Posted on 09/10/2006 4:00:43 PM PDT by Gucho
By Jim Garamone - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2006 – The United States has done “enormous damage to al Qaeda” in the five years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but the group -- and other “wanna-be” al Qaedas -- still pose a threat, Vice President Dick Cheney said today.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Cheney said the United States and its allies have killed or captured hundreds of al Qaeda’s leaders and that the countries must have the will to continue the war on terror.
The enemy, he said, wants to recreate a “Caliphate” -- or supreme Islamic state -- that stretched from Spain all the way to Indonesia. “They want to topple the regimes that are there today,” Cheney said. “They want to kick the United Sates out of that part of the world. They want to destroy Israel, and they want to equip themselves with weapons of mass destruction.”
The terrorist strategy in this is to break U.S. will. “They can’t beat us in a stand-up fight. They never have. But they are absolutely convinced they can break our will,” Cheney said. He added that the enemy thinks the American people don’t have the stomach for a protracted fight.
Allies also feel this doubt. He said Afghans and Iraqis “want to know if they stick their heads up if the United States, in fact, is going to be there to complete the mission.”
Debate in the United States feeds these doubts, Cheney said. “Suggestions, for example, that we withdraw forces from Iraq, feed into the whole notion,” he said. “It validates the strategy of the terrorists.”
The threat from terrorism is changing and evolving, and much of the threat comes from terrorist organizations “only loosely affiliated” with al Qaeda, Cheney said. He cited the British group that planned recently to blow up aircraft flying to the United States but was halted by law enforcement and intelligence assets. The would-be perpetrators are second-generation immigrants to the United Kingdom. “These are not people living in the Middle East or who have grown up in terror training camps in Afghanistan the way the original group did,” he said.
The elected government in Afghanistan and the way Afghan forces are taking the fight to the enemy are examples of successes there. The country was the home of al Qaeda, and the terror organization planned the Sept. 11 attacks and trained thousands of terrorists at camps there with impunity. “All of these camps are now shut down,” Cheney said. “The Taliban are no longer in power; there is a democratically elected president, parliament and constitution. American-trained security forces and NATO are now actively involved against the remnants of the Taliban.
“We are much better off today because Afghanistan is not the haven for terror that it was on 9-11,” he said.
This does not mean the country is free of problems. “We’re still in the fight for Afghanistan, and we’re likely to be for years,” Cheney said. “We have had significant activity this past summer as NATO moved in and replaced U.S. forces. The Taliban wanted to challenge those forces; in fact, there was the belief that NATO wouldn’t fight as aggressively as U.S. forces would. … But, just in the last 48 hours, we’ve killed 148 Taliban in southern Afghanistan.”
There is major progress in the nation, he said. “Is it over? No, it’s not over,” he said. “Is it easy? Course it’s not easy. It’s always going to be difficult in that part of the world.
“The key here, and it’s the key for a lot we do in that part of the world, is to get the locals into the fight. And I think we’ve done that very effectively in Afghanistan. The U.S. will continue to be involved there, but we’ve also got great support from our allies. NATO is very heavily engaged now in Afghanistan in the fight against the Taliban to secure that nation for its people.”
By COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN, COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER - KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
Sep 10, 2006
KABUL , Afghanistan – Afghan and Coalition forces detained two terrorists from the village of Khulbesat in the Khowst Province during an operation late Saturday and early today.
The terrorists are linked to plotting improvised explosive device attacks against Afghan and Coalition forces in Khowst. They were detained after Afghan authorities entered the compounds, which credible intelligence indicated were a refuge for al- Qaeda facilitators linked to a known terrorist network.
Upon arrival, an Afghan-Coalition force requested a peaceful surrender of people within the compounds and no shots were fired. The two terrorists were located and subsequently detained. Several men, women and children were present within the compounds and all were unharmed during the operation.
The purpose of this operation was to capture the terrorists, who are a significant threat to the people of Afghanistan .
No Afghan or Coalition forces were injured during the operation.
By COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN, COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER - KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
Sep 9, 2006
KABUL , Afghanistan — The Afghan National Police believe transformation of their pay and rank structure will provide an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. In turn, they believe it will also increase the ANP’s morale and trust within the community.
In August, the ANP took an important step in the reformation of their pay structure, when 103 ANP senior leaders in the Kabul region signed up for a bank account from Kabul Bank.
The electronic pay system will continue to be implemented until all levels of the ANP have full access to these accounts.
The account will enable the police officers to keep their money secure and remove cash from an automatic teller machine at their leisure. Most importantly, the account will serve as a means for funds to be transferred electronically.
“I feel very happy about this system,” said Lt. Gen. Sayd Aqa Rohani, commander of Kabul Police Academy . “It will apply to ANP members from the highest ranking generals to the lowest ranking soldiers.”
More ANP members will sign up as Kabul Bank continues to expand around the nation.
During August, three provinces, Logar, Laghman and Nanghar, implemented the electronic funds transfer bank accounts. The provinces of Khost, Jawsjan, Balkh , Kunduz, Takhar, Kapisa and Kandahar will get the system in September. The ANP hope to have the electronic pay system fully operational for all members within a year.
“This new program is much better than the old one,” said Maj. Gen. Abdulle Ghani. “Before, if the member could not make it to the bank on pay-day, he or she would have to wait until the next month to get paid. Now, members can go to the bank on their own time to take out money.”
For the provinces that do not have a Kabul Bank branch, a representative will visit the area each month to deposit the money in a regional bank.
“We want everyone to know the police officers and soldiers are getting paid on-time and accurately,” said Ghani.
The new pay system is another step for the ANP toward improving morale and becoming more professional.
ADDITIONAL PHOTO:
KABUL Afghanistan - An Afghan National Police officer receives his bank card from Kabul bank. In August, 103 ANP officers opened an account with the bank to receive their monthly pay electronically.
September 10, 2006
Sun Sep 10, 9:30 AM ET - Map of Afghanistan locating the region where nearly 100 Taliban were killed. NATO and Afghan troops killed 94 Taliban rebels in a major insurgent stronghold in southern Afghanistan while a respected provincial governor died in a suicide blast. (AFP)
Stars and Stripes - Pacific edition
Monday, September 11, 2006
SANTA RITA, Guam — Sailors with Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 and Mobile Security Squadron 7 were expected to return home Sunday after providing humanitarian aid in Southeast Asia, according to a Navy news release.
While embarked on the hospital ship USNS Mercy, servicemembers and civilians visited 10 locations in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia and East Timor.
The Mercy cared for more than 60,000 patients, performed more than 1,000 surgeries, repaired biomedical equipment, conducted preventive medicine surveys and inspections and trained more than 6,000 people in a variety of medical topics, the release stated.
The San Diego-based ship spent 72 days on the deployment.
Sunday, September 10th, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraqi officials say three members of al-Qaida in Iraq have been killed in a raid.
The Interior Ministry says the three were killed by security forces who raided a building in central Baghdad, sparking an hour-long gunfight. A fourth suspect managed to flee.
Baghdad's police commander says documents found in the raid indicate the suspects had been involved in a series of recent attacks in which buildings had been rigged with explosives.
Police say the raid turned up explosives and explosive belts, anti-tank mines, electrical triggers, hand grenades, silencers and videos detailing how to detonate a bomb by remote control.
They say one of the rooms in the building had been disguised as a shop selling mobile phones.
Sep 10, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says there were clear links between Saddam Hussein and terrorist groups.
A Senate report Friday disclosed that a C-I-A's assessment last year found no link between al-Qaida operatives and Saddam's government.
On "Fox News Sunday," Rice said she does not remember seeing that particular report, but maintained "there were ties between Iraq and al-Qaida." Rice says the administration is learning more now that it has "access to people like Saddam Hussein's intelligence services."
Speaking on C-B-S's "Face the Nation," Rice said the lesson of Nine-Eleven is "not to let threats fester."
