User Panel
Posted: 9/10/2004 8:40:42 PM EDT
Its been 3 years since the terrorists attacked New York City and America. Since that day, when roughly 3000 Americans lost their lives for merely being Americans, not much in the world has changed. Terrorists are thriving, they are still committing atrocious acts in the name of Islam and Islamic leaders are not denouncing these acts as vile murders against humanity, punishable by an eternity in hell.
Mainstream America has left those of us who live in 9/11/01 to be the only ones to carry on the memory, except when the commercialism of “Patriot Day” comes along and “WTC Tower Tins” of cookies need to be sold. I feel that as a nation, we’ve forgotten the faces of the dead and forgotten even faster who the perpetrators of the most horrible terrorist attack are. The media has bastardized the attacks of 9/11 into a three ring circus, including attempts to say that the government had actual knowledge of the attacks before they occurred and turned a blind eye to them. The 9/11 commission failed to point a finger at the real cause of 9/11 – the Arab Muslim world. It failed to say specifically that the perpetrators of this crime against humanity wasn’t a Washington D.C. politician who didn’t give enough of a budget to the CIA or FBI, but that it was due to a bastardized religion, being followed by fanatics. It would seem that to toe that line would be tantamount to really saying we’re at war with Islam. However, in light of the recent Russian School Massacre, where hundreds of children, including infants, died at the hands of fanatic, sub human muslims, I believe we as a race of Americans need to unite with the rest of the world to flush terrorists into oblivion. How else can we continue to exist if our mere presence in the world is an agitating factor? How can we breath without fear of each breath being our last? Every time I look at New York City, I feel proud that we’re doing something right and that its still standing in all of its magnificent glory. To say we’ve accomplished nothing is to deny that we’ve prevented other attacks on our homeland under the watchful eye of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. To them, I owe a debt of gratitude. I owe them my sanity as well. You see, if we didn’t respond to 9/11, I don’t think I could function. Under President Clinton, we watched as terrorists ripped at our underbelly, by striking us overseas and even here in the United States during the first World Trade Center attack, where they tried to blow up one building to make it collapse onto the other. Yet this attack as well as the attacks on our embassies and USS Cole went without response. I thank Bush for that same lack of impotence I felt when we failed to respond to people murdering our citizens and military personnel under Clinton. I also thank President Bush for his leadership and pray that he will lead my brother, ChrisLE and Hoplite safely overseas and do all he can to protect them and guide their units to route out the enemy to safeguard this country from the looming catastrophe we’ve faced in the past. With that said, I’ll introduce you to what I wrote on the night of 9/11/01 after I returned from Ground Zero. I wrote this piece in a frame of mind I’ll never repeat. I read this piece and realize that it wasn’t me writing it. It isn’t my writing style or even the way I think. I don’t know how I came out of whatever had overcome me, but I thank God for the strength to overcome it. I thank him for helping me come to terms with the images in my mind’s eye. I also thank him for allowing me the same feelings to come up every year at the anniversary of 9/11, when so many Americans are more interested in what’s on TV, rather than what was on TV, three years ago. So, with this said, I introduce you to the frame of mind I was in after witnessing the carnage of 9/11 up close and personal. I wish there were more pictures to show, but I was never able to afford a film scanner, so I’m stuck with what I had done by friends after 9/11. I hope you can appreciate what I wrote, even though it isn’t my normal literary masterpiece. Following the story are some of the pics you guys know me for. I've also added a couple new ones. |
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Even though I was on the other side of the continent when this happened, I took the attack as every bit as personally as you did. I had applied for ajob that summer which if I had got, would have had me in the South Tower at Morgan Stanley HQ for training on the morning of 9/11/01. I didn't learn this until a month after the attack, but I could have conceivably been one of the targets.
not that it really mattered. The fact I was 3500 miles away that morning did not alleviate the depression and sadness and pain I felt that awful morning. I will never ever ever ever forget, and my political awareness and activity will always center around punishing and killing terrorists and preventing another 9/11. I am never going to say "Well, that was a long time ago, and it'll never happen again." |
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I remember getting a FedEx envelope a few days later, it was sent from the WTC on 9/11.
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Do any of you mods here think we could get this tacked? A least until Sunday.
