On This Date in History: It was a relatively quiet day on September 11, 2001. The national media was absorbed with Shark Attacks and the Chandra Levy investigation. That’s all we heard about. That’s what the news folks thought was important and those stories dominated the headlines. By September 12, those stories were nowhere to be found because on this date in history in 2001, two of the largest buildings in the world, the World Trade Center twin towers were struck by two hijacked airliners. A third hijacked airliner struck the worlds largest building, The Pentagon. A fourth hijacked commercial jet was supposed to make another suicide attack. Speculation is that it was headed to Washington DC with the intended target either the White House or the Capitol building. But, passengers on board fought the hijackers and the plane did not make it to its intended target. Instead it crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. In all, over 3000 Americans died that day. I’ve posted an explainer of why the Twin Towers came down while the Empire State Building survived being struck by a bomber just after the conclusion of World War II. It wasn’t the first time that terrorists tried to bring down the Twin Towers. On February 26, 1993 a huge bomb exploded in the basement of one of the towers in an attempt to undermine the foundation. The terrorists tried to bring down the building once, then succeeded the second time around. The world has seen the video of the planes. There are numerous witnesses and records of phone calls from people on the planes. Yet, amazingly, you will find comments on that post providing an explanation of why the towers came down from those who insist it was a government plot. Recently, it was discovered the an appointed official in the adminstration, Van Jones signed a petition in 2004 that called for the exposure of the “official lies and cover up surrounding the events of 911.” Jones later apologized and resigned his position as “Green Czar.” In my view, its one thing for members of the public to get involved in such conspiracy theories, but for a government appointee to be associated with such a thing is over the top. Instead of a day of service, as the president has called for. I suggest that we have a day of rememberance. We should never forget and I’m afraid many Americans have done so. This was not a crime, but instead an act of war. I think it is right and fitting to recall the words of Winston Churchill.
On October 29, 1941 Sir Winston Churchill gave a speech to the students of the Harrow School. At the time. Great Britain had survived the “Battle of Britain” in 1940 when the nation stood alone against the onslaught of the Nazi Luftwaffe. The US had not entered the war yet but by late October 1941, Hitler was preoccupied with his “Operation Barbarossa” which opened a second front in the East against the Soviet Union. Churchill’s speech is often misquoted and misrepresented. The following was in his closing remarks and not the entire body of the speech. However, on this solemn day, I think the words should echo as loudly as the church bells of the Old North Church to which Paul Revere looked for the signal of “one if by land, two if by sea.”
“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
-Winston Churchill
Weather Bottom Line: It will be dry and seasonably warm for the next several days.