She also says the nation is safer now than it was before Nine-Eleven, with more security at ports and airports and a "much stronger intelligence-sharing operation."
Yokosuka special agent sifted through rubble at ground zero
Mike Michell, in his New York City cop days, gets a hug from his daughter, Corri. (Courtesy NYPD)
By Allison Batdorff - Stars and Stripes Pacific edition
Monday, September 11, 2006
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Mike Michell commemorates the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks the same way every year: He gets up and goes to work.
On that eventful day in 2001, however, going to work meant picking up the pieces and keeping the rest from crumbling in a city left wounded and stunned as two planes crashed into the World Trade Center.
Michell was a New York City cop.
“The first days were surreal, the dust and the haze … the whole city smelled singed, like an electrical fire,” said Michell, now a Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan.
“It wasn’t normal police work — it was more like construction,” he said of that day, describing duties that included search and recovery at ground zero, keeping pilferers away and manning volunteer bucket brigades to painstakingly remove debris in the hunt for possible survivors.
He knew one of the 23 New York City police officers killed, and early in his career Michell used to patrol the Wall Street district in lower Manhattan, a beat that included the Twin Towers.
The shock of the attack at first created a lull in crime, even in the busy midtown Manhattan precinct, where Michell worked.
“But then it started again,” he said.
Nowadays Michell has a different mission, a different boss. He is the NCIS acting supervisory special agent at Yokosuka, and is a U.S. Army Reserve captain who puts in his weekend time at Camp Zama.
But his philosophy remains the same.
“I know it’s cliché, but freedom is not free,” Michell said.
He still strongly identifies with his New York cop days, with photos on the walls and a scrapbook he takes out for office visitors. Though he grew up in northern Virginia, he loved working in the Big Apple.
“I was a product of television — ‘Kojak,’ ‘Hill Street Blues,’ all of those shows,” he said. “My mentor, Dr. James Fyfe, told me that I had to go to NYC to see what the TV shows were talking about.”
So he did, cutting his teeth working nights around the Empire State Building, Times Square, Hell’s Kitchen, Broadway and Grand Central Station.
NCIS offered Michell a job just days after the Sept. 11 attacks. He didn’t want to leave at first, he said, especially while his colleagues were pulling morgue details and sifting through landfills looking for human remains.
But NCIS also represented a way to cope with the attack “on a larger scale,” he said. One of his first assignments brought him to Guantanamo Bay. There, he interviewed suspected Taliban and al-Qaida members as part of a task force made up of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Army Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI.
“I felt like I was giving back right away,” he said.
He got even closer to the war on terrorism when he was called up to serve 15 months in Iraq and Kuwait with the 800th Military Police Brigade. He helped set up the Iraqi prison system and later received a Bronze Star.
Today, the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, he’ll be thinking mostly about New York City.
“I’ll think about the first time I saw the towers — and how we should never forget the strength and resolve to continue,” Michell said. “It was an infamous day and I’m a part of it. Everyone in the country is a part of it.”
After attending a memorial service at Yokosuka’s Chapel of Hope, he figures he’ll do what he always does:
“I imagine I’ll go to work,” he said. “Just like any other day.”
By Army Sgt. Carina M. Garcia - 345th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
Sep 9, 2006
KABUL, Afghanistan – Construction of a new school annex for Aschiana Vocational Technical Training School began Sept. 7 with a ground breaking ceremony.
School directors, along with members of Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan , were in attendance at the ground breaking site in west Kabul .
The school annex will consist of three classrooms, a teachers’ office, a kitchen and dining room for the students, and restrooms. The buildings will be equipped with ceiling fans and air conditioning units run by generators.
Hessa Construction Company, a local Afghan business, was awarded the $135,000 contract in April to build the annex which will increase the capacity of the school to attract more than 1,000 children and teenagers. The annex is scheduled to be completed in 90 days, according to the company.
Aschiana schools help Kabul by providing a place where children and returning refugees can go to learn basic literacy skills. Students can also take vocational courses to gain work skills and a productive job.
