9/11 News

9/11/01 To 9/11/11

10:18 am EST September 11th, 2011 | History | 3 Comments

It’s hard to believe that its been a whole ten years since the world flipped upside down.

It seems like it was just yesterday, and often when I see images or sounds of 9/11 all the feelings come back and I get a lump in my throat. All of those people, right here in the heart of America.

I don’t personally know anyone who died on 9/11, but they were our friends and neighbors. Struck down at random, the only “reason” they died because they were Americans.

Even though we have avenged them in a very concrete way – killing Bin Laden and disrupting the Al Qaeda network – they are all gone forever. Their families never saw them come home the way they left, smiling faces and love in their hearts. No military action can change that.

Time and politics have made us less unified than we were on that day and the subsequent weeks as we collectively mourned. But we have a spirit that still lies right below the surface. When push comes to shove, Americans can and will stand together.

We must honor those who died, remembering how it happened and never let the memory fade. Two giant towers were collapsed, the heart of our military was pierced, and a field in Pennsylvania was shaken to its core.

But America prevails, lives on, fights, and remembers.

September 11, 2011.

Topic: 9/11, Al Qaeda, Terrorism

9/11 Was Never Theirs, But It Really Isn’t Anymore

2:28 pm EST May 4th, 2011 | History | 22 Comments

The Republican party believes that they, and only they, have rights to 9/11. Take, for instance, this pro-Bush ad run by an outside group with extensive ties to the administration back in 2004:

The height of all this was the 2004 election, when the GOP essentially ran a campaign that all but accused Democrats of working hand-in-hand with Al Qaeda, an extension of the 2002 affair. They believed they owned this issue, and acted accordingly.

They never really did. Al Qaeda didn’t just attack Republicans, after all. But they behaved as if only their opinions mattered, only their strategies were worth pursuing in a global war against terrorism. Even when they made mistakes that led to the deaths of thousands and the escape of Bin Laden, they presented themselves as the party of 9/11 (even when Rudy Giuliani attempted to disappear the attack while smearing President Obama).

But now, thanks to history, they’ve lost it. Bin Laden was killed not on the orders of their “popular wartime president” but rather the signal to shoot Bin Laden in the eye was given by the “socialist” “muslim”. It drives them batty.

That’s why they push crazy, nonsensical theories.

They’ve lost the control of 9/11 they envisioned in their minds. It was never theirs to begin with.

Topic: 9/11, Osama Bin Laden, Terrorism

Yes, We Were Right To Kill Bin Laden. Yes, We Should Celebrate It.

10:09 am EST May 3rd, 2011 | Liberals | 43 Comments

Things like this are why I often can’t stand liberals. Or, to be more precise, a very narrow, tiny sliver of liberalism that always has its head up its own rear. Since the killing of Bin Laden has been revealed, there have been two ridiculous reactions to it from people on that shelf of ice floating way off the coast of mainstream liberalism in America.

First, the bedwetting over whether we had the right to kill Bin Laden, as detailed in this article. Of course we did. Bin Laden was an international criminal, wanted for crimes against multiple states (the US for 9/11, England for 7/7 and Kenya for the embassy bombings). This isn’t the kind of man you just let go. You find him, you kill him. This is black and white morality 101.

Secondly, should we rejoice at his death? Yes. A million times yes. This is the man directly responsible for the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. 2,977 innocent lives were lost. In addition, Americans lost a sense of security that we’ve had, the idea that our two oceans could protect us. It wasn’t a loss of innocence, but it was something taken away from our collective psyche.

When the man directly responsible for this is killed, it is a moment to rejoice. The serially stupid David Sirota, writing in Salon, compared this to those who cheered on the September 11 terrorists (unsurprisingly, Glenn Greenwald similarly spent a whole lot of overwritten paragraphs expressing a similar sentiment). In addition to just blatantly whoring for traffic, Sirota’s moral equivalence smells to high heaven. Those people were cheering on the killing of innocent people. Sunday night, Americans were celebrating a mass murderer’s moment with justice. The two are not remotely equivalent. Not even close.

This has been another edition of “that was stupid, quit it” with Oliver Willis.

Topic: 9/11, Osama Bin Laden, Terrorism

VIDEO: 9/11 Attack As Seen From A NYPD Police Helicopter

8:42 am EST March 7th, 2011 | History | Comments Off

The website Cryptome has released the following video from a NYPD police helicopter that was hovering over the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks:

Topic: 9/11, Terrorism

Dear American Media:

5:19 pm EST September 11th, 2010 | Media, Religion | 27 Comments

Every time you shove a camera in the face of some one-off nutjob kook who wants to deface a holy book you’re helping to pull the trigger on the next terrorist bomb or gun that kills a US serviceman/woman or innocent civilian.

Yes, you’re in a competitive new world and the standards have been thrown out the window, but is it really worth a few extra viewers or pageviews to have people’s blood on your hands?

This is not the way back to profits. This isn’t providing insight, it isn’t adding to the store of learned knowledge, and hell, it isn’t even entertaining.

Please, stop.

A Concerned Citizen.

Topic: 9/11, Christianity, Ground Zero Mosque, Islam, Terrorism

9.11.01

2:47 am EST September 11th, 2010 | History, Terrorism | 57 Comments

Never Forget.

I can’t believe its been 9 years.

Topic: 9/11

Karl Rove Will Pretty Much Lie About Anything

8:54 am EST September 9th, 2010 | Republicans | 4 Comments

Listen to this story (Real, Windows Media) from the DC NPR station from this morning about the effort to re-open national airport after 9/11. Rep. Jim Moran notes a meeting he had with Bush administration senior folks where he threatened a vote to have the airport opened, and soon after Bush made it happen. But Rove just does his nasal whine thing here and says the meeting never happened, because it would make Bush seem to have concede on something once. Even now, they still have to keep the mythology going.

Topic: 9/11, George W. Bush, Karl Rove

Yes, Let’s Go There

8:34 am EST May 5th, 2010 | History, National Security, Republicans | 12 Comments

Erick Erickson, of Red State and CNN fame, links to some stories of the attempted terrorist caught by law enforcement under Obama and juxtaposes it with a comment from Majority Leader Steny Hoyer discussing Democratic toughness and performance on fighting terrorism. Hoyer says “we’ve been more successful”, and Erickson asks “Does Hoyer really want to go there?”.

Sure, why not.

The worst terrorist attack in U.S. history was presided over by a Republican president. 9/11 happened on Bush’s watch, he responded to the attack by going to war in an unrelated nation, Iraq. Thousands of Americans died via terrorism under a Republican president. More than we have ever lost.

Sure, let’s go there.

Topic: 9/11, Terrorism

Bush Rehab Tour Watch: Marc Thiessen

10:52 am EST February 12th, 2010 | News | 10 Comments

Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen (and sweet Jesus how do you look at yourself everyday after being a speechwriter for the most unintelligible president in US history) tries to make the b.s. argument that we didn’t know who hit us on 9/11.

FLASHBACK: “Bin Laden determined to attack”

Topic: 9/11, George W. Bush