Free Republic

It has been eight years since the United States suffered the worst attack on our soil since Pearl Harbor. As we look back, we should take stock of what has transpired since then. We have sent our nation's soldiers into battlefields far from home to defend us. These brave men and women live in treacherous conditions, facing improvised roadside bombs, suicide bombers and other attacks. Yet they fight on in their mission to defend the United States and all of us without complaint. Our all-volunteer service is made up of Americans of all races, creeds, and economic backgrounds. These soldiers...

The design for One World Trade Center has attracted substantial criticism, which is to be expected with a project of such public importance. Some of the gripes have merit. Overall, the finished site will be less impressive than the twin towers it is replacing. Nicolai Ouroussoff of the New York Times called the design "somber, oppressive and clumsily conceived, the project suggests a monument to a society that has turned its back on any notion of cultural openness." Not to mention any notion of collective courage in the face of the terrorist threat. The building's most objectionable feature is the...

CNBC reports a plane has hit the World Trade Center in NY. No details...

Residents carried their own signs Wednesday evening calling for "peace not hate" in response to a northwest Gainesville church that recently posted a sign with an anti-Islamic message. At least 80 people gathered on both sides of Northwest 37th Street in front of the Dove World Outreach Center for a prayer vigil organized after the church recently erected a sign proclaiming "Islam is of the devil." Participants held up their signs and listened to words from Eve MacMaster, pastor of the Emmanuel Mennonite Church, and Saeed R. Kahn, president of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida. The group maintained...

On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack was unprovoked and unannounced. No state of war existed before the attack. On April 18, 1942, just over four months later, America retaliated with a bomber attack on Tokyo. The pilots had been trained and qualified, in that short time, to do something that had never been tried before: to fly off a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean, conduct a bombing mission and then ditch instead of land at an airfield. On September 11, 2001, the United States was attacked at the World...

(This Washington Times editorial) notes in passing Chuck Schumer's claim that the New York Times story about the NSA's spying on al Qaeda phone calls to the U.S. "greatly" influenced his vote to filibuster the Patriot Act. Schumer's claim is almost surely false. Like many liberal Democrats, Schumer is an idelogically driven opponent of the president's approach to the war on terror. Can Schumer point to any pronouncement suggesting that he was inclined to permit the Patriot Act to be extended until he read the Times' piece? Perhaps, but I doubt it. Nor does the Times' story provide Schumer or...

About 40 students turned out last night for the kickoff event of Islamic Awareness Week—a structured discourse called “Islam, Hip-Hop and Black America,” featuring two speakers who discussed the relationship between modern Islam and the African-American community. The event was co-sponsored by the Harvard Islamic Society, the Harvard Foundation, the Black Students Association, the Association of Black Harvard Women, and the Black Men’s Forum. Adisa Banjoko, a provocative hip-hop journalist and author of Lyrical Swords, gave a 45-minute speech about Islamic influence on hip-hop cultures. Banjoko explained that the rise in popularity of hip-hop was a result of social pressures...

The widow of a West Virginia soldier killed in Afghanistan wants grief counseling. but is having trouble getting it from support groups for nine-eleven victims. Lisa Vance's husband, Gene, was the first West Virginian killed in Afghanistan. He was killed in May 2002 during an attack by al-Qaida and Taliban forces. The Morgantown woman says six organizations have refused her request for emotional support and counseling and blatantly told her she wasn't a victim of 9-11. Vance says she hasn't had financial difficulties after losing her husband and isn't interested in money from the September Eleventh groups. A Red Cross...

911: A DAY OF EVIL By E. L. Bynum, Pastor Tabernacle Baptist Church 1911 34th Street Lubbock, Texas 79411 (These are essentially the sermon notes I used Wednesday night, September 12, just one day after the awful tragedy that befell our nation on September 11. This is not meant to be an example of what a sermon ought to be, but it is what the Lord laid on my heart in the midst of this awful experience.) INTRODUCTION: It is ironic, perhaps it was planned that way, that yesterday's date was 911. It was truly a day of national emergency,...

FULLERTON, California - A man will serve 45 days in jail after pleading guilty to threatening a Sikh couple with a baseball bat three days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Authorities said Jason Fulkerson, 31, confronted Gurcharan Singh and his wife as they were selling ice cream from a truck near Fulkerson's southern California home on Sept. 14 "He basically approached (the couple) after 9-11 and told them to leave the neighborhood," said Deputy District Attorney Mike Fell. "When they didn't, he returned with a baseball bat." Fulkerson, who has apologized for the act, was placed on two years'...