“I am happy to have this opportunity to be building this for our children,” said Halit Ludin, an engineer with the Hessa construction company and the site manager for the project. “This will be very good for the children’s future.”
ADDITIONAL PHOTO:
KABUL, Afghanistan – (from left) Navy Col. Margaret Kibben, command chaplain, Halit Ludin, Hessa construction company site manager, and Mohammand Yousuf, Aschiana director, break ground for the new Aschiana school annex Sept.7. (Photo by Army Sgt. Carina M. Garcia, 345th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)
9/10/2006
Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday defended his lightning-rod role as a leading advocate for invading Iraq, for a warrantless surveillance program and for harsh treatment of suspected terrorists.
"Part of my job is to think about the unthinkable, to focus what in fact the terrorists may have in store for us," Cheney told NBC's "Meet the Press" when asked about his "dark side."
Cheney said he now recognizes that the insurgency in Iraq was not "in its last throes," as he said in May 2005. "I think there is no question but that we did not anticipate an insurgency that would last this long," the vice president said.
"It's still difficult. Obviously, major, major work to do is ahead of us. But the fact is, the world is better off today with Saddam Hussein out of power. Think where we'd be if he was still there," Cheney said.
Cheney shrugged off news reports that his influence was waning, partly as a result of foreign policy miscalculations and partly as other advisers, especially Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, were getting more attention from President Bush.
The vice president said the reports were about as valid "as the ones that said I was in charge of everything."
Rice told "Fox News Sunday" that "these stories float around Washington -- who's up, who's down. The vice president remains a crucial adviser to the president. His role is different than my role. ... These stories are simply ridiculous."
Cheney challenged polls suggesting that a majority of people in the United States do not believe the Bush administration's claim that the war in Iraq is the central front in the fight against terrorism.
"I think we've done a pretty good job of securing the nation against terrorists. You know, we're here on the fifth anniversary (of the 9/11 attacks). And there has not been another attack on the United States. And that's not an accident, because we've done a hell of a job here at home," Cheney said in the broadcast interview. "I don't know how much better you can do than no, no attacks for the past five years."
He said the U.S. had done a good job on "homeland security, in terms of the terrorist surveillance program we put in place, the financial tracking we put in place, and because of our detainee policy."
Cheney disputed that he ever directly said Saddam had any role in the Sept. 11 attacks.
He defended his past statements both on links between Iraq and the al-Qaida network, and on the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, saying the pronouncements were based on the best intelligence he had at the time. No such weapons were found, nor is there clear evidence of links between Saddam's government and Osama bin Laden's organization.
Cheney cited various statements by former CIA Director George Tenet, both on Iraqi links to al-Qaida and weapons programs, including Tenet's often-quoted comment to Bush that it was a "slam dunk" that Iraq had such weapons
The vice president was asked on NBC whether there more terrorists in the world now than there were before the Sept. 11 attacks. "It's hard to say. Hard to put a precise number on it," Cheney said.
Asked if the U.S. still would have invaded Iraq had the CIA told Bush and him that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction in 2003, Cheney answered yes. He said Iraq had the capability of obtaining such weapons and would have done so once U.N. penalties were eased.
Democrats pounced. "Vice President Cheney's influence over our nation's foreign policy has made America less safe," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "Vice President Cheney's appearance today proves that he just doesn't get it."
In an hourlong interview, Cheney also:
-- Acknowledged the recent rise of violence in Afghanistan and the resurgence of the Taliban, saying the U.S. military would be in the country "for some considerable" time. He said the hunt for bin Laden remains a priority for the administration.
--Said he still disagrees with the Supreme Court's decision in June that the administration overstepped its authority in holding suspected terrorists without trials or Geneva Conventions protections. He declined to discuss specific treatment of detainees, but said information gleaned from interrogations "helped us prevent attacks against the United States."
--Declined to criticize plans by Republicans to spend millions on negative campaign ads against Democrats. "I hope our guys have good hard-hitting advertisements. Certainly, the opposition does," he said. He predicted Republicans would keep control of both House and Senate.
