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« A Fourth to Remember... But a 9/11 to Forget? | Main | Will They Really Do Anything? » September 11, 2007Six Years LaterOn this day, the sixth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, some bloggers are showing readers what they were writing back on that world-changing day. I didn't have a blog six years ago today - I didn't launch my blog until later that fall - but I was writing a weekly column for the Nashville City Paper. Here's what I wrote for the Sept. 13, 2001, edition.
I remember watching the towers fall on TV, and the instant realization that we were at war and, most likely, would be for many years to come. I remember calling my dad and asking him if this is what it felt like to wake up and hear the radio announce the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. (Yes, just the same.) I remember thinking that while my parents' generation had World War II and I grew up during the Cold War, my children would come to know a different threat. I remember thanking God that George W. Bush was President, because I believed - and still do - that he would not rest until he had done everything in his power to defeat the threat. I remember the bright, beautiful day, the blue sky and the eerie lack of jet vapor trails. I remember thinking how everything looked like nothing had changed, even though everything had. P.S. Stay angry. The fight isn't over yet. It must not be over until we win. No matter what it takes. Posted in War on Terror
Comments
You know what I remember about Sept. 11, 2001? I remember standing outside a Marietta, Georgia, post office a couple of days before, collecting signatures on a petition demanding that President Bush and Congress secure our borders, enforce our immigration laws, and fix our broken visa system. As hundreds of people actually sought us out and even turned their cars around and returned to sign our petition, I looked up and saw dozens of military planes flying overhead, headed out of town from the nearby military installations. Two days before 9-11-01. I wondered what somebody knew that I didn't. Posted by: Donna Locke at September 11, 2007 6:25 PMI remember the attack. Sat on the edge of the bed and couldn't believe what I was witnessing. And then the whining started at the Federal trough... A widow with two young children, whose 29-year-old husband made $478 a week as a chef, is quoted by the Los Angeles Times as scornfully dismissing the proffered compensation: "I think a million and a half is very little for us. This settlement does not make me happy." She wants $3 million or she will sue, and "doesn't care how long it takes." And who does she intend to sue? The American people, the federal government – the taxpayers, you and me – and our airlines. Apparently she thinks that she is entitled to compensation as a matter of right and she is not alone among the survivors and their lawyers. The potential financial impact on this widow's family of the federal offer that "doesn't make her happy." The widow noted above has already received some $30,000 in tax-free governmental and charitable aid in the past 3 months, which is more than her husband's before-tax income of $25,000 per year. According to the Presumed Loss Calculation Tables of the September 11th Victim Fund of 2001, she should receive just over $1 million – $600,000 in economic loss and $400,000 for non-economic compensation (better know as pain and suffering). If she were to invest the total sum in 5 percent tax-free municipal bonds, she would receive $50,000 per year free of federal (state and city) income tax, which would be twice her late husband's pre-tax salary. What more could or should she reasonably expect? Deborah Mardenfeld had the sad distinction of being one of the most gravely injured New Yorkers to survive the attacks of 9/11. Hit by falling debris from the second plane that slammed into the World Trade Center, she spent more than a year in hospitals, trying to regain the use of her badly damaged legs. Now, Mardenfeld has been awarded roughly $8.6 million by the federal September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, which says it is among the largest of the 4,127 payments it has agreed to make so far (they total more than $5 billion). Bill, Thanks for your post. 9/11 still rings fresh in my memory as well. It was truly a life changing event for me, as it was for many of us. Many still do not realize the sacrifice necessary to fight and win this world war on terror, nor do most appreciate the full gravity of the situation we find ourselves in as we are isolated in our own little bit of "heaven". I do, and have always believed, that we were seriously misguided and distracted from the true mission at hand in engaging Iraq, but see the importance of not only remaining committed to the stabilization and rebuilding of Iraq, but the necessity of increasing our resources dedicated to completeing the task. That includes doubling our forces (through obligatory service if necessary), going into "war mode" as we did in WWII, reducing expenditure to paramilitary groups such as Blackwater, Triple Canopy, Wexford, and Brown & Root ($30 for a meal, $100 for a load of laundry, $300,000 for a "Personnel Security Agent", etc...), securing Iraqi borders, etc.... (Paramilitary groups serve but one purpose - profit, and thusly do not serve to establish stable societies, but instead create more resistance and hostility by their rough treatment of indigent populations - they do not care about winning hearts and minds). If we cut and run as most on both sides of the fence are now advocating, I fear we will face horrific consequences in the next decade as militant Islam will then have a haven, which we would have created for them, from which they will recruit, train, and launch terrorist attacks on the world. In addition, this terribly short sighted view will only serve to embolden our present and future enemies, as we reinforce the fact, that many now plainly see, that the United States will not tolerate a drawn out conflict that places any American life at risk, and will run in defeat when threatened with casualties. Not only must we stay the course, we must increase our efforts, give the generals the authority to fight this war, and keep the politicians out of it completely. We are risking the future of our nation so that a few people can make sure they have a job in 2008. Please see my further comments on http://www.omarhamada.blogspot.com Posted by: Omar Hamada at September 12, 2007 9:45 AMPost a comment
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