Have Americans Learned Anything From 9/11?

 By

Barbara J. Stock

As the fifth anniversary of the worst attack on American soil by an outside force approaches, it may be a good time to reflect on the events of last few years.  More importantly, have Americans learned anything about the enemy that attacked us?  Without knowledge and understanding of that enemy, there is no hope of defeating it. 

Have we as a nation sorted out how the attack happened in the first place?  There was the hand-picked “9/11 Commission” made up of party hacks like Richard Ben-Veniste and Jamie Gorelick, a woman who should have been testifying before the committee instead of demanding answers of others.  There were a few who genuinely wanted to get to the truth. 

The result of the committee was to point no fingers at anyone who was in power prior to the attack nor anyone of any consequence in power the day of the attack.  It was a time for people like Richard Clarke, who was angry that he didn’t get a promotion under Bush, to apologize for the entire government so that he could bask in the limelight once again and sell his book. 

The committee was blistering when it demanded to know why the planes were not shot down before they could hit the World Trade Center or the Pentagon.  What the members fail to ask themselves is this simple question:  Would there have been less loss of life if fully fueled large airliners had been shot down over one of the most populated cities in the world?   Was the vital question of the day really, “Why weren’t the planes shot down?” 

Mr. Ben-Veniste tried to be clever when he requested that then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice give only the title of the August 6, 2001 PDB. (Presidential Daily Briefing) which he knew full well was: “Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.”  Ben-Veniste tried to cut Rice off, but she would not be silenced.  While he wanted Americans to think Bush had the plans for the attack in front him and did nothing, she wanted them to know the truth that everything found in the PDB was old news.  It contained intelligence known since the mid-1990s. 

We Americans learned about the “wall” that was built between the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  We learned that under the threat of legal punishment, our two best intelligence sources were not allowed to share vital intelligence.  The person responsible for that “wall” couldn’t be questioned about it because she was Jamie Gorelick, hand picked by the Democrats to be a 9/11 committee member.

Since 9/11 we have heard about endless conspiracy theories claiming that Bush did it.  The conspiracy-theory people claim that the Towers were brought down by a controlled explosion.  But this anniversary has brought something the others have not:  numerous television specials reviewing the events of that day.  Interviews are heard with people who were there that day.  Telephone calls have been played and every once in a while, and a sliver of information shines through that is often overlooked.   

One such special on the Discovery Channel, called “Inside the Twin Towers,” had one piece of vital information that was new to me.   Frank de Martini, a construction manager, was hired after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing to oversee the repairs.  His wife was a structural engineer who also worked in the towers.   Mr. de Martini was rescuing trapped people when he began to worry about the structural soundness of the building.  He reported that he wanted a structural engineer sent in because he could see the steel weakening and his fear was that the building might collapse.  

To my knowledge, this is the first time someone inside the building was witness to the straining of the building to remain upright who had the knowledge to interpret what he was seeing.  His concern growing, Mr. de Martini made a second call asking if the engineer was coming.  The engineer never materialized, but his messages were received and recorded.  Frank de Martini died trying to save lives when the building collapsed.  In an interview with his widow, she stated, “Frank knew every inch of those buildings.” 

With this known, the belief that it was impossible for the heat generated by the burning fuel and debris to weaken the steel is thrown in the trash heap where it belongs.  Mr. de Martini, who had done an interview claiming he felt the building could withstand several strikes from jet planes, realized on the day of his death, that he was wrong.  Just because a skyscraper had never collapsed before doesn’t mean it could never happen. 

Since the war against Islamofascists began, the Taliban in Afghanistan are proving to be quite resilient.  Hiding and recruiting in the tribal areas of Pakistan, the Taliban is able to cross back and forth terrorizing the people of Afghanistan. Afghanistan will take considerable time to leave the dark ages.  It is an ideal place for Islamics who wish to live in the hay-day of their past glory.   

Then there is Osama bin Laden.  He is still at large and more than likely trying frantically to regain the headlines from his brethren, the Hezbollah, the new Islamic darlings and heroes in Lebanon.  Several al Qaeda attacks have been thwarted and bin Laden’s frustration level must be rather high at this point.  He simply isn’t as important as he once was and this could make him careless. 

What the American leftists fail to realize is that in death, bin Laden could be a more dangerous adversary then alive.  He would be a martyr and famous again instead of a bumbling has-been whose followers keep getting caught.  Would it be wonderful to see the leader of al Qaeda lowered into his grave?  Of course it would, but would that serve the war cause or just our revenge?  At this point in time, do we really need to make a larger-than-life martyr out of a common man who is forced to hide like an animal?   

We have learned that many on the left oppose any and all efforts to defeat our enemy for political reasons.  The leftists would prefer to “have a dialog” with Islamofascists and yet they deny any comparisons between the times leading up to World War II and the present.  Some even refuse to believe that terrorists are a threat at all. 

Americans have witnessed the Democratic Party verbally lynch a good man who just six years ago was being touted as their vice-presidential candidate.  Simply because Senator Lieberman understands the importance of winning in Iraq and his party does not, he was not only abandoned but scorned.   

What we have learned in the past five years is that we are country divided.  We are left and right, Democrat and Republican, liberal and conservative.  There are those that understand the threat this country faces and those that do not.  Perhaps not since the Civil War has the country been so divided and our future so dependent on which side wins.