--Called his former aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby "a good man ... entitled to a presumption of innocence." Libby is awaiting trial in the CIA-leak case. Cheney declined comment on what his own role in that case may have been.
--Said he has not been hunting since a Feb. 11 hunting trip in Texas when he accidentally shot lawyer Harry Whittington in the torso, neck and face, but that he intended to go hunting again. "I don't know that you ever get over it. Fortunately, Harry is doing very well."
Host Tim Russert asked Cheney if he should be relieved that the vice president did not show up for the interview with a shotgun. "I wouldn't worry about it. You're not in season," Cheney said.
The Country Singer Remains Committed To The Troops
Toby Keith named his new album "White Trash with Money" after an experience had by his daughter. (AP)
Sept. 10, 2006
(CBS) Country singer Toby Keith has never backed off from a good fight and after 9/11 he had his fighting words ready.
In the fiercely patriot song, "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue" he tells all terrorist foes of America that "we'll stick a boot in your ass."
It received a lot of criticism.
"Instead of people just saying, 'Hey, I don't like that song,' all of a sudden they call you names. 'You're a redneck, you're a right-winger, you're automatically a Republican. You're automatically all these things," he told CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers.
For the most part, the 6-foot-4-inch Keith sings about women and drinking and has sold upwards of 25 million albums. He also owns a growing chain of restaurants and this past week released his first movie, which is about a fading country singer.
First and foremost, Keith considered himself a songwriter.
"God's gift to me was to be a writer," he said. "And that's what I do best of all. And I'm as gifted at that — as anybody."
Keith grew up in Oklahoma and played football in high school and had a short stint as a semiprofessional player. He worked in the Oklahoma oil fields until the jobs there dried up and all the while he struggled to make it in country music.
His first record "Should've Been a Cowboy" was released in 1993 went to number one on the country charts.
But the song that made Toby Keith a superstar was his emotional "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue." Keith says he wrote that song in 20 minutes, just days after the attacks — partly as a tribute to his father, who was a veteran. It's subtitled "The Angry American," and it doesn't mince words.
The song brought him a great deal of attention and he had a full-out feud with Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, who called it "ignorant."
But Keith rode the song-and the controversy-all the way to bank and once again he had a number one hit. He followed that with "American Soldier," which has become a favorite of U.S. forces overseas, many of whom have gotten to know Keith. He spends a couple of weeks a year visiting them in USO shows.
"I just get to shake — pump their fists and thank 'em for — for what they're doing," he said.
His connection to the military is evident in the fans who came to see him just a few days ago in West Palm Beach, Florida.
"I wanna thank the boys and girls proud enough and brave enough to wear our country's uniform wherever they are in the world tonight," he said at the show.
But even Keith is having problems with the war in Iraq, but maintains that he is 100 percent behind the troops.
"When the Iraq war started, I was a little mad because we didn't finish what we started in Afghanistan," he said. "Our troops had to move on into Iraq. Our government asked them to go do it for whatever reason. We won't know for probably 20 or 30 years whether it was the right thing to do or not."
Although Keith has supported President George W. Bush, he says he is not a conservative.
"It's amazing how many Republicans call me for support. And then they go, 'You're a Republican right?' And you go, 'Well I'm actually a lifetime Democrat,'" he said. "And then they go, 'Oh, sorry.' And the Democrats want so bad — the real liberals really want to hate me. And then they go, 'I still hate you, but I can't believe you're a Democrat.' So I'm not a real political guy. I'm a very patriotic guy."
Keith says he trusts one person's instincts: his own. He runs his own record label now. And despite all the "drinkin' and cheatin'" songs, he's been married for 22 years, and has three kids. His latest album is called "White Trash with Money," inspired by an experience of his daughter's.
"Some sorority chick called my daughter a — said she shouldn't be in the sorority cause she's just white trash with money," Keith said. "And she laughed. And my wife was all upset. But I thought it was a great album title."
It's another example of the fight-back spirit he's carried through his life. Ask him about 9/11, and he's just as angry as he was when he wrote his most famous song almost five years ago.
