We Remember And We Mourn

This sickened my heart this morning. No, in fact my heart was sickened even as I typed dailykos into my browser, knowing something like this would be there:

We remember and we mourn
by wiscmass
Tue Sep 11, 2007 at 03:31:08 AM PDT

[Today], the sixth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack ever to occur on US soil, we will hear many platitudes about the fallen. Instead of buying into the hype, we choose to remember and mourn the actual people who are no longer with us. We remember and we mourn our friends and family and complete strangers who lost their lives on that terrible day.

We remember and we mourn all the US soldiers who died in a war of retaliation against the wrong people. We remember and we mourn the Iraqi victims, the journalists, the coalition soldiers, and the US soldiers killed in Operation Enduring Freedom as well.

I sense wiscmass really mourns very little with this troubling mess of a list, this list designed to sound all right but really poke a finger at America for 9/11.

We don't see President Bush's name in this little entry, neither do we see jihad, bin Laden, al-Qaeda or Islam. It's as if 9/11 just happened, then America responded with death. It's as if all wiscmass and his/her fellow travelers mourn is that there is a war.

The nation that was united six years ago was a chimera; this is the nation we have today. A nation in which our leading general isn't rightfully questioned about his policies, but instead is accused (thanks to a hefty ad discount from the NYT) of being a traitor. And a liar. Why? Because he's doing what the Left has demanded be done: Changing administration policy in Iraq.

For a moment six years ago, America could look at itself proudly as the nation it is supposed to be. Unbent, committed, strong, we looked a vicious attack in the face and reacted with calm assurance. No mobs of Americans took to the street shouting, "Death to the Islamic devil!" No Muslims were torn from their homes and stoned or stomped to death. And no wings of aircraft took off, laden with weapons of war, to strike back viciously at some target, any target.

Instead we grieved, cried and prayed. The voices of dissent were quieter then. Maybe they were afraid to say anything; maybe they truly felt as we did for a moment. But that moment is gone now and it's up to us who don't play games with historic moments to remember and mourn correctly.

We remember and we mourn because the world changed for the worse on that day due to the acts of a few utterly intolerant, hateful men from Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

We remember and we mourn for the souls who were not a part of any war, who were not confronted with any choice regarding their fate, but were subjected to painful, fearful deaths at the hands of the most intolerant and hateful of extremists.

We remember and mourn the heroes from NYFD, NYPD and the just everyday folk who rose to the occasion and put others' lives ahead of their own.

We remember and mourn the ribbons, flags and bumper stickers that for a while seemed to say we were united.

We remember and mourn those two great towers, and that massive heap of dust, twisted steel, blood and snuffed life.

Debra Burlingame also remembers. Her brother was on the airliner that was stolen by al-Qaeda and redirected into the west wall of the Pentagon. She writes this morning, six years later:

There is a disturbing phenomenon creeping into the public debate about all things 9/11. Increasingly, Sept. 11 is compared to hurricanes, bridge collapses and other mechanical disasters or criminal acts that result in loss of life, with "body count" being the primary factor that keeps it in the top spot of "worst in the nation's history."

Misremembering is as dangerous as forgetting. If we must know one thing, it is that the Sept. 11 attacks were neither a natural disaster, nor the unfortunate result of human error. 9/11 wasn't the catastrophic equivalent of a 3,000-car pileup.

The attacks were not a random act of violence or insanity. They were a deliberate and brutal act of war committed by religious fanatics engaged in Islamic jihad against the United States, all non-Muslim people and any Muslim who wishes to live in a secular society. Worse, the people who perpetrated the attacks have explicitly told us that they are not done.

Sept. 11 is a date that comes and goes once a year, but "9/11" is with us every day.

And that is why we remember and mourn the soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. They understand, unlike MoveOn.org, Code Pink, Daily Kos and the other defilers of the memory of 9/11, that the jihadists are not done and that making excuses and placing false blame is not going to stop them.

Some will mark today by trying to disrupt the Senate hearings for Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker with anti-war, anti-American slogans. Fortunately, most of us will remember the day correctly, with a prayer of remembrance to those who died, a prayer of good will and protection for those who defend us, and a prayer for this world, and for a true and just peace.