Remembering 9/11…14 Years Later: A United States President Stands Poised to Give Radical Islamists Nuclear Capability

Itwintowers911n some ways it does not seem like it has been 14 years since the worst Terrorist Attack ever perpetrated on American soil.

In other ways, it seems like an eternity.

That horrible day was so surreal. It seemed to me like I was stuck in a nightmare.

Certainly this couldn’t be happening to us? We’re the greatest nation in the world.  Who in their right mind, would dare attack the United States of America? Who would be brazen enough to attack us, using instruments of our own design? Who would actually dare flying planes into the Twin Towers, a living symbol of American Prosperity?

For that matter,. who would fly a plane into the Pentagon? The Seat of Power behind our nation’s awesome Military, the finest collection of Fighting Men and Women on Earth?

It was not a nightmare. It was a reality.

I remember seeing that first plane crash into the World Trade Center.

I remember the look of incredulity and panic on the faces of Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, and E.D. Hill. I remember the second plane on its approach, and the horrifying realization that this was no accident… that America was under attack. An attack, which turned out to have been planned and executed by Osama bin Laden, and a group of Saudi Arabians, members of the Muslim Terrorist Group, known as al-Qaeda.

I remember the images of Americans jumping out of windows to their certain death, rather than be consumed by the fires, raging around them. I remember the sickening thud as they hit the pavement.

I remember the images of the brave NYC Policemen and Firemen as they rushed into the World Trade Center…never to return.

I remember watcing the First Tower collapse…then, the second one. I remember a heroic Mayor Rudy Guilani, out in the middle of the devastation, doing whatever he could to get New Yorkers to safety.

I remember President George W. Bush coming on television, with a look of steely determination, as he announced that we would be avenged.

I remember him standing on that heap of rubble that used to be a part of the World Trade Center, side by side with that fireman, telling the assembled crowd, through his bullhorn, that “the world will hear from us”.

And, it did.

Here is the tragedy of 9/11/01, broken down by the numbers.  Courtesy of nymag.com:

The initial numbers are indelible: 8:46 a.m. and 9:02 a.m. Time the burning towers stood: 56 minutes and 102 minutes. Time they took to fall: 12 seconds. From there, they ripple out.

  • Total number killed in attacks (official figure as of 9/5/02):2,819 
  • Number of firefighters and paramedics killed: 343
  • Number of NYPD officers: 23
  • Number of Port Authority police officers: 37
  • Number of WTC companies that lost people: 60 
  • Number of employees who died in Tower One: 1,402
  • Number of employees who died in Tower Two: 614
  • Number of employees lost at Cantor Fitzgerald: 658
  • Number of U.S. troops killed in Operation Enduring Freedom: 22
  • Number of nations whose citizens were killed in attacks:115
  • Ratio of men to women who died: 3:1
  • Age of the greatest number who died: between 35 and 39 
  • Bodies found “intact”: 289 
  • Body parts found: 19,858
  • Number of families who got no remains: 1,717
  • Estimated units of blood donated to the New York Blood Center: 36,000
  • Total units of donated blood actually used: 258
  • Number of people who lost a spouse or partner in the attacks: 1,609
  • Estimated number of children who lost a parent: 3,051
  • Percentage of Americans who knew someone hurt or killed in the attacks: 20 
  • FDNY retirements, January–July 2001: 274
  • FDNY retirements, January–July 2002: 661
  • Number of firefighters on leave for respiratory problems by January 2002: 300
  • Number of funerals attended by Rudy Giuliani in 2001:200
  • Number of FDNY vehicles destroyed: 98 
  • Tons of debris removed from site: 1,506,124 
  • Days fires continued to burn after the attack: 99
  • Jobs lost in New York owing to the attacks: 146,100
  • Days the New York Stock Exchange was closed: 
  • Point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average when the NYSE reopened: 684.81
  • Days after 9/11 that the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan: 26
  • Total number of hate crimes reported to the Council on American-Islamic Relations nationwide since 9/11: 1,714
  • Economic loss to New York in month following the attacks: $105 billion
  • Estimated cost of cleanup: $600 million
  • Total FEMA money spent on the emergency: $970 million
  • Estimated amount donated to 9/11 charities: $1.4 billion
  • Estimated amount of insurance paid worldwide related to 9/11: $40.2 billion
  • Estimated amount of money needed to overhaul lower-Manhattan subways: $7.5 billion
  • Amount of money recently granted by U.S. government to overhaul lower-Manhattan subways: $4.55 billion 
  • Estimated amount of money raised for funds dedicated to NYPD and FDNY families: $500 million
  • Percentage of total charity money raised going to FDNY and NYPD families: 25
  • Average benefit already received by each FDNY and NYPD widow: $1 million
  • Percentage increase in law-school applications from 2001 to 2002: 17.9
  • Percentage increase in Peace Corps applications from 2001 to 2002: 40
  • Percentage increase in CIA applications from 2001 to 2002: 50
  • Number of songs Clear Channel Radio considered “inappropriate” to play after 9/11: 150
  • Number of mentions of 9/11 at the Oscars: 26
  • Apartments in lower Manhattan eligible for asbestos cleanup: 30,000 
  • Number of apartments whose residents have requested cleanup and testing: 4,110
  • Number of Americans who changed their 2001 holiday-travel plans from plane to train or car: 1.4 million
  • Estimated number of New Yorkers suffering from post-traumatic-stress disorder as a result of 9/11: 422,000

