The Observer, April 28, 2006
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 26
The Right Stuff: United 93 Captures American Spirit
This morning marks four years, seven months and seventeen days since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It certainly doesn't feel like almost five years; the events of the day are still fresh in my mind.
I stood at my locker, between 2 and 3 periods, on the morning of September 11, 2001. My buddy Geoff, whose locker was next to mine, ran up the stairs. He had study hall the first two periods of the day, and as a senior didn't have to come in until 3 period. "A plane just flew into the World Trade Center. I just heard it on the radio" "What?" I asked. "You heard me." We ran into a nearby computer lab, and sure enough, it was all over the Drudge Report.
I sprinted to my third period Spanish class and told Senora Miller to turn on the television. Within a few minutes our class saw the second plane hit. For the rest of the day I sat horrified with the rest of my classmates and watched the television coverage. So many images of the day are indelibly burnt into my mind's eye. However, for some reason I remember far more about the three planes that hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon than the fourth plane, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania.
Tonight United 93 premieres in theaters around the country. I have heard countless people stating that it's "too soon." Too soon? This story has waited far too long to be told. As Deroy Murdock noted in a recent column, this story is going to be told at the perfect time. As our nation's resolve in the "War on Terror" weakens, we need a little refresher course in the psychosis of our enemy, and the courage of our fellow Americans. The film is no Pearl Harbor– it depicts the real events and stories of the flight.
As we Americans have been lulled back into our comfortable lives, our enemy is hard at work. Over the last few years they have bombed nightclubs in Bali, trains in Madrid, the London Underground, and various targets throughout the Middle East. Perhaps the sight of Islamo-fascists proudly attempting to kill thousands of innocent Americans will remind us what type of enemy we face. Fortunately we have tens of thousands of brave men and women who have voluntarily put themselves in harm's way to keep the rest of us safe.
Much of the Washington political establishment and the mainstream media have long given up on the President's foreign policy. Hopefully the recent shakeups in the administration, most notably new Chief of Staff Josh Bolton and a new Press Secretary, will do a better job of conveying our successes in the War against Islamo-fascism. Four and a half years later, American soil remains clean of innocent blood, but with Iranian President Ahmadinejad close to nuclear weapons and other problems around the Middle East, it is not the time to rest. Fortunately the president, his Secretary of Defense, and the entire United States military will never rest until the enemy has been defeated.
Please go see the film tonight. The passengers on Flight 93 typified selfless courage. We should have all learned their lesson four years ago, but many of us did not. Hopefully United 93 will let us learn that lesson today, better late than never.
