..we still remember 9-11

aired "God Bless America" and "The Star Spangled Banner" this morning in remembrance.

Thank God He has protected our country since.

And we are thankful that he didn't protect it then?

Seriously, that's just goofy.

It's goofy whether or not "He" refers to God or Bush.

I remember that day. Kids were getting ready for school, when the youngest one pointed at the tv and asked why the plane crashed into the building...

Didn't go to work right away and when I did, we just didn't do much but watch the tube there.

We spent that morning talking about a lot of stuff as a family. We knew it was bad.

We didn't know how much it would be exploited though.

I'm not sure which is worse frankly! The act, or the exploitation of it afterword.

I grow tired of the fear mongering used to cultivate ignorance and shame.

Sitting here in a hotel room, couldn't sleep watching Rudy give his almost trademarked 9/11 speech. Maybe there is a cartoon on instead.

Yeah, I won't forget both the act and the exploitation of it. Won't forget that we let Bin Laden go essentially, while thumping Saddam instead.

Won't forget the looks on the faces of my family, the pain felt by all involved and the dead people we must live with now.

>>that's just goofy.

no...just counting my blessings...the rain falls on the just and the unjust...Matthew 5

Seven years ago, this was Morning Edition from NPR. I remember watching it unfold on CNN with my significant other. What we did not hear or see that day were the people trying their best to avert a disaster.

At the same time that our leadership was failing us, many brave Americans still did everything in their power to help. Much of what emerged has been doctored, parsed, and spun into fiction, truth, conspiracy or a noxious blend of all three. It does not diminish the efforts of the real heroes of 9/11.

Though edited to omit the voices of victims, the New York Times has the dispatches of the New York City Fire Department accompanied by oral histories.

The controllers at Cleveland Tower and the other crews in the air tried desperately to find out what was happening to United Airlines Flight 93 and alert the authorities.

The communications of NORAD were released to Vanity Fair and featured in a report on the BBC.

The NTSB transcripts show yet another side to the story.

The National Security Archive at George Washington University has a vast wealth of documents and might be the best single source available for research.

Of course, the mismanagement of the disaster continued long after the tragic day. The destruction of vital FAA recordings reported by the Washington Post was fairly typical.

With the obfuscation and speculation, it became easy to forget that this tragedy was about people, not just symbols and institutions. The Sonic Memorial Project is dedicated to preserving the stories of everyday folks and their memories of the Twin Towers.

I also will never forget that day, the victims and the heroes. For a moment, it seemed like everyone was bound together as a family. Then, as years passed, the disbelief and unity was twisted into opportunism, suspicion and paranoia. No single moment summed up the wake of tragedy until a brave journalist dared to lash out in grief.

If there is any justice in the world, the direct ties between AQ, the ISI and Saudi wealth will be exposed once and for all. Bin Laden must be captured and prosecuted, but so must the collaborators, speculators and profiteers.

The poor treatment of the families, first responders, volunteers, and the exploitation of the memories of the victims is still despicable beyond description. Foremost in my thoughts today are those who lost a parent, child or spouse and still search for answers. They are the forgotten heroes of 9/11.

"Thank God he has protected our country since."
What a crock!!!!

I guess HE was really P.O.'d at the Spanish, and at the British, and at all the innocents killed by American aggession and extremist terrorism in Iraq.

If there actually is some omnipotent and wise supreme being, it sure as hell doesn't recognize arbitrary borders. No one has ever gone to war without the belief that god was on their side. The concept of a partisan god is one of the greatest evils in the world.

Amen Terry.

Two things that stand out in my memory about the tragedy are the emotional rollercoaster that a lot of people went though on the week of 9/11/01 and the feeling of unity that developed out of this experience. For a very brief period of time, the mood was that we were all Americans, and we had to do our best to pull through. Again, this didn't last long, as people went back to their daily routines and petty differences with new-found senses of fear and suspicion. In addition to the political exploitation of 9/11, I found that it is a tragedy in itself that in our modern world, there is nothing, short of a disaster that kills hundreds or thousands of people in a spectacular way, that can bring people together from all parts of our society.

Personally, I'm sick and tired of the Republicans exploiting 9/11. The convention video they showed was a shameful exploitation of fear, death, and destruction, in order to push their agenda.

