Tag Archives: 9/11 Attacks

It’s Been 25 Years

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On September 11, 2001, America changed. It was a moment as illusion-shattering as the assassination of President Kennedy or the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed by Islamic terrorists. That was one of the first acknowledged Islamic terrorist attacks in America. It was quickly moved off of the front page of the newspaper, and most of us forgot about it.

But there were some people who didn’t forget and understood the significance of that attack and what it meant for the future. One of those people was Rick Rescorla. Rick Rescorla was the head of security for Morgan Stanley. According to AI, Morgan Stanley was located on the 72nd floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Rick Rescorla was not always the most loved person in the company—he routinely required evacuation drills where the entire company had to climb down those 72 floors of stairs. He had the stairwells painted in light colors (one of the problems in the evacuation in the first World Trade Center bombing was dark stairwells). He appointed people to make sure that everyone in their department was accounted for and designated meeting places outside of the building. When the Tower was hit on September 11th, Morgan Stanley’s employees got out. Rick Rescorla went back into the building with two employees to help with the rescue and was killed when the buildings collapsed.

There was another man who understood that another attack on the World Trade Center was coming. His name was John O’Neill. In February 1995, he was appointed chief of the FBI’s counter-terrorism section. He was eventually driven out of the FBI because his focus on Bin-Laden and his focus on the fact that a second attack on the World Trade Center was coming. On August 22, 2001, he resigned from the FBI. On August 23, 2001, he started work as the Security Director for the World Trade Center. He was also killed when the buildings collapsed.

Sometimes we forgot the impact of what happened on September 11. We forget about the parking lots in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts where people never showed up to drive their cars home from work or travel. We forget the school children in New York City who were kept in school until the school made sure that at least one parent was alive. We have heard the stories of missed appointments that resulted in saved lives.

On September 5th at 6 am and September 6th at 11 am and 8 pm, the Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association will broadcast Wake Up Call on WTKF 107.1. The show will be available at cctaxpayers.com after the 6am broadcast. The show will feature the compelling story of someone who worked in the South Tower with Rick Rescorla and was in the building when the airplane hit. She has some very interesting observations about that day. One observation is that when she went to get her hot, buttered roll at the kiosk in front of the World Trade Center, the kiosks were not there that day. My daughter, who lived in the area at the time, tells me that there were no taxicabs on the street that day. That just may be an incredible coincidence, but somehow, I think the Arab community was told to stay home, that something was up.

Please tune in to the show this weekend to hear the story from someone who was there. The show will also be posted at cctaxpayers.com.

Twenty-four Years Ago

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This is the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attack on America by Islamists. Note that I said Islamists—not Muslims. Islamists have the goal