And part of that patriotism is the fighting spirit he's carried through his life. He's just as angry about 9/11 today as he was when he wrote his most famous song five years ago.
"We're at war with the terrorists," he said. "And that if we don't try to do something about it, then it's gonna keep happening here until some of our freedoms are lost."
He ends every concert these days with his songs dedicated to the troops and 9/11: "American Soldier" and "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue."
"If you believe in it enough, it's worth fightin' for," he said. "And if you're not gonna fight for it, then you deserve to be dictated to, you know — and I'm not willing to do that."
By Ensign John R. Guardiano - USN American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 9, 2006 – They were young and old, college students and retirees, rural visitors and city natives, government employees and private-sector workers, uniformed military personnel and civilians, black and white, Asian and Hispanic; but they all shared a common sense of purpose today.
They all wanted to see the Pentagon’s 9/11 memorial. They all wanted to pay tribute to the memory and cause of those who died, on Sept. 11, 2001.
For only the second time, Pentagon officials today allowed the general public access to the building’s memorial to the 184 people killed when American Airlines flight 77 hit the building.
“It was a really good feeling here -- just kind of a feeling of sadness, but it also made me proud to be an American,” said Kate Leavitt, of Boise, Idaho. “It drove home that it (the attacks) really happened, but we’re still persevering. We’re still a strong country.”
“I probably won’t be asked to give my life, you know, die for my country, but I can give my life and live for my country -- and do things to make America stronger,” added Logan Schultz, of Livonia, Michigan.
Leavitt and Schultz were two of more than a dozen college students from Brigham Young University who visited the Pentagon’s 9/11 memorial today. The students are interning this fall in Washington D.C. and, like most attendees, heard about this rare public viewing of the memorial on the news.
The Pentagon’s American Heroes Memorial and chapel were built at the point where flight 77 hit the building. They have been made available for public viewing just once before, on the fourth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Military escorts ushered in small groups of a dozen or so visitors each to see the memorial. The escorts said they anticipated that as many as 6,000 people might have visited the site today.
“Most people are shocked when they see it -- the size of the building and the extent of the damage,” said tour guide Army Spc. Kyle Engel, of New Orleans.
“It’s kind of somber, but I think this is a very good thing,” said tour guide Army Sgt. Lucas Peterson, of Wallace, Michigan. “I think it should be open so people can see this section. They should see how we’re memorializing our heroes: because, you know, the victims of 9/11 are heroes.”
Marine Corps Sgt. Joshua Tretter, of Paris, Illinois, and a veteran of three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, agreed. “It brings it a lot closer to home, especially for the family members,” he said. “I’ve gotten to talk with many family members. … Some just cry; some don’t even want to see it at all. So it’s definitely moving for myself.”
One of those family members, John Ramsaur, was there today to honor the memory of his deceased wife, Debbie, who worked in the Pentagon as an Army civilian. Debbie was killed that day, but John, his new wife, Sue, and their three children -- 12-year-old Ann, 10-year-old Zoe, and 10-year-old Brian -- all make regular pilgrimages to her grave site at Arlington National Cemetery and to the Pentagon.
“We’ve been here almost every year, either for a ceremony or just to visit,” he said. “We’ll always remember.”
Bob, Dolores and Kylynn Wisniewski, likewise, will always remember that day. Kylynn worked in the Pentagon as a civilian computer specialist. Her mother, Dolores, recalls vividly waiting in anguish for three hours not knowing what had become of her daughter. “It was awful, just awful, because nobody knew anything, and nothing worked, no cell phones or anything,” Dolores said.
Kylynn has since retired. The memorial was “very moving to me, since I was there,” she said. “We support our people, and we stand our ground,” she added.
The memorial site includes a charred black stone set into the restored building and inscribed “September 11, 2001.” The stone remains charred black from the fires that were ignited by jet fuel. Behind the stone lies a time capsule to commemorate victims of the attack here.
“Just seeing that blackened brick -- it just makes you want to cry,” said Michelle Webber, a native of Cambridge, England, but now an American citizen who calls North Carolina home. Webber was visiting Washington, D.C. with her husband, Eric, and 5-year-old son, Ethan.
