The Path to 9/11 + 10: Is the U.S. Any Safer Today?

Today, has been really tough. I tuned in to the memorial service at Ground Zero, honoring the victims, the survivors and the families of those that died on September 11th, 2001. The beautiful fountains that form the perimeter of the footprints of the twin towers, with the names of the dead etched forever in memorial.

I teared up when I heard Paul Simon sing a haunting rendition of The Sounds of Silence, when James Taylor performed You Can Close Your Eyes and a flautist played Amazing Grace. I cried when I listened to the children read the names of those killed that day. Life goes on, but the memory of 9/11 will remain with us for all time.

I  had to do something more to honor this day, so I attended a conference called, 9/11 + 10: Is the U.S. any Safer, put on by the American Freedom Alliance with a keynote address by former Ambassador John Bolton.

It began with the screening of the director’s unedited version of The Path to 9/11, by writer-producer Cyrus Nowrasteh. It aired in 2006 on ABC Television, after much pressure from Bill Clinton and Sandy Berger who wanted certain scenes removed, that essentially told the truth; how Clinton’s administrations dropped the ball after the first World Trade bombing in 1993 and refused to give the “kill order” when the CIA had Osama Bin Laden in the crosshairs of a sniper rifle.

As a result of all the political pressure, the film has never been rebroadcast, released on DVD or shown anywhere in it’s entirety. It is the only banned film in America.

The screening made the weight of this day even more mournful; what would have happened if we had killed Bin Laden in 1998? But then we the sang our national anthem. Each time I have sung it, I always get a little emotional, but today, on September 11th it had more of a special meaning.

There was a beautiful performance by the West Los Angeles Children’s Choir, led by Barbara Klaskin Silberg. They sang God Bless America and Silberg’s own creation, Statue of Liberty Song based on the Emma Lazarus poem that is inscribed on the iconic monument.

The Executive Director and Senior Fellow of the AFA, Avi Davis, presented their Soul of Liberty Award to Operation Gratitude, President, Carolyn Blashek. This organization sends 100,000 care packages annually, filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile regions, to their children left behind and to Wounded Warriors recuperating in Transition Units. This December they will have sent over 700,000 packages!

John Bolton was greeted with a standing ovation and his speech was delivered in his usual honest, clear-headed and direct tone. Ambassador Bolton chastised the politicians in Washington and the left for believing terrorist acts should be prosecuted like petty crime. “The attack on the World Trade Center was not a bank robbery, but an act of war.”

Mr Bolton, praised President Obama for launching more Predator Drone attacks than the eight years of George Bush and keeping Guantanamo open. He expressed that there will be terrorists held there long after Obama’s term ends, which he hoped would be January 2013. Bolton criticised the administration for accepting the eventuality of Iran having nuclear weapons and not focusing on North Korea which is very close to developing nuclear warheads for their missiles. He warned that North Korea is exporting their nuclear technology especially to Syria.

But John Bolton had his harshest words for Paul Krugman of the New York Times. Bolton explained that Krugman’s column, The Years of Shame, published today, on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, called Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and George W. Bush, “fake heroes”, who “raced to cash in on the horror.” 

So ten years on are we any safer? We are still on guard and on offense. We’ve taken the fight to the Muslim extremists and killed many in Al Queda and the Taliban. But we still need to watch our backs from terrorist attacks on the homeland from the likes of Leftists like Michael Moore, Joe Biden, Maxine Waters, Jimmy Hoffa Jr., Andre Carson and Paul Krugman.

We all have the right of free speech of course, but Krugman and his ilk should not be throwing verbal bombs on September 11th, or any day on the calendar.

Posted: 2000PT
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