Never forget.
Those are the two most prevalent words uttered or typed on this tragically historic day.
Never. Forget.
For many, September 11, 2001, was a day that will forever be seared into the minds of those who were witness. On that day, the nation was awoken by a harsh reality that some people want nothing more than to destroy our freedom, our way of life. It was a day that 19 hijackers, four airplanes, two towers, and one deranged ideology brought the threat of terrorism to the forefront in our country.
But a mere nine years after 9/11, has the leadership of this nation, both administrative and media related, already forgotten?
Yesterday, on the eve of the anniversary of 9/11, the President of the United States of America had the tone deaf audacity to ignore the concept of time and place, choosing to defend the building of the Ground Zero victory mosque. In his news conference, President Obama said that the proposed New York City mosque has run up against the "extraordinary sensitivities around 9/11." In other words, he hears the sensitivities, he simply does not care.
Obama elaborates:
"As somebody who relies heavily on my Christian faith in my job, I understand the passions that religious faith can raise. But I'm also respectful that people of different faiths can practice their religion, even if they don't subscribe to the exact same notions that I do..."
This demonstrates Obama's willingness to cling to the concept that the mosque controversy is based on freedom of religion. It is not. Controversy surrounding this building has nothing to do with religious tolerance. Muslims are not being prohibited from practicing their religion. They are simply being asked to display a sense of decency by building the mosque in an area not directly involved in such an emotional event for our nation; away from the site where thousands of lives ended in a declaration of war from radical Islam.
Americans overwhelmingly oppose this project, because they understand common sense and decency. It appears our president does not. And on the eve of 9/11, Obama wasted a major opportunity to stand up and actually play the role of a leader. To stand up and say, 'I'm with the American people, not against them.' Essentially, to start acting like a President.
Instead, he chose to lecture Americans on the legal right for Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to build his mosque. Unfortunately Mr. President, part of your job is to guide a country still healing from the emotional scars of 9/11. You're not teaching Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago anymore. You're no longer a community organizer.
Most of us remember 9/11 a little differently than our liberal leaders. We remember being attacked on that day. We remember watching over 3,000 of our friends and family dying that day. We remember the screams of the heroes on Flight 93, the screams of women and men, mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, who desperately made an attempt to take back a plane scheduled for a suicide mission which surely would have killed many more.
Yet the President would prefer to stand up for the rights of an imam with questionable motives, planning to build a mosque practically on the gravesite of those killed on 9/11. This isn't the only example however, of a forgotten tragedy.
- In 2003, this same imam of current fame, Abdul Rauf, said in the midst of a training session with the FBI that "the U.S. response to the Sept. 11 attacks could be considered a jihad."
- Along those same lines, Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek recently penned a steaming column in which he claimed the American response to 9/11 was an overreaction. Zakaria claims that, "September 11 was a shock to the American psyche and the American system. As a result, we overreacted."
- Susan Crawford, Convening Authority for the Guantanamo military commissions, claimed in 2009 that some prisoners complicit in the murder of over 3,000 people were (gasp) tortured, and what she discovered in that job left her aghast. What torture tactics left her aghast?
- Standing naked in front of a female agent;
- Strip searches;
- Insults to the detainee's mother and sister;
- Threatened (not attacked) with a dog;
- Forced to wear a woman's bra;
- Having a thong placed on the head during interrogation.
- The BBC portrayed two inmates at Guantanamo Bay, one of whom had confessed to attending an Islamist training camp where he learned how to operate an AK-47, as a real-life Harold and Kumar, innocently sightseeing and smoking dope.
- Both the media and the administration spent a great deal of effort in trying to portray Nidal Malik Hasan, a man who had contact with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, carried a business card with the acronym SoA (Soldier of Allah), shouted ‘Allahu Akbar', and subsequently murdered 13 soldiers and an unborn child, as anything but a terrorist.
This is but a short list that calls to question the liberal administration and liberal media's remembrance of 9/11. Imagine being privy to the knowledge of the above referenced events just days after the actual attack.
You would say that it would be impossible. It would be impossible, because it would mean that we had forgotten.
Have we?
Crossposted at The Mental Recession
