On September 11th, 2001, someone attacked the United States in the second worst terrorist attack on the U.S. mainland. Some 3,000 people died that day during the attacks that were said to be caused by 19 hijackers armed with box cutters. Without firing a shot, they were able to overcome all of our defenses. They boarded planes and even though none of their names appeared on any of the original flight manifests, they were allowed to board 4 commercial jet flights and commander them. Two planes hit the World Trade Center buildings 1 and 2. One plane hit the Pentagon and faced no resistance in doing so. The other plane broke up over Pennsylvania and crashed in a corn field, killing all on board.
Three sky scrapers in New York fell at free fall speeds that day, two of them after they were hit by the planes. World Trade Center building 7, which was not hit by a plane fell at near free fall speed hours after the original attack. All three buildings had molten steel in their basements for weeks after the attacks. This has never been fully explained by the 9/11 Commission.
The 9/11 Commission was not even commissioned until 441 days after the crime.
There are a lot of questions that remain to this day about the events of 9/11. I am in favor of a new independent investigation of the events that unfolded that day.
I say it was the second worst terrorist attack on the U.S. mainland because
the initial attack killed about 3,000 Americans. In 1812, the British attacked the U.S. mainland, killed 20 thousand Americans and burned down the White House. Even if you include the U.S. Military losses in Iraq and Afghanistan, the War of 1812 would seem to be the worst attack on the U.S. mainland in the sheer numbers of deaths.
It is sad that so much disinformation has become of this. Bush said he is intercepting our phone calls because of 9/11, even though the CEO of Quest Communications, Joe Nacchio said that the Bush Administration had asked his telecommunications company to agree to spying as early as February of 2001, seven months before the attacks. He refused and was later convicted of insider trading by a grand jury. The Patriot Act, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the loss of Habious Corpus, holding suspects indefinitely without charges and the illegal war in Iraq are just some of the fruits of 9/11. Bin Laden has what he wanted, U.S. troops out of Saudi Arabia, oil over 100 dollars a barrel, the near bankrupting of the United States of America and a loss many of our freedoms.
Sometimes I wish that I didn't know the things I know. I would be more able to honor the day, focusing on those innocent people that lost their lives that day. Instead, I see a coming police state, 10's of thousands of dead Iraqi citizens and massive debt that our grandchildren will be born into. I do have the most respect for the firefighters and rescue personnel that put their lives on the line that day to help others, that's the America I want to remember. Not the lies, deceit and destruction that followed the attacks of 9/11/2001. It may have been the second worst terrorist attack on the U.S. mainland but it's impacts will last longer than most of us.