What we should be talking about is how George W. Bush blew the biggest opportunity ever given to a US president by completely bungling the US response to 9/11, and how he and his administration have allowed the terrorists to succeed in dividing our country, wasting precious life and resources, and diminishing our standing worldwide.

>>The concept of a partisan god is one of the greatest evils in the world

if God is God then why not could he protect the people of a country many of which serve Him?

Well, we can take steps to prevent some of the mistakes from 2001 from being made again, but what was done in 2001 is done. If Al-Qaeda tries to pull off something next year to "test" the new president, I hope that the new administration doesn't make the mistake of putting out the idea that beating the terrorists is contingent on catching one individual.

Broadway wrote:
if God is God then why not could he protect the people of a country many of which serve Him?

Gee, just when I thought Herb was no longer here.

Seriously though, I think everyone should take a moment today to remember those who lost their lives that fateful day.

By the way, was anybody listening to the Bob Miller show this morning on KPAM? There was an interview with the mayor of Vancouver, WA in which the mayor got so wound up about an apartment complex's policy prohibiting the flying of flags that the delay had to be dumped!

Not mentioning 9/11 is the best thing we can do on Sept 11th. Why celebrate bin Laden's successes? Instead, act like nothing happened and talk about 9/11 another time.

Nine-eleven was an unconscionable hate crime carried out against civilian children, women, and men by religious lunatics and shadowy conspirators who imagined that God required mass murder to impose fascist fundamentalist rule worldwide.

We are taught to forgive and turn the other cheek, but I believe as strongly now as I did seven years ago that what's called for after 9/11 is a determination of truth, and an exacting of justice.

Osama bin Laden and every other supporting individual and entity should have been identified, found, and held to account for every lost life long before now.

The notion that the war in Iraq is in any way a valid response to 9/11 is an outrageous lie.

Nine-eleven is unfinished business.

> Why celebrate bin Laden's successes?

I don't think that remembering the events and aftermath of 9/11/2001 constitutes a "celebration" of anything that Bin Laden did. How is today's mood celebratory?

Skeptical--agreed.

The only thing I will really remember September 11, 2001 for is the day my career died.......because that was when the Clark County Vocational Skill Centre sealed its fate by placing me in an ill-fated internship in the restaurant at the Red Lion at the Quay. It's been downhill ever since. Yes, any hope of me ever having a true career (not just a bunch of "joe-jobs") was another casualty of 9-11.

I've been trying hard to forget all the events of that day, on national and personal levels. Of course, the government and media won't let me, as they seem to continually rub it in my (and everyone's) faces.

Enough already!! Life goes on, obla-di obla-da!!

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Alfredo, that certainly sounds like something Royce would get worked up over. Remember, this is the same senseless old bore who storms through local Starbucks destroying anything that makes mention of Portland, after all.........

How is today's mood celebratory?

Lets ask bin Laden. If we ignored 9/11 on Sept 11th, it would really chap his hide. Instead, we've chosen to relive bin Laden's triumph of evil every year on the day of his success.

Its been seven years, lets move on. Hmm?

I really can't move on.

Like Eastwood said, it's unfinished business. And it's brought us new unfinished business.

What I don't like is that we could have stood strong and really made an impact. Potentially could have marginalized terror right then and there.

We didn't though.

The event got exploited and we lost civil liberties over it, got divided over it, are slowly going broke and the core event remains unresolved.

That weakens us, makes us (well, some of us) forget who we are, what that means and what really should be done.

Until we get past that, it's just not over.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20080911/cartoon20080911.jpg

Ouch. But true. I've heard both Barack Obama and John McCain promise they'll hunt down that motherfucker. I hope they're men of their word.

Have the checked the Pentagon basement? Or perhaps Bin Laden is computer-generated? More and more facts are being uncovered which lead to rumors; when anyone asks them, whoever's being asked changes the subject. The largest rumor that everyone refuses to answer is that one of the real parties responsible was reading books to kindergarteners that day.

"I hope they're men of their word."

I know Obama is, but McCain has changed his position on so many things you just never know.

By the way, McCain has said the he KNOWS how to get Bin Laden, but he;ll only tell us if we elect him President.

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I hope that one lesson learned from 9/11 is that should anything like this ever happen again, Americans should demand better treatment of the situation from their elected officials.