September 11, 2001. Some Have Forgotten.
If you were alive 25 years ago, you remember the horror. If you weren’t, you simply can’t fathom what it was like to watch a grotesque terrorist attack unfold live, on television.
The targets of the 19 Islamic jihadis were ordinary Americans who’d gone to work that Tuesday morning. They were waiters, janitors, office workers, stock brokers, security guards, airline personnel, passengers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and police officers.
After the planes hit, infernos raged in the two towers. The New York Times reported that temperatures above the impact hit 1,000 degrees. Terrified people couldn’t stand on the hot floors, they jumped on desks, they gasped for air through broken windows.
They screamed for help.
Eventually, many were faced with an unspeakable choice: be burned alive or jump.
It’s estimated that about 200 people jumped or fell to their deaths to escape the heat, the smoke and flames.
Television networks captured images of the people plunging to the ground at speeds estimated at 150 to 200 miles per hour. Each jump lasted about 10 awful seconds.
A decision was quickly made by network executives to not show the falling people. Too graphic, they said. Too disturbing.
They were right, the footage is stomach-turning, But in retrospect, that was a mistake. Not showing the footage cushioned the attacks somewhat, protected us from the true depravity, sheer terror and carnage that day.
In September 2003, Esquire published a piece, “The Falling Man,” by Tom Junod, based on a haunting series of photos of one man falling to his death. The photograph was taken by AP’s Richard Drew. The identity of the falling man remains a mystery, although it’s believed he was one of two men working in the Windows on the World restaurant at the top of the North Tower.
In the hours and days that followed 9/11, Americans festooned their house and cars with flags and swore they’d never forget.
Yet today, all across the country America-hating politicians are running for office and winning. Some are Muslim, most are not. They’re leftists who loathe Western Civilization and have the audacity to justify what happened 25 years ago.
In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate, pals around with Hasan Piker, a leftist provocateur who famously said America deserved September 11th. Polls show El-Sayed with a slight lead over Republican Mike Rogers.
Last year New York City elected, Zohran Mamdani, who signed a bill naming September 11th A Day of Remembrance. After the signing, Mamdani handed the ceremonial pen to Ramzi Kassem, the defense lawyer for Ahmed al-Darby, an al Qaeda operative whose brother-in-law was one of the hijacker’s who flew a plane into the Pentagon. Kassem is Mamdani’s chief legal counsel.
Families of the 9/11 survivors have begged Mamdani to stay away from commemoration ceremonies today. The mayor says he’s going.
Hey, elections have consequences.
Minnesotans sent Ilhan Omar to Congress. In a speech several years ago, the Somali-born radical brushed off the 9-11 terror attacks by saying simply, “Some people did something.”
Nineteen evil men, driven by demonic beliefs, did something all right.
Some have forgotten. Some have not.
Either way, it’s time to rewatch the footage. All of it. We’ve been at war with radical Islam for decades. They hate us and our way of life. They want us dead. Nothing has changed.
Never forget that.