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+1 |
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Yes. |
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Thanks |
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Thanks Mike! |
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Well first of all, well said Balzac72
Yes I remember that day. After seeing the news in the Dayroom myself and the other 11 Drill SGTs picked up 220 soon to be Infantryman (11B ARMY) up from 30 AG replacement det (FT Benning GA). Of course they received the initial Drill SGT treatment upon arrival and even after the wake up call some did not have a clue what they have gotten thereselves into. We briefed them on what happened (WTC and Pentagon) and of course some of them thought we were BSing them. Moments later we brought out the TVs with the CNN footage and the 1SG stood up and told them: "MEN WE ARE NOW AT WAR" To this day I will remember the look of horror, utter disgust and anger on the faces of these young soldiers. For on this day their lives were changed forever. I can speak for most of them (except for one piece of shit that went AWOL) which are still serving and serving proud. Hopefully all are all still here. Today as said before we must remember the sacrifices of these Americans and the other Americans that will die in this war. Honor them today and everyday so their sacrifices are never forgotten. FREE |
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Three years ago the world changed… for ever. Militant Islamic Terrorism brought mass death and destruction to the world and declared war on us and made it clear they intended to wipe us and our way of life out… ny1.com/pages/RRR/911timeline.html We did not cave in, we fought back and the world trembled… but alas they tremble no more. Our own side is winning the war for the Terrorists, our own liberals are the best army of apologists Osama could ask for. Every mistake or hiccup is trumpeted by our own side as a 'defeat', every small 'victory' by them is trumpeted as proof of our impending defeat. But the thing that sickens me the most is the way the media have sanatized the horror of 9/11 to 'protect' the people. On that day I was in Italy and we had live feeds, no censorship, just the true horror of that day, and it was a truly horrific day. When I got back to England and saw the US news I was shocked to find that the Networks had 'chosen' to 'spare' their viewers by editing out the most horrific scenes of that day… the hundreds of people who faced with the aweful choice of dying in the fires, jumped, hundreds of them. www.esquire.com/features/articles/2003/030903_mfe_falling_1.html This is a terrible thing, we now have people who think that on that day the planes hit the towers and the people just 'died'. No they did not, 3000 human beings died in the most horrific ways imaginable, but our Media wants to 'spare' us and has quenched the rage we should feel. Why was this allowed? why? Already the fires of rage and the demands for revenge are dying in the West, Osama must be very pleased with our Media's success at cooling down the War on Terror. God be with you all, and be safe… and remember, your true friends are still with you. Andy |
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Thanks Balzac, I will never forget and I wil never forgive.
I'm going outside now to lower our flag to half staff... |
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Lest we should ever forget..............................................................................................................
I hope that if you don't still fly your flag daily, that you at least have it flying today. Great thread. Thank you, no matter how hard it hurts. |
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Thanks balzac ,nice memorial and well done. We should never forget, no matter what the media wants. I pray that Kerry does not get elected and W can keep going strong on the war on terror.
There is one pic that I will never forget either. It was a woman with glasses dancing in the streets in palistine if I remember correctly. That one pic to me summed up the muslim response to terrorism. |
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B,
I had been watching the coverage this morning on FOX, but it didn't really affect me until I read your words. Thanks, Jeff |
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Thanks for the pics, guys. They're a good reminder of the very worst and the very best mankind is capable of. I'll keep the private thoughts private here...
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Thank you Balzac72. 3 years ago they brought it to our door. Their attempted to break us. They attempted to strike fear in our country. They attempted to divide us. In all of their attempts they FAILED! We are not weaker, we are not scared, and we did not run. We are stronger ! My heart swells with pride for my country. I am proud of quick response of my country. I am proud to be an American. AND I WILL NEVER FORGET! To all of those who gave their all. Brothers and sisters , you will never be forgotten.
J |
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I was in Manhattan sept. 9-12 of 2001. Two reasons for this , 1. my bro who lives in upper east side had a dog needed looking after while he was on vacation. #2 Mybirthday falls on sept. 13 soI was there for my birthday partyas all my family would congrate in Manhattan that day. But as usual T-stox slept through the whole thing!!!!!!!!! I had stayed up all night sept 10 then at approx. 9:00 am sept11 I put in a video tape (so there was no way I could be alerted by the news!!!) after 10 mins ofthe tape and having been up 24 hours straight,I fell asleep!!! Then at 2:00 pm I got woken up by phone ringing. I was too tired to answer and phone machine would'nt pickup. I let it ring. BAM! 30 seconds later another call this time it rang for 30 times in a row. Now I'm stubborn and angry I could'nt get any sleep so again I refused to answer. But by nowI waswide awake. it stopped for like 10 seconds then started up again I was so mad I ran tophone and answered screaming "WHAT!!!!!!!!!" It was me mom screaming "what are you doing ?why areyou still in New York?" I had no clue what she was talking about. Then she told me to turn on the TV. I could'nt belive it. Now, in manhattan you gotta understand that while it is thin, about 4 miles, it is very long about 200 city blocks long. I was about 80 blocks from the WTC. So I talked with my mom then hung up. I went outside to decide what to do. IT WAS TOTALLY NORMAL! it waslike nothing was happening. I walked to the deli, and people were walking their dogs,eating at resturants etc.
