Eve of Destruction, eighteen years ago today
[ by Charles Cameron ]
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A quick reminder.
It’s the title of Barry McGuire’s song, not it’s Vietnam era, nuke, and Jordan River contents, that concerns us here, reminding us that eighteen years ago to the day was the Eve of Destruction of the Twin Towers in NYC — an infant born eighteen years ago tomorrow would tomorrow be eligible for military service without seeking parental consent.
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What a choice: to jump to one’s death, or burn alive in a kamikaze’d building.
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Usama bin Laden is long gone, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be tried, if he still lives, in 2021.
We remember the fallen, and honor our first responders and all who serve and save.
September 10th, 2019 at 5:34 pm
GMTA — Daniel Byman in the CTC Sentinel: Eighteen Years On: The War on Terror Comes of Age
September 11th, 2019 at 1:22 am
Excellent post Charles.
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Eight years ago I wrote here:
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“There is a serious danger, in my view, of September 11 becoming such a template for the 21st century and for the United States.
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On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, as we remember the fallen and the many members of the armed services of the United States who have served for ten years of war, heroically, at great sacrifice and seldom with complaint, we also need to recall that we should not move through history as sleepwalkers. We owe it to our veterans and to ourselves not to continue to blindly walk the path of the trajectory of 9/11, but to pause and reflect on what changes in the last ten years have been for the good and which require reassessment. Or repeal. To reassert ourselves, as Americans, as masters of our own destiny rather than reacting blindly to events while carelessly ceding more and more control over our lives and our livelihoods to the whims of others and a theatric quest for perfect security. America needs to regain the initiative, remember our strengths and do a much better job of minding the store at home.
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The next ninety years being molded by the last ten is not a future I care to leave to my children. I can think of no better way to honor the dead and refute the current sense of decline than for America to collectively step back from immersion in moment by moment events and start to chart a course for the long term.”
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So far, we have failed.
September 11th, 2019 at 2:11 am
Indeed, thank you for that chastening and refreshing reminder, Zen.