And, here we are, almost a decade and a half removed from that nightmarish day, with a President of the United States, who is determined to give a nation, who is the sponsor of Worldwide Islamic Terrorism, the means to obliterate our nation in a flash of light and the dust of a mushroom cloud.

During the days after 9/11/2001, political affiliation, race, gender, personal philosophy, did not matter.

WE WERE AMERICANS.

This country came together, in a way in which I had never before seen in my lifetime (which, is a pretty long time).

Now, look at us.

It is time for Americans to, once again, remember who our common enemy is….regardless of whether the Obama Administration wants us to, or not.

Radical Islamists attacked us on our own soil and murdered over 3,000 Americans, 14 years ago today, and if given the opportunity, they will not hesitate to do it again.

We must not allow this President and his Administration to give them the means of our nation’s destruction.

The Iran Deal must not come to pass.

The lives lost on September 11, 2001, demand it.

Until He Comes,

KJ

American Exceptionalism and Our Place in the World

Obama-Shrinks-2After almost 2 terms under the failed “Smart Power!” Foreign Policy of Petulant President Pantywaist, Barack Hussein Obama, our allies around the world are asking themselves, “Will America still have our back in the future? Are they still a Super Power?”

Telegraph.co.uk posted the following interesting story, yesterday…

After six decades serving as the global policeman, the United States is now signalling its retreat from the world. With the Middle East engulfed by the flames of sectarian conflict, Europe’s borders menaced by the threat of war and China starting to flex its muscles in Asia-Pacific, it is clear the world has entered a new period of volatility.
That uncertainty begs tough questions for Britain: how should we respond to this new American pragmatism? And as our traditional ally turns inward, what should that mean for British foreign policy?

Ian Bremmer, the American foreign policy guru who coined the phrase “G-Zero” to describe this new and unstable world, is the author of ‘Superpower’, a best-selling new book that explores America’s options as a superpower in the 21st century.
 
Here he talks exclusively to Peter Foster about the strategic choices now facing America…

…PF: As we enter this period of post-Cold War instability, is the current US disengagement good or bad for what comes next?

IB: “It’s not good, but let’s be clear- engagement cannot be half-assed. Engaging doesn’t mean telling people you’re going to engage and then screwing them over. It means really engaging. It doesn’t mean setting a red line, and then backing off. And if you asked me if I believe it is credible right now to take big bets and tell the Europeans ‘we’re really there for you’, and the Japanese, ‘we’re really there for you’, and the Gulf States ‘we’re really there for you’, then the answer is ‘no’.

Are we going to get presidents that are going to consistently get behind that and really support an American-led world order? It’s possible, but I doubt it.”

PF: So is playing the ‘indispensable’ Superpower role essentially beyond the capacity of America now? Fiscally, militarily? 

IB: “No, there are absolutely things we could be doing that would be ‘indispensable’. America has money, interest rates are low, and if we want to print money, we can. If we want to support allies, we can. But indispensable doesn’t just mean, ‘oh we’re going to do drone strikes against Isis’. It means actually going to develop the kind of support that would, over the long-term, build economic opportunities for all these disenfranchised people across the Middle East.

