9-11 "Anniversary"

[corfy]

I know this doesn't happen until tomorrow, but I figured I would jump on the bandwagon now. I pulled the following article off of another forum a few months ago, and I thought I would throw it on here. I don't know if this article was actually published like it says it was, but I thought it was interesting just the same.

BTW, I included everything from the other post, including the comments at the beginning from the person who posted it. Enjoy.

Keep in mind, this was posted before the war with Iraq, and the main article was written a year ago tomorrow.

No matter what your views on President Bush's statement of upcoming war, this, from an English journalist, is very interesting. Just a word of background for those of you who aren't familiar with the UK's Daily Mirror. This is a notoriously left-wing daily that is normally not supportive of the Colonials across the Atlantic.

Tony Parsons ... Daily Mirror ... September 11, 2002

One year ago, the world witnessed a unique kind of broadcasting -- the mass murder of thousands, live on television. As a lesson in the pitiless cruelty of the human race, September 11 was up there with Pol Pot's Mountain of Skulls in Cambodia, or the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi concentration camps. An unspeakable act so cruel, so calculated and so utterly merciless that surely the world could agree on one thing - nobody deserves this fate. Surely there could be consensus: The victims were truly innocent, the perpetrators truly evil.

But to the world's eternal shame, 9/11 is increasingly seen as America's comeuppance. Incredibly, anti-Americanism has increased over the last year.

There has always been a simmering resentment to the USA in this country; too loud, too rich, too full of themselves, and so much happier than Europeans -- but it has become an epidemic. And it seems incredible to me. More than that, it turns my stomach.

America is this country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally. We are bonded to the US by culture, language and blood. A little over half a century ago, around half a million Americans died for our freedoms, as well as their own. Have we forgotten so soon? And exactly a year ago, thousands of ordinary men, women and children -- not just Americans, but from dozens of countries -- were butchered by a small group of religious fanatics. Are we so quick to betray them?

What touched the heart about those who died in the Twin Towers and on the planes, was that we recognized them. Young fathers and mothers, somebody's son and somebody's daughter, husbands, wives, and children, some unborn.

And these people brought it on themselves? Their nation is to blame for their meticulously planned slaughter?

These days you don't have to be some dust-encrusted nut job in Kabul or Karachi or Finsbury Park to see America as the Great Satan. The anti-American alliance is made up of self-loathing liberals who blame the Americans for every ill in the Third World, and conservatives suffering from power-envy, bitter that the world's only superpower can do what it likes without having to ask permission.

The truth is that America has behaved with enormous restraint since September 11.

Remember ... remember ..... remember ... the gut-wrenching tapes of weeping men phoning their wives to say, "I love you," before they were burned alive.

Remember those people leaping to their deaths from the top of burning skyscrapers. Remember the hundreds of firemen buried alive.

Remember the smiling face of that beautiful little girl who was on one of the planes with her mum.

Remember ..... remember ...

And realize that America has never retaliated for 9/11 in anything like the way it could have.

So a few al-Qaeda terrorists got locked up without a trial in Camp X-ray? Pass the Kleenex .....

So some Afghan wedding receptions were shot up after they merrily fired their semi-automatics in a sky full of American planes? A shame, but maybe next time they should stick to confetti.

AMERICA could have turned a large chunk of the world into a parking lot. That it didn't is a sign of strength. American voices are already being raised against attacking Iraq -- that's what a democracy is for. How many in the Islamic world will have a minute's silence for the slaughtered innocents of 9/11? How many Islamic leaders will have the guts to say that the mass murder of 9/11 was an abomination?

When the news of 9/11 broke on the West Bank, those freedom-loving Palestinians were dancing in the street. America watched all of that -- and didn't push the button. We should thank the stars that America is the most powerful nation in the world. I still find it incredible that 9/11 did not provoke all-out war. Not a "war on terrorism." A real war.

The fundamentalist dudes are talking about "opening the gates of hell" if America attacks Iraq. Well, America could have opened the gates of hell like you wouldn't believe.

The US is the most militarily powerful nation that ever strode the face of the earth. The campaign in Afghanistan may have been less than perfect and the planned war on Iraq may be misconceived.

But don't blame America for not bringing peace and light to these wretched countries. How many democracies are there in the Middle East, or in the Muslim world? You can count them on the fingers of one hand -- assuming you haven't had any chopped off for minor shoplifting.

I love America, yet America is hated. I guess that makes me Bush's poodle...

But I would rather be a dog in New York City than a Prince in Riyadh. Above all, America is hated because it is what every country wants to be -- rich, free, strong, open, optimistic. Not ground down by the past, or religion, or some caste system. America is the best friend this country ever had and we should start remembering that.

Or do you really think the USA is the root of all evil? Tell it to the loved ones of the men and women who leaped to their death from the burning towers.

Tell it to the nursing mothers whose husbands died on one of the hijacked planes, or were ripped apart in a collapsing skyscraper. And tell it to the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for the New York Fire Department.

To our shame, George Bush gets a worse press than Saddam Hussein. Once we were told that Saddam gassed the Kurds, tortured his own people and set up rape-camps in Kuwait. Now we are told he likes Quality Street. Save me the orange center, Oh Mighty One!

Remember ..... remember ... September 11. One of the greatest atrocities in human history was committed against America.

No, do more than remember. Never forget.

[amr.ramadan]

All I can tell is that it is a purely one-sided opinion.

[corfy]

Most opinions are one sided.

