Operation AXIOM: 9/11

Nineteen years ago to the day, 11 September 2001, 19 jihadist terrorists from al-Qaeda murdered 2,977 innocents by hijacking four airliners, three of which were crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City & the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia; the fight back began with the passengers & crew of the fourth airliner, leading to that plane's crash in a Pennsylvania field, instead of into the suspect target, the Capitol in Washington, D.C. 'Twas due to the bravery of the passengers & crew of United Flight 93 that "Let's roll" became a battle cry.

Amid the myriad crises of 2020—the COVID-19 pandemic & the resultant panic, the quadrennial "most important election of our lifetimes," legitimate protests against racial injustice cynically exploited by opportunists & violent rioters to promote a radical anarcho-communist agenda, et al.—there was some talk of canceling altogether any 9/11 observances in New York City, ground zero of the "day of fire." Such talk poses a significant danger.

What danger, you ask? If we do not remember, we will forget. If we forget, we will grow complacent. If we grow complacent, we will drop our guard. If we drop our guard, we will be as vulnerable as we were on that bright & sunny September morning. After nineteen years of the War on Terror—the "endless war" in Afghanistan, the misadventure in Iraq, the predicted yet neglected rise of Daesh (I.S.I.L.) into the Caliphate—we have grown weary of foreign adventure & wish to turn inward. All of this is understandable, but, my fellow Americans, my dear sisters & brothers, if our weariness becomes laxness—if we ever dare to forget & go back to the way things used to be—then all of the last nineteen years, all the blood split & all the treasure spent, will have been spent for nothing.

There are young men & women, who will be eligible to vote in this November's general election who were born after 9/11: Any American citizen, native born or naturalized, born before 3 November 2002. They do not remember the horror of that morning, the fire & the smoke & the fear & the confusion. 9/11 is to them as Pearl Harbor is to anyone of my generation, something about which they know, may know in exquisite detail, but to which they have no visceral connection. If we did not remember, we cannot teach them. If we do not teach them, then collectively we will forget. If we forget, we will invite another catastrophe, distinct in its specifics but echoing in its terror, horrific ironies, & sheer tragedy. As the writer Mark Twain is reputed (though disputed) to have observed:

"History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

Never forget.

The Wayback Machine Tour of 9/11
Patriot Day '19 / Patriot Day '18
Patriot Day '17 / Patriot Day '15
Patriot Day '13 / Patriot Day '11

Bonus! Song o' Patriot Day
Jon English & Rob Carriker, "The Battle Cry of Freedom" from Over There! Songs from America's Wars (Mike Papa Whiskey)