Free Republic

The California congressman who called the Sept. 11 attacks "simply" a plane crash ran for cover Wednesday under a barrage of ridicule from fellow Republicans, first responders and victims' families. San Diego GOP Rep. Darrell Issa was under siege for suggesting the federal government had already done enough to help New York cope with "a fire" that "simply was an aircraft" hitting the World Trade Center. "That is a pretty distorted view of things," said Frank Fraone, a Menlo Park, Calif., fire chief who led a 67-man crew at Ground Zero. "Whether they're a couple of planes or a couple...

Calm, proactive, and sympathetic, mayor shone brightly during darkest day That first tower toppled at 9:59 a.m., a billion pounds of steel and concrete and bodies raining down. Smoke billowed like thunderheads, and New York’s mayor seemed to disappear into death’s maw. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani was two blocks from the south tower, in an office on Barclay Street, trying to get the vice president on the phone, when his world went dark with smoke. Back at City Hall, Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington waited and wondered and dialed the governor. “We really didn’t know what had become of the mayor,”...

Wearing Orange For Osama by Wayne Boettcher Posted: 09/14/2007 When the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Flight 93 occurred, it was a shock to many people. Yet those who follow politics and world affairs easily understood how this had been building up. We were still shocked, but with knowledge and understanding of why this happened. In Somalia, the US mission had been changed from protecting food shipments to nation building. However, not many extra forces were sent in even though they were requested. Our elite troops far surpassed others in skill and...

A local radio station in Charleston, SC has posted an audio tribute for 9/11. Here's the direct link: http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/18227/podcast/CHARLESTON-SC/WSCC-FM/911FinalWSCC.mp3

Video that explains why 9/11 myths are wrong. It's good to review if you have a conspiracy theorist in your life. The Day America Stood Still

As of last Tuesday, I think we all need to remember... Have You Forgotten?

NEW YORK - As the city agency overseeing the removal of the World Trade Center rubble was wrapping up its work in 2002, several officials handling the painstaking recovery of human remains warned that things were moving too fast. They believed that more pieces of the 2,749 dead could be found, and that the city shouldn't be rushing such an important task. But they were overruled, two of those officials told The Associated Press this week. Over the past few days, dozens of bones have been discovered in underground passages at ground zero, more than five years after the tragedy....

NEW YORK - The city said Friday that it will search parts of the World Trade Center site again for remains of the Sept. 11 dead after several bones were pulled out of an abandoned manhole — a discovery that stirred up new fury and disbelief among victims' families. The family members demanded that construction stop at ground zero until remains of all their loved ones are recovered. They also called for state and federal investigations into the failure to completely remove remains from ground zero. ... Diane Horning said that part of her son's body was located more than...

Do you like a good 9/11 mystery? I know Infidel Sage does. All right, check this: A man named Stuart Buck blogs on his website The Buck Stops Here. It is apparently a credible site (Michael Barone, Instapundit, and Jonah Goldberg vouch for it). Two years ago, he first wrote about the mysterious case of Dr. David Graham, a dentist in Shreveport, Louisiana. Graham said that he had met three of the 9/11 highjackers a year before the attacks at a home in Shreveport. He became suspicious of them (he thought they were planning attacks on nearby Barksdale AFB) and...

An al-Qaida-linked extremist group warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that he and the West were "doomed," as protesters raged across the Muslim world to demand more of an apology from the pontiff for his remarks about Islam and violence. The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, issued a statement on a Web forum vowing to continue its holy war against the West. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified. The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross"...

Just in. I am looking at a picture of the WTC with smoke pouring out of the western tower. Looks like a huge amount of damage. Debris raining down on people in the street.

She was there when it all began, They arrived in boats from foreign lands, She was moved to behold their new-found pride, But she held her tears, she never cried. She saluted her beloved sons, As they boarded ships and manned their guns, To defend her name despite the cost, She still calls the names of the sons she lost. In war and peace she held her post, Torch in hand, steadfast, composed, Until the day horror filled her eyes, That Autumn day when Liberty cried. She squinted at every piercing scream, Each broken home, each shattered dream. The twisted...

The suicide bomb attack on Ahmed Shah Masood, the leader of the Afghan opposition, has dealt a deadly blow to world attempts to hold the Taleban in check. The “Lion of Panjshir”, feared dead by Washington and Islamabad, may yet be clinging to life; but the attackers, by reaching his stronghold, have shredded his mantle of invincibility. He has been the last of the commanders still holding out against the Islamic extremists. From his stronghold in the Panjshir Valley, where he once fought off more than a dozen Soviet offensives, he has kept alive the resistance to a regime ...

Here are some links from the FR archives in observance of the fifth anniversary of 9/11/2001 - Threads list of several breaking news items - Latest Articles The first post reporting the attacks by OldEconomyBuyer - World Trade Center Posted on the first anniversary - Associated Press newswire - September 11, 2001 - Chronology of news alerts, bulletins and flashes

Five years have passed since the tragic attacks on September 11th, 2001. On that day the dark hand of terror and war reached out and snatched away nearly three thousand of our fellow countrymen in an orgy of fire and wanton destruction. I distinctly remember sitting on the couch as I prepared to leave for work and watching the amazing images flash across the TV screen. In that moment I knew that the course of our nation had taken a dramatic turn and that our lives would be changed forever. Today I honor Michael D. D’Auria, age 25. Michael came...

As the fifth anniversary of 9-11 approaches there will be a large variety of memorial services, Freedom walks and remembrance ceremonies throughout the nation as we once again come to grips with the loss of so many of our citizens in such a dramatic way. This year the blogosphere community has united to express its sorrow and participate in the nation’s mourning as only the blogosphere can. Over three thousand bloggers have now joined the online project 2996: A Tribute to the Victims of 9-11 to give each victim of that day an individual tribute in their honor. Starting as...

This was written in memory of a man who lost his life on Flight 93. It is dedicated to all of those whose lives were lost or changed forever on September 11, 2001 We remember them all with love."We are hurting, but healing," My young son said to me. "My sweet Lori's brother, Was on Flight 93." The shock, The grief, The pain, The fear, All of these, I did hear. The great silver bird, In Pennsylvania lay, When in truth it was bound, For California that day. We know of the heroes, The "creme de la creme" Sons, brothers,...

Good to review in case you ever encounter a conspiracy nut. Conspiracies

NEW YORK - The agency created to oversee rebuilding of the World Trade Center site and downtown Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will go out of business this fall, its chairman said Tuesday. "We've completed our mission," said Kevin Rampe, who has served as president and chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. The LMDC, created by Gov. George Pataki and then- Mayor Rudolph Giuliani months after terrorists destroyed the trade center in 2001, chose plans to redesign the 16-acre site with office buildings, a memorial, a performing arts center and a transit hub. Rampe said the agency...

Excerpt - Al-Qaida has identified a would-be 20th hijacker for the Sept. 11 attacks as a Saudi operative who was killed in a 2004 shootout with his country's security forces. In a statement accompanying a new video, the terrorist network's propaganda arm identified Fawaz al-Nashimi, also known as Turki bin Fuheid al-Muteiry, as the operative who would have rounded out a team that ultimately took over United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed into a Pennsylvania field before reaching its intended target. A 54-minute video featuring al-Nashimi was obtained Tuesday by IntelCenter, a U.S. government contractor based in Virginia. U.S counterterrorism...