I kept trying to reassure her, telling her how tough the towers were. I spoke with my wife. I tried to reassure her and she had been doing the same with worried friends.

We heard that the Pentagon was attacked. Then we heard reports [just bad information] that there was an explosion at the State Department. The news coverage was confused. Hell, no one knew what was going on.

Then the towers fell. I just couldn't believe it. We didn't understand how many firefighters were lost in the towers, but the firefighters did. One of my most vivid memories of 9/11 is of fire fighters withdrawing to the West Side Highway after the towers fell. The TV broadcast I was watching showed one of those firefighters take his helmet and throw, no slam, it to the ground many feet away. That act captured all the anger, frustration and fatigue both physical and emotional.

I remember more, I remember the President reassuring the nation, more than once. I remember watching Palestinians dancing in the street. There is more. I remember my co-worker's relief when she learned, hours after the towers fell, that her brother got out of the tower and was safe. I remember the people streaming out of New York. I remember the hospitals staffing up to treat the thousands and thousands of injured we all anticipated would be pulled from the ruble. I remember the burning rubble. I remember more.

I especially remember how happy and relieved I was to get home and to just be with my wife and children. These are the things I think of first whenever I think of 9/11. I wish I was able to convey the emotions the memories conjure up in me, but I'm sure you know how it felt.

Alan Jackson captured all those feelings in his "Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning):"

Where were you when the world stopped turnin'
that September day?
Out in the yard with your wife and children;
Or working on some stage in L.A.?
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke
Rising against that blue sky?
Did you shout out in anger in fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry?

Did you weep for the children
that lost their dear loved ones?
Did you pray for the ones who don't know?
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
and sob for the ones left below?
Did you burst out in pride for the red white and blue
And the heroes who died just doin' what they do?
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer?
And look at yourself for what really matters?

[. . .]

Teaching a class full of innocent children;
Driving down some cold interstate?
Did you feel guilty 'cause you're a survivor
in a crowded room did you feel alone?
Did you call up your mother and tell her you love her?
Did you dust off that bible at home?

[. . .]

Did you go to a church and hold hands with some strangers?
Stand in line and give your own blood?
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love?

[. . .]

Where were you when the world stopped turnin'
that September day?

Flame Of Hope

[My son, then a freshman at George Washington University, wrote this after attending a 9/11 vigil on September 14, 2004. I thank him for sharing it with us.]

I just returned from a vigil at University Yard, remembering the victims of September 11. Services like these always hit home; especially for events remembered firsthand.

We each received a candle upon arriving at the yard, surrounded by a plastic cup to keep the wax from our hands. At the conclusion of the service, after speakers and prayers, messages and memories, we lit the candles and stood in silence. Gradually, people drifted off; it was, after all, a Saturday night. I waited, with my roommate, a friend from PE Wild, and her friend from American. We remained until 9:12, allowing for a minute of silence at 9:11 as I remembered doing back home. While waiting, I let my mind wander inside itself a bit, doing its usual pondering about life, the universe, and everything; about existence and reason, emotion and liberty, life and freedom. I'd like to share those thoughts that stuck out.

A breeze started about the time of the candle lightings. It wasn't particularly strong, but it was chilly enough to force notice. It also required paying attention to the candle, lest the wind extinguish it.

As I'm sometimes wont to do, I made a little metaphor. The candle reminded me of the often-used phrase, almost cliché now: the Flame of Hope, of Freedom, of Life itself. It required an effort on my part to maintain the flame's strength. I found that, after letting my mind wander for a minute early on, the wind extinguished the flame, and I required someone else's candle to ignite it again. Such is often the case with Hope. When faced with an unusual situation, one that discourages and scares us, humans cling to this concept of "Hope," a belief that the storm will pass. Sometimes, when the storm continues to batter us, that hope begins to wane, even dying completely. In those situations, we require the presence and support of others. Through their strength, we can rekindle our own Hope, reignite its flame.

A second time, I caught myself gazing at the sky. The clouds which had eclipsed the stars during the vigil now began to move elsewhere, and the lights of the heavens began to shine through. When I glanced down at my candle, however, I found the flame almost dead. Cupping my hand around it, I shielded it from the chill and strength of the wind, allowing it to remain. It reminded me of our Freedom, such a fragile concept. When our grip on the concept slackens, when we let the idea slip to the background, it can disappear far too quickly. Each of us has to realize the concept, to live it every day, lest that Flame die as well. Freedom is a much harder flame to reignite once it dies.

Before those in attendance lit their candles, the names of nine GWU alumni killed on 9/11 were read aloud. At each name, Omar, the president of the Student Association lit a candle, placing it on a table in front of him. The wind picked up as he tried to light the first candle, and I actually felt my pulse pound as I prayed the light would not go out. Each candle here symbolized a life, and Omar refused to let the lights of those lives burn out. He made sure each candle caught before replacing it, and not once was the wind able to extinguish a flame. Though the lives those candles symbolized had already ended, their memories carried on through the flames. Not even the cold acts of terror, which ended their mortal existence, could erase the marks they as people left upon the Earth and their fellow humans.