“You know, these people died so that they could give us freedom and a safe place to live. And this is where everybody works that keeps us safe and gives us freedom. And that’s a really important thing. Not everybody has that,” she said. “I feel very privileged to have seen that (memorial) knowing that not everybody’s going to be able to see it. … It’s so moving.”
A public Pentagon Memorial with 184 benches and underlying reflecting pools also is being constructed. The benches will be sized and situated differently to correspond with the ages of each airline passenger or Pentagon worker. The 184 victims ranged from 3 to 76 years old. Groundbreaking on the outside memorial began in June; the project is scheduled for completion in spring 2007. The non-profit Pentagon Memorial Fund has raised $11 million of the $17 million required to complete the memorial, tour guides said.
The American Heroes Memorial inside the building records all 184 names on tablets on the walls. A book in front of the tablets provides a picture and short biography of each victim, written by surviving family members. Another book allows visitors to record their condolences for the families and thoughts on visiting the site.
The American Heroes Memorial also includes separate tablets for the Purple Heart and Defense of Freedom medals, which were awarded posthumously to those who died in the attack. The Purple Heart is awarded to American servicemen and women killed or injured in a conflict; the Defense of Freedom is the civilian counterpart to the Purple Heart.
“I’d never seen a Purple Heart before and didn’t understand the significance behind it,” said Eric Hafen, a Washington, D.C.-area intern from Brigham Young University. “And the chapel, where we could all come to honor them and to honor our God, in the same place, right there where the plane crashed -- I thought that was nicely done.”
The chapel adjacent to the memorial includes stained glass windows, one of which has 184 pieces of red glass, all of which surround a small pentagon.
The stained glass windows include depictions of an eagle and a broken heart and parts of the military service oath: ‘Support and defend … so help me God.”
“I’m not in the military, but what I can do is show that I support our troops,” said Francis Ward, a software consultant from Alexandria, Va.. “Just coming here and saying a couple of thoughtful prayers for the people who lost their lives, to support our troops -- that’s why I’m here.”
Francis Ward’s wife, Jill Forbes, 46, agreed. Sept. 11, 2001, is “always on my mind. I just thought it was a great privilege that we were able to come here.”
Logan Schultz, the Brigham Young student, compared the Pentagon’s 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero in New York.
“When I saw ground zero, it left a huge pit in my stomach. ‘What happened here?’ I thought. But being here, I see more of the healing part of all this. This memorial emphasizes more that life is continuing, and that we remember the past to help us learn for the future. It’s inspiring.”
Elizabeth Watts, 38, a nurse visiting from Vale, Oregon, was amazed by the size of the Pentagon and its 23,000-strong workforce.
“More people work in this building than there are in my town and surrounding areas. … A traffic jam for us is a rancher herding cows across the road!” she said. “That’s definitely not like the Pentagon!”
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SUNDAY ~ 10:00pm ET - 01:00am ET - Matt Drudge-LIVE!
4:00pm ET - 5:00PM ET ~~ The Kyle Warren Show
6:00PM ET - 8:00PM ET ~~Mark Levin
10:00PM ET - 1:00AM ET~~The Laura Ingraham Show
12p.m. ET - 2 p.m. ET~~Bill O'Reilly
6:00am ET - 10:00am ET~~Imus in The Morning
9am ET -12pm ET ~~ Glenn Beck Show (Audio Feed)
10:00pm ET -1:00am ET ~~ The Jim Bohannon Show
Click Rollin Down the Road ~~ 12:00am ET - 5am ET
Thr Michael Reagan Show~~ 9:00pm ET - 12:00am ET
The Mike Gallagher Show~~12:00am ET - 3:00am ET
The Hugh Hewitt Show ~ 9:00pm ET - 12:00am ET
Michael Savage Show ~ 9:00pm ET - 12:00am ET (Click Bitcaster)
BAGHDAD, IRAQ
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Kabul, Afghanistan
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