[radstar]

happy(?) anniversay

a sad, memorable day.... everyone should do at least ONE good thing for someone else tomorrow. we should be grateful to still be alive and not having to go thru suffering and grief.

talking about grief, have anyone here lost or almost lost someone during this event? not me, but i do kinda wish that i wuz in NYC that day so i could help sick and dying people.

GO AMERCIA!! (and other countries)

[Marcus]

On an almost insignificant scale 9/11 was a day of panic, worry and misinformation for me and my friends. We were all in our highschool by the time it happened...

people say things in the halls....everyone has a different story, you don't pay much attention to it. Then someone you TRUST has something to say.

What? A plane? Two planes? Someone said FOUR planes?! Are you sure? Wait a minute.

The computer lab is down. No internet access. Either by chance or on purpose there was no internet access on any PCs in the school. (Our network is frequently down but you can't help but think we were cut off to stop people from running home during class, like some kind of lockdown...)

The 2 Macs we have were hooked up to the teacher's network, which was apparently still up and running fine (note to teachers: think of good passwords, not one a group of students can RANDOMLY HIT KEYS and figure it out FIRST TRY.)

CNN.com......holy sh*t. other sites....soak it all up - what is everyone saying?
Kids go home for lunch and bring back more info....

===

Anyway....everyone has a story from that day. The best stories you've probably already heard... saving lives... helping people... doing SOMETHING to make a difference. What I got within a few hours was a real sense of how HORRIBLE it is to not have the tools to get the information you need when something IMPORTANT is happening. You KNOW something is happening that you NEED to know about and you can't get at it....it's frustrating to say the least.

Whatever you do - don't forget that the best stories of people coming together and showing the GOOD side of humanity did not JUST come on Sept/11. Sept/12...13...14...15...16....

It's a shame that you need to know evil to know good.

[blugh]

It was a horrible tragedy. However, I think that article is a little too pro-America. You guys completely deserve our support for your loss, and trust me, you have it... but I doubt the restraint was a show of strength. It was a show of fear, not fear of retaliation, but of unpopularity. The US has tried very hard to walk the line between getting revenge and being regarded as a bully. The fact that it has refused to simply pick a side is what pisses most people off. They want everyone to like and support them, but they still go to war despite near-universal opposition. I think if they just told the world to feck off and they were getting the terrorists themselves come hell or high water, they'd be just as unpopular as they are now(although those against them would be far more vehement), but they'd get the job done much quicker. If they decided not to retaliate at all and tried to make amends with the people they pissed off, the world might be a safer place. But they're trying to please everyone, and no one's particularly happy.

I hope that didn't come off as really critical of the US, because my intention was just to comment and not really attack.

[Matt]

[Silence]

[Shrubz]

In relation to this, you guys should check out this short film I posted in forum exclusives.

http://www.movie-list.com/forum/show...&threadid=6891

[chernabog_ca]

May we never forget the innocent that were lost or the heros that fell.

[Jake]

I think everyone should see 9|11

IMDB profile

only then you can you even begin to imagine what it was like. As a New Yorker and American who witnessed the attack first hand no words can express how a feel but the important thing is not to forget because the moment we do - it will happen again


I saw them every day and they were breathtaking and inspiring, and now one of the greatest achievements of humanity is nothing more than two holes in the ground - a graveyard

[carl]

Originally posted by Jake
the important thing is not to forget because the moment we do - it will happen again

, and now one of the greatest achievements of humanity is nothing more than two holes in the ground

I agree with your first point, as soon as we start trying to make higher profile buildings then we're going to open ourselves up to terrorist attack. Noy giving up a way of life is one thing, but to stubbournly build something you know will attract the attention of evil people would be a huge mistake.

As for your second post, I don't want to sound insensitive, but how were they even close to the greatest achievements of mankind. I'd say the antibiotic and other medicines were among the greatest achievements. The computer chip that helps billions of people, and is now basically the whole life of everyone but the Armish is another candidate. A few buildings, no matter how tall don't even come close.

[Jake]

What i mean is that if u were ever in NYC harbor - as was virtually any immigrant since the 19th century, you could always see something magnificent, first it was the Statue of Liberty, then it was the Twin Towers, you can't see it in pictures but their sheer size was awesome, it showed that it was possible to build somehting that big, it showed progress.

And actually what I meant was that it will happen again when we start being too confident when it comes to our security. I know there's lots of critics here and I don't want to start a debate that can't be settled but in 1941 America was a ttacked because it didn't get involved, and if you really look at it American involvement in the MIddle East in 2000 was not big at all, i mean obviously there was plenty of US action there but that's becasue of globalization and the fact that our Armed Forces are virtually anywhere, Israel is an ally just like many other countries and we had to help somhow. IT does seem like we get hit the hardest when we don't do anything.

AS for the buildings, I think we should build the biggest building ever, and I don't mean some abstarct modern art twisted tower - that's just stupid, we should build big, office, towers so it shows that we always get up and some freak from the mountains isn't gonna stop us.

[carl]

Originally posted by Jake
AS for the buildings, I think we should build the biggest building ever, and I don't mean some abstarct modern art twisted tower - that's just stupid, we should build big, office, towers so it shows that we always get up and some freak from the mountains isn't gonna stop us.

Great you build big building and it attracts the attention of nutter who knocks it down killing thousands of people. so you say "Nyeah, nyeah, nyeah, nyeah, nyeah we'll build a bigger building." Please tell me you wont be surprised if psycho knocks down bigger buildings and kills more people.

I mean other there'll always be terrorists but what possible benefit is there, except being stubbourn, of building targets?