We all require assistance at times. Hope can falter, but others can right it. Lives may end, but others will remember the deeds done. Freedom may fall under attack, but those who live it and believe in it can save it.

Cherish your freedom, the life you live, and the hope you carry, for yourself and all those who follow. May all Humanity one day relish in the joys of freedom, from fear, from oppression, from terror. Live your life, and realize you don't have to do so alone.

President Bush on the Bullhorn Address at Ground Zero

“I can hear you. I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” - President George W. Bush, September 14, 2001

Former President George W. Bush tells the story of his famous Bullhorn Address at Ground Zero:

Transcript of the Bullhorn Address at Ground Zero:

President Bush: Thank you all. I want you all to know -- it [bullhorn] can't go any louder --  I want you all to know that American today, American today is on bended knee, in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. The nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens

Rescue Worker: I can't hear you!

President Bush: I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people -- and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!

Rescue Workers: [Chanting] U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

President Bush: The nation -- The nation sends its love and compassion --

Rescue Worker: God bless America!

President Bush: -- to everybody who is here. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for makin' the nation proud, and may God bless America.

Rescue Workers: [Chanting] U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

Never Forget

Here is a slideshow to help us remember the September 11, 2001 attacks evil terrorists perpetrated against the United States:

11sept2001

View more presentations from jldoughty

Never forget.

A day for remembering - September 11, 2011

Below I have republished my first written remembrance of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks as well as a piece my son wrote. There are a few other pieces I have posted about 9/11 that I recommend:

• The falling man
• Victims
• The AP's today in history for September 11th [published in 2008]
• 9/11: the day the world stood still Tthe 9/11 tribute produced for the RNC, which so offended Keith Olbermann]

[Originally posted September 11, 2004. I have also reposted "Flame Of Hope" which was written by my son and originally posted on September 14, 2004.]

Remembering

It was such a gorgeous day. I remember driving to the office and saying out loud to myself "what a beautiful day!" I don't remember ever doing that before, or since.

I was out of my office, but in the building, when I was told that a plane hit the World Trade Center. I was thinking how could a pilot hit the World Trade Center in such perfect weather. I thought of the Army B-25 bomber that crashed into the Empire State Building in 1945.

When I got back to my office I was told that both towers had been hit by planes. I still didn't get it. I was still thinking small private planes - then I saw a replay of the second plane, a 757, crashing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. That's when I realized the world was different.

We were short staffed, two attorneys were attending a conference in New Orleans, and I still had a lot work I wanted to get done, but I kept going back to the television. We watched the burning smoking towers.

The brother of one of our attorneys was working in the south tower, she was worried. I kept trying to reassure her, telling her how tough the towers were. I spoke with my wife. I tried to reassure her and she had been doing the same with worried friends.

We heard that the Pentagon was attacked. Then we heard reports [just bad information] that there was an explosion at the State Department. The news coverage was confused. Hell, no one knew what was going on.

Then the towers fell. I just couldn't believe it. We didn't understand how many firefighters were lost in the towers, but the firefighters did. One of my most vivid memories of 9/11 is of fire fighters withdrawing to the West Side Highway after the towers fell. The TV broadcast I was watching showed one of those firefighters take his helmet and throw, no slam, it to the ground many feet away. That act captured all the anger, frustration and fatigue both physical and emotional.

I remember more, I remember the President reassuring the nation, more than once. I remember watching Palestinians dancing in the street. There is more. I remember my co-worker's relief when she learned, hours after the towers fell, that her brother got out of the tower and was safe. I remember the people streaming out of New York. I remember the hospitals staffing up to treat the thousands and thousands of injured we all anticipated would be pulled from the ruble. I remember the burning rubble. I remember more.

I especially remember how happy and relieved I was to get home and to just be with my wife and children. These are the things I think of first whenever I think of 9/11. I wish I was able to convey the emotions the memories conjure up in me, but I'm sure you know how it felt.

Alan Jackson captured all those feelings in his "Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning):"

Where were you when the world stopped turnin'
that September day?
Out in the yard with your wife and children;
Or working on some stage in L.A.?
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke
Rising against that blue sky?
Did you shout out in anger in fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry?

Did you weep for the children
that lost their dear loved ones?
Did you pray for the ones who don't know?
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
and sob for the ones left below?
Did you burst out in pride for the red white and blue
And the heroes who died just doin' what they do?
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer?
And look at yourself for what really matters?

[. . .]

Teaching a class full of innocent children;
Driving down some cold interstate?
Did you feel guilty 'cause you're a survivor
in a crowded room did you feel alone?
Did you call up your mother and tell her you love her?
Did you dust off that bible at home?

[. . .]

Did you go to a church and hold hands with some strangers?
Stand in line and give your own blood?
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love?

[. . .]

Where were you when the world stopped turnin'
that September day?

Flame Of Hope

[My son, then a freshman at George Washington University, wrote this after attending a 9/11 vigil on September 14, 2004. I thank him for sharing it with us.]

I just returned from a vigil at University Yard, remembering the victims of September 11. Services like these always hit home; especially for events remembered firsthand.

