Coming up on the tenth anniversary of 9/11

I was asked to give a commemorative address to the TEA party for the 9th anniversary last year, at a fund-raiser at Belfast VFW for Paul LePage, now Governor of Maine. I decided to post it here, as a commemorative, and also due to the fact that the terrorists are still out there and still hate us as virulently as ever they did before. This threat is not likely to end in my lifetime, as far as I can discern.



Islamic Terrorist Attack – 9/11/2001 – Remembrance 9/11/2010

As I re-read accounts of the attack to prepare these remarks, I remembered where I was and what I heard that day. I remembered the school-wide assembly and commemoration on the first anniversary, how the students and I were moved to tears. In these remembrances I was moved to tears yesterday.

The United States of America was attacked by Islamic terrorists executing a meticulously planned and coordinated operation, against “The Great Satan”, as they call us. (Israel is “The Lesser Satan”.) Seemingly out of nowhere, four airliners were hijacked. Flight 11 flew into one of the World Trade Center towers, flight 175 into the other tower, and flight 77 flew into the Pentagon. 2752 unsuspecting souls were killed in the World Trade Center, 189 in the Pentagon.

We here today commemorate the loss of those souls, and to praise the valor and heroism of those who did not die unsuspectingly - the firemen and police who rushed into those burning buildings, trying their damndest to get everyone out; the men and women on the upper floors who realized there was no escape from an agonizing death by burning, and instead decided to step into space; and the passengers of flight 93.

Flight 11 hit at 8:50, and was thought at first to be a terrible accident. Flight 175 hit at 9:04, and suddenly everyone realized it was an attack. Flight 77 confirmed the attack at 9:38. On the fourth plane, flight 93, passengers had been in contact by cell phone with loved ones, and they realized their own hijacking was also a suicide mission. They organized a counter attack at 9:55 – Todd Beamer said “You guys ready? OK, lets roll!” The hijacker pilot began to pitch and roll the plane violently, and when the passengers were about to break in to the cockpit turned hard right in a descent, rolled the plane over on its back, and crashed the plane intended for the Capitol into a field in Pennsylvania. 40 passengers and crew were killed.

This is what Americans are made of – we lead comfortable lives for the most part, but when a disaster or an attack occurs, Americans become heroes. Look at these results, and at the timeline: one hour and five minutes after an attack without warning, ordinary unarmed Americans not selected for the task foiled one fourth of the attackers’ plans, giving their lives to do so.

We must not forget the heroism and the loss of these 3000 souls, and we must not forget that the enemy is still there and still wants to destroy us. This was not a, quote “tragedy” – the tragedy is that we had no warning, despite an attack on the same buildings in 1993. This was not a quote “man-caused disaster”, this was a terrorist attack.