Thursday, September 9, 2010

They Destroyed My Towers!


By Alan Caruba

Whenever I drove into New York via the Lincoln Tunnel, I would join the other cars on the long, graceful curve leading to its entrance and, looking to my left, I could see across the Hudson River. At the tip of Manhattan, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center stood as symbols of our economic power.

On occasion, I had dined in Windows on the World, a restaurant located on the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower and marveled at the panorama of New Jersey on one side, the outer boroughs on the other, and the dazzling view of Manhattan.

Whenever I think about September 11, 2001, I have only one emotion and that is a deep, unrelenting anger that a group of murderous, suicidal Islamists destroyed “my towers.”

They killed some 3,000 people when you factor in the attack on the Pentagon along with the passengers of the four commercial airliners used to perpetrate the destruction.

It is a wonder to me that Americans then and since exercised such restraint, such tolerance that the nation’s small population of Muslims not only did not suffer attacks, but today continue to build mosques for worship.

The effort to build one so close to Ground Zero demonstrates how obtuse and out of touch the political leadership is with mainstream Americans. The odious behavior of New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg is beyond comprehension. The President tipped his hand at a White House dinner held to celebrate Ramadan, backing away slightly the following day enough to deflect criticism.

Those proposing the Ground Zero mosque demonstrate the arrogance and contempt for Americans and for all “unbelievers” that lies at the core of Islam, but American leaders of varying religions have fallen over one another to excuse this exercise in triumphalism.

The Crusades from 1095 to 1291 were an effort to recapture the Judeo-Christian holy land from Muslim conquest. Having invaded Spain in 711, Muslims would rule for seven centuries until driven out of their last stronghold, Grenada, in 1492. In 1683, Muslims were decisively defeated near Vienna. How different Europe would have otherwise been.

Islam is a religion of the sword despite its widespread acceptance. Its barbarity is on display on a daily basis whether killing Christian missionaries in Afghanistan or Israeli civilians, a pregnant mother, her husband and their two children a week ago.

A sane society would have cleared away the rubble of 9/11 and rebuilt the Twin Towers, but Ground Zero, in terms of new structures nine years after the attack, remains barely begun

Al Qaeda and all those who subscribe to its intent to destroy the West, the civilization developed in the West, and the freedoms championed by the West, remain to be defeated, while they continue to threaten India and even Europe once again.

The further we get from 9/11, the dimmer the embers of anger become for those with short memories or no grasp of history.

The irony is that 9/11 reflects the long memories of many Islamists whose religion demands that all lands formerly conquered in the name of Islam be regained and that all people who follow a faith other than Islam be reduced to dhimmi, second-class citizens ruled by Muslims.

The World Trade Center belonged to the world. They were my towers and your towers. They represented a world bound together in trade, a world that set a value on all manner of goods and commodities, a world in which jobs and wealth were being created.

The World Trade Center represented a rational world.

Today, nine years later, the dispatches from the Middle East, from Afghanistan, the Palestinian enclaves, from Pakistan, from Yemen, and from an Iran bent on acquiring nuclear weapons, are filled with news of an irrational, dysfunctional society; an Islamist rat’s nest, still seeking to destroy Israel, and still testing our borders and defenses in order to destroy America.

It is a good day to get angry once more, to resolve that we and the West shall not be defeated.

© Alan Caruba, 2010

13 comments:

joetote said...

Alan,

Absolutely stunning and heartfelt. In many of my tirades, I try to put to words how deeply I feel about things. I can honestly say I can see into your soul as to your feelings. They were our towers and belonged to the world! I will be once again reposting this on my blog. I thank you sincerely for laying it all out there for everyone!

Joe

Alan Caruba said...

Thank you, Joe.

Hollowpoint1938 said...

Alan:
A fine article.

Doesn't Islam give us two more options beyond Dhimmitude?
1. Conversion
2. Death

Alan Caruba said...

Them's the choices, Hollowpoint. Little wonder Israelis go armed all the time.

TexasFred said...

Alan, I am going in for surgery in the morning, I have a Twin Towers post set to post on 9-11 at 7AM my time...

This is a wonderful post you've made here... If I was able to do so, I would post this on my blog now, but I am about to try and turn in... Take care my friend, I WILL be back...

Alan Caruba said...

Fred: I KNOW you will be back. A little surgery will not keep you down for long. Looking forward to your return.

Ronbo said...

Alan:

Many of us feel the same way you do about the destroyed WTC Towers - They were awesome and a monument to American capitalism.

In regards to the author of 9/11, the so-called Religion of Peace, in my opinion this Third Major Jihad against the West is still in its opening stage, but already we see the growing anger of the American People against Islam expressed in the burnings of the KORANs scheduled for tomorrow all across the USA.

The American People understand who the enemy is and what must be done to defeat him, and I venture to guess that this November a new Tea Party class of politician will come to office who will do away with appeasement to Islam and clear the desks for action.

Yes, I do mean TOTAL WAR!

Rachel Pohli said...

A wonderful article, Alan, and I agree with every single word! I will definitely be sharing this one as well, of course in honor of tomorrow's anniversary. May God bless you as you continue your good work.

Rich Kozlovich said...

Alan,

It is interesting how the world views us. Today I did a bed bug job in one of the apartments in a building I have under contract whose tenets was a foreign girl working on her Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve.

She just couldn't wait to tell me how much she like Americans because they are so friendly and are always smiling. I told to remember that not everyone is that way, but she went on to say that the thing that she liked most about Americans is that we believe that there isn’t anything we can’t do. It was clear that she found that invigorating. Her home country isn’t noted for bottom up thinking.

I went on to explain why this is so. America is the only country in all of world history that started from the bottom up. We don’t like being told what to do by a small group of ruling elite, and as a result we have a strong sense of individualism that is unique to all the world.

This whole thing about the mosque is a perfect example of just how extraordinary we are. No other country in the world would tolerate this. And no Muslim dominated country would stand by and allow this to happen without riots, murder and mayhem.

Rich

Alan Caruba said...

True, Rich. America is a nation based on an idea and created by its people, not a monarch or oligarchy. We have to hold on to that and I think the Tea Party movement reflects it.

Nobile di Treviso said...

God Bless you. Moving article.
We will never forget.

doc said...

Thank you!!!! Well said.

Putting up a link on my blog so hopefully more will see

Unknown said...

Not just a brilliant article but magnificent.

Granada by the way.

It took the poor Spaniards 700 years of war and steadfastness to kick them out.