People were aware of the attack but there was nothing but idle talk about "WHO DID THIS?" but no real panic. all i really heard was the occasional siren in the distance. I went to John Jay board walk with my dog. This walk goes over the FDR drive, I wanted to see if it was jammed with cars trying to flee across the bridges, It was'nt. Situation normal.... Like something out of the twilight zone. So I decided to stay in New york until the 12th to decide what to do, surely I could still have my birthday party ? everything just seemed to normal not to. Then I went to the apt. that's when the phone calls started. Everyone was calling even my relatives in other countries to see if everything was OK. Then the phone system stopped working. I think it was just too overloaded with calls. so suffice to say I stayed glued to the TV for the rest of sept. 11. It was'nt until the 12th that NYC became weird. I decided to leave but first walk the dog again. When I went outside there was noone in sight like an early sunday morning. But it was 12:00 pm on a wednesday. about half of all stores were closed. And when I went back to the Boardwalk there was not one car on the highway. then a parade of fire and police trucks went racing down towards the WTC at top speed but with no sirens on. Seems that the east and west side highways were all closed off to civilian traffic. Then I heard a sonic boom and looked over head and saw two military jets flying in formation. that was all I needed to see. I jumped in my car and had to be guided by the police detours to the triborough bridge. on crossing the bridge I noticed that they had a police and military roadblock stopping and searching all traffic going into manhattan. Now I was freaked out! Suffice to say I made it out of NYC. |
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Where did we screw up?
Was it when we saved Europe and the rest of the World from Hitler? Then rebuilt Europe? Was it when we had to stop Japan? Then rebuilt Japan. Was it the billions and billion and billions in aide to other countries? Then billions more? Was it because of the generous nature of the citizens of the USA? Was it because we have had a gutful of the UN telling us how to run our own country. Was it because the USA did not give more, cave in to pressure from other countries everytime one of them whined we were not doing enough? Have the people sinned against humanity so terribly because most of us want to make a good life for our families, have a few bucks in the bank, drive a nice vehicle or provide for our kids as well as we can. Are those the big sins that justify attacking and killing 3,000 of us? Are our Gods so terrible to justify it? Does the existence of our way of life repulse so many, that perhaps our country, it's people and our way of life should cease to exist? OR Perhaps it may be due in part to gutless politicians acting in a manner that could make the Bin Ladens of the world feel that we are a weak, corrupt nation of fools, who will crumble easily. Maybe our history as a Nation has been incorrectly re-written by the libs? Has abortion on demand, corrupt politicians, drug/alcohol problems, greed and that "gimee, gimee" attitude many people in this country have adopted as a creed makes us appear to be soft, easy targets? Ah, surely it must be capitalism, that most evil of all foundations of economic bases. Some have more than others, often because of sweat, hard work, thus not fair. Then there is the liberal mindset as a way of life. Expounding on that here is like preaching to the choir. As I read the above posts, I could not help but wonder about the reasons for the sheer hatred the terrorists have for us and their motivation for not only doing what they did, but for their continuing to want to destroy our way of life. I cannot believe it is soley based on religious grounds. If it is, we have no hope of changing their minds, until every single one is dead, no matter the cost. I fear that too many bad decisions have been made already in the way we have dealt with these people. The sheeple in this country will not recognize our enemies for what they really are and their intentions, which causes many problems in how we deal with those who mean to destroy us. It is a hell of a mess. We will survive, but at what price if it is done wrong/slow/ineptly? |
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I haven't turned on the TV yet today, but I can only imagine they're replaying all the footage and showing all the images... at least on stations that still think we should be at war as a result of this. Which pretty well narrows it down to one station.
Does anyone think of Rise of the Phoenix when seeing the Freedom Towers? |
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You have done it again Sir Thanks so much I hope no one minds me linking it .. Thanks again
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fdcc.us/iraq/iraqwa1.htm
This is a 20MB Shockwave file with images and sound. Produced by AR15.com's own The_Macallan |
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No problem, I'm glad I'm making an impact. |
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Thanks for reminding us. Everyone needs to be reminded of what we are against....
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I've got three roll of film I developed on Sept 13th when I got home from Ground Zero, I haven't been able to look at them since. And it's nothing gory, just what I saw over those two days.
It's all in my head anyways. It'll never leave. |
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that made my fucking skin crawl...............
i will NEVER forgive |
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I thank God and fate itself that I have an opportunity to do something about it, not just sit on my lazy ass like I've done for a good portion of my life.
www.usmc.mil |
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Amen.... |
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Anybody have the picture of the firefighters going up the stairs in the towers, that's a haunting picture cuz if you look in their eyes they know what's going to happen but still Charlie Mike.
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