We each received a candle upon arriving at the yard, surrounded by a plastic cup to keep the wax from our hands. At the conclusion of the service, after speakers and prayers, messages and memories, we lit the candles and stood in silence. Gradually, people drifted off; it was, after all, a Saturday night. I waited, with my roommate, a friend from PE Wild, and her friend from American. We remained until 9:12, allowing for a minute of silence at 9:11 as I remembered doing back home. While waiting, I let my mind wander inside itself a bit, doing its usual pondering about life, the universe, and everything; about existence and reason, emotion and liberty, life and freedom. I'd like to share those thoughts that stuck out.

A breeze started about the time of the candle lightings. It wasn't particularly strong, but it was chilly enough to force notice. It also required paying attention to the candle, lest the wind extinguish it.

As I'm sometimes wont to do, I made a little metaphor. The candle reminded me of the often-used phrase, almost cliché now: the Flame of Hope, of Freedom, of Life itself. It required an effort on my part to maintain the flame's strength. I found that, after letting my mind wander for a minute early on, the wind extinguished the flame, and I required someone else's candle to ignite it again. Such is often the case with Hope. When faced with an unusual situation, one that discourages and scares us, humans cling to this concept of "Hope," a belief that the storm will pass. Sometimes, when the storm continues to batter us, that hope begins to wane, even dying completely. In those situations, we require the presence and support of others. Through their strength, we can rekindle our own Hope, reignite its flame.

A second time, I caught myself gazing at the sky. The clouds which had eclipsed the stars during the vigil now began to move elsewhere, and the lights of the heavens began to shine through. When I glanced down at my candle, however, I found the flame almost dead. Cupping my hand around it, I shielded it from the chill and strength of the wind, allowing it to remain. It reminded me of our Freedom, such a fragile concept. When our grip on the concept slackens, when we let the idea slip to the background, it can disappear far too quickly. Each of us has to realize the concept, to live it every day, lest that Flame die as well. Freedom is a much harder flame to reignite once it dies.

Before those in attendance lit their candles, the names of nine GWU alumni killed on 9/11 were read aloud. At each name, Omar, the president of the Student Association lit a candle, placing it on a table in front of him. The wind picked up as he tried to light the first candle, and I actually felt my pulse pound as I prayed the light would not go out. Each candle here symbolized a life, and Omar refused to let the lights of those lives burn out. He made sure each candle caught before replacing it, and not once was the wind able to extinguish a flame. Though the lives those candles symbolized had already ended, their memories carried on through the flames. Not even the cold acts of terror, which ended their mortal existence, could erase the marks they as people left upon the Earth and their fellow humans.

We all require assistance at times. Hope can falter, but others can right it. Lives may end, but others will remember the deeds done. Freedom may fall under attack, but those who live it and believe in it can save it.

Cherish your freedom, the life you live, and the hope you carry, for yourself and all those who follow. May all Humanity one day relish in the joys of freedom, from fear, from oppression, from terror. Live your life, and realize you don't have to do so alone.

Obama even regulates how to commemorate the 9/11 terror attacks

The Obama regime shamelessly issued two sets of documents regulating how to commemorate the 9/11 terrorist attacks against United States. 

One set of the 9/11 commemoration regulations, entitled “9/11 Anniversary Planning,” is for domestic audiences and highlights Obama's continuing attempts to politicize the 9/11 anniversary as a campaign propaganda tool. The second set of 9/11 commemoration regulations is for foreign audiences.

The commemoration regulations, the New York Times and the Obama regime prefer to call them guidelines, list what themes to underscore -- and the tone to set:

• Officials are instructed to memorialize those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and thank those in the military, law enforcement, intelligence or homeland security for their contributions since.
• Officials are to warn that Americans must be prepared for another attack -- and must be resilient in recovering from the loss.
•  Officials are cautioned that commemorations should not cast the United States as the sole victim of terrorism.
•  The tone should be shaped by a recognition that the outpouring of worldwide support for the United States in the weeks after the attacks turned to anger at some American policies adopted in the name of fighting terror -- on detention, on interrogation, and the decision to invade Iraq.

The regulations also seek to remind everyone that Osama bin Laden was killed and cite his death as a reason for officials to “minimize references to Al Qaeda”:

• The guidelines say officials are to make the point that “Al Qaeda and its adherents have become increasingly irrelevant.”
• The guidelines say the absence of Al Qaeda playing any significant role in the “Arab Spring” uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa should be cited as evidence that bin Laden’s organization “represents the past,” while peaceful street protesters in Egypt and Tunisia “represent the future.” 

The 9/11 commemoration regulations aimed at foreign audiences call on American officials to praise overseas partners, who have joined the worldwide effort to combat violent extremism, formerly known as the Global War On Terror:

We honor and celebrate the resilience of individuals, families, and communities on every continent, whether in New York or Nairobi, Bali or Belfast, Mumbai or Manila, or Lahore or London.

Obama should leave his political propaganda and messaging for another day and instead simply join, or actually lead, Americans in a national day of remembrance.