“We’re the only country in the world that could put the resources on the ground that could actually fix the Middle East. We’re the only country in the world that can create global architecture, global alliances. We’re the ones that created Nato. Even if our allies like the Brits say ‘we don’t want to spend as much’, we still have to stick with it – because the absence of that is chaos. That’s what the ‘indispensables’ would argue.”

PF: But right now the American public won’t buy into that? 

IB: “I don’t think so. ‘Indispensable’ America is now an increasingly extreme sell, domestically, for any American president.

“Americans have gotten disillusioned with the inauthenticity of their own leaders, and the politics and politicians in Washington. After living through the 2008 financial crisis, Bush vs Gore, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib – all of this stuff – and now we’re facing a $5 billion dollar election campaign where the most recognisable names are another Bush and another Clinton – you can’t ignore the disillusion.”

Like the present occupant of the Oval Office, Ian Bremmer evidently  believes that America is presently, and is inevitably destined to be “just another country”.

On March 7, 1978, Ronald Wilson Reagan, at the 5th Annual CPAC Conference , spoke the following prophetic words:

America will remain great and act responsibly so long as it exercises power — wisely, and not in the bullying sense — but exercises it, nonetheless.

Leadership is a great burden. We grow weary of it at times. And the Carter administration, despite its own cheerful propaganda about accomplishments, reflects that weariness.

But if we are not to shoulder the burdens of leadership in the free world, then who will?

The alternatives are neither pleasant nor acceptable. Great nations which fail to meet their responsibilities are consigned to the dust bin of history. We grew from that small, weak republic which had as its assets spirit, optimism, faith in God and an unshakeable belief that free men and women could govern themselves wisely. We became the leader of the free world, an example for all those who cherish freedom.

If we are to continue to be that example — if we are to preserve our own freedom — we must understand those who would dominate us and deal with them with determination.

We must shoulder our burden with our eyes fixed on the future, but recognizing the realities of today, not counting on mere hope or wishes. We must be willing to carry out our responsibility as the custodian of individual freedom. Then we will achieve our destiny to be as a shining city on a hill for all mankind to see.

You see, Mr. Bremmer, where the exceptionalism of America lies…is not in the Halls of Power…but in the courage and spirit of the average American. A courage and spirit, which our history proves, has driven American Citizens to build a nation, which is indeed exceptional among all others.

Thr secret of this country’s exceptionalism is the “Average Joe”, the 9 to 5′er, working himself into the grave to try to provide for his family.

It was this same “Average Joe”, who fired the shot heard around the world and began the War for American Independence, who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in World War II, who waded through rice paddies in Vietnam, and who swallowed sand in Desert Storm and Desert Shield. The same “Average Joe” who, as a New York City Policeman or Fireman, ran up the stairs of the World Trade Center on 9/11/01, instead of running down them. The same “Average Joe”, who simply wants things to be easier in this life for his children and grandchildren, than he had it.

It is this same “Average Joe”, who takes family and friends in, when they are in the midst of a life-altering tragedy. The same “Average Joe”, who volunteers on a soup line or at a Senior Citizens Home, or, who begins a successful business in his basement.

Liberal Bureaucrats, like Secretary of State John Kerry and his boss, are professional political prevaricators. Men and women, whose ethics and morality change with the direction of the wind, and whose egos override their judgment…every time.

America is a Constitutional Republic. We are not ruled by a faceless all-powerful government. America’s politicians, including President Barack Hussein Obama, are OUR SERVANTS….not the other way around.

And, as their Boss, we expect them to possess a more complete knowledge of the history of the most exceptional nation on the face of God’s green Earth. We expect them to honor and respect the lives given and the sacrifices made by courageous Americans, who paved the way for you and the rest of this selfish generation, who are so desperately attempting to rewrite American History in order for it to be in accordance with the tenets of their Liberal Ideology.

America’s place in the world is not a thing so fragile that it can be unalterably changed by a lightweight like Barack Hussein Obama.

As author Dinesh D’ Souza wrote…

What does the doctrine of American exceptionalism empower the United States to do? Nothing more than to act better than traditional empires – committed to looting and conquest – have done. So that’s American exceptionalism: an exceptionalism based on noble ideas, ideas that it holds itself to even when it falls short of them.

In conclusion, it is not a single politician that decides America’s place in the world.

It is the fact of American Exceptionalism.

Until He Comes,

KJ