How can anyone pretend like that didn't happen? That flabbergasts me to this day.

Through the wizardry of digital imaging, I suppose if the Bush people really wanted to be creative they could use the actual shot of Bush with his arm around the firefighter giving his "I hear you..." speech through the bullhorn at the WTC site, and then digitally insert an image of IAFF boss Harold Schaitberger with a Kerry T-shirt on and his own bullhorn, replying back "Not without the UN! We must listen to France!"

Nasty, Unethical. Accurate.

Heard a sound bite from a woman whose brother was killed. Apparently she feels she owns the attack.

Orrin says I am oversensitive to object to Shiites chanting "death to Harry." Well, maybe, but the opposite side of that coin is that the attack was on her brother individually but on the rest of us collectively.

This response seems to be a kind of baroque growth of the joys of victimhood.

Harry:

Aren't you making an identical claim of victimhood?

Personally I think they should show videos of people jumping from the burning WTC every day, to sear that image into our brains. I want to be reminded of the burning anger I felt that day and for weeks and months after, which is now receding into the distance like the sun disappearing over the horizon.

Some cultures live too much in the past, but ours is way, way deficient in that department.

Never Forget!

Jeff:

Those whose memory counts haven't forgotten, and Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are well aware of it.

They'll be even more aware of it in a few months, when the US Army and the SAS launch their spring/summer offensive in Pakistan.

On a larger note, the entire Middle East and Northern Africa are also still reacting to the US' continued resolve to put an end to the desire and ability of those who might attack again.

Michael -

I just wish there were more people who viewed the whole 9/11 experience as a life-changer, a defining moment. I'm very disappointed that we don't have 80-90% of the population on board with that. It doesn't seem all that radical a step to me .....

Yes, I am a victim, but I don't claim to own it. If Bush wants to use it, fine by me.

My daughter-in-law was under the second tower when the plane hit. Not physically injured, though she was combing broken glass out of her hair.

She's still having a hard time with the memories, though.

John Hawkins googled the "outraged" and discovered that they were just the usual suspects. read the whole thing.

Harold Schaitberger's melodramatics in the words, "... the biggest disaster in our country's history..." illustratates the infantile self-centered jousting that is passed on by the press. His 'biggest' claim is propaganda, pure and simple. Why does the press pass out such BS? Is it "feel-bad" or "ain't-it-awful" material for the purpose of selling more USA Today?

Dec 7, 1941 was followed by a German declaration of war, a change to no-holds-barred U-boat attacks, and associated Atlantic-arena combat. Within 48 hours, American troops in the Phillipines were being attacked; all US citizens new that a two-front war was ahead. Within 6 months, a large fraction of male college students and high school seniors had enlisted. The change in citizen lifestyle, even in small towns, was MULTIPLE-orders-of-magnitude greater than we saw after Sept 11. The superlative-laden bemoaners are pitiful(perhaps a form of subclinical 'adult' autism?)

A month after 9/11, we could witness that no major additional attacks had occurred for at least four weeks. The US response could be made according to OUR schedule, in locations of OUR choice.

An event such as the greatest San Francisco earthquake also rival the WTC destruction. Weather events rival terrorists in their magnitude and uncertainty.

Jeff Brokaw's claim about "...the whole 9/11 experience as a life-changer, a defining moment..." is pathetic. 9/ll was a god-awful event, calling for renewed committment to the character-building principles that Americans should be guided by regardless of circumstances. The significance of 9/11, as in the significance of the birth of one's child, or the significance of taking the vows of marriage, or of joining the military - - these benchmarks in a person's life also call for perspective; try to avoid loss of perspective.

This too shall pass. Stay cool. Good luck in contending with the hype and the narrow self-centered perspective.

Larry:

Your point is OK as far as it goes, but remember that after 9/11, an attack could come anywhere, at anytime - in a mall, an elementary school, a hospital, an apartment building, a church.

In 1941, the Germans and Japanese were not going to blow up schools in Topeka. And the troops didn't have to worry about having their transport trains blown up, or any domestic flights being hijacked. The warfare we face now is different, because the most helpless are now the primary targets. Does that make you feel better?

Oh Harry, I can't imagine how tough that must be on her - with the first plane people thought it could be an accident, and he comes the second plane. Somebody is doing this on purpose, somebody WANTS this to happen - I can't imagine how I would have reacted.

She was not aware of the first plane. She was on the subway heading for a meeting at the Deutsche Bank when they heard that there was a "track fire" at Cortlandt Street station (her destination) that they would be "expressing through."

She told herself, I'm not going through a track fire, and got off a station early. She was hurrying to her meeting when the second plane hit. She had no idea anything was unusual until then.

She's tried to hold her chin up. She has not said so to me, but I've heard secondhand that some of the jumpers (or possibly fallers) landed in front of her.

I know, from incidents a long time ago, something about what happens when a jumper lands unexpectedly in front of a person. Worst kind of shell shock.

I'd like to think that I'd think Bush is soft on Islam even without this personal connection.

Anyhow, there it is. We're all victims, but some of us are fools, too.

We're all fools. We needn't indulge in victimhood.

Statements such as "... the biggest disaster in our country's history..." do not receive criticism. This demonstrates the pervasiveness of hype - - the bulls[qua]t is even passively tolerated. This amounts to American excess and immaturity. Can any group of people, anywhere, at any time, have had a WORSE situation than "oneself" ... "now" ? There's no reason to maintain a stiff upper lip, but such self-indulgent self-pity is an embarrassment.

As for encountering death, which all would grant is a traumatic experience, .... take a look at US Presidents of a century-or-two in the past. These were reasonably "well-off" guys who were well established, well-connected. Yet the rundown of premature-death among children, wives, or siblings is so dramatic compared to today's expectation as to how frequently a premature death("early death") occurs. On last week's Booknotes(C-Span program) a biography about Samuel F B Morse mentioned that he was one of something like 13 children - - 9 of them died before adulthood.

So things could be worse; in fact, things have been a lot worse. Please stop the whining and hold on for the ride.

It's difficult to see, from a domestic political standpoint, how Bush could be harder on Islam.

Unless the general American public gets tougher on Islam, Bush has already hit his high-water mark with the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Further pressure on Islamic countries will be small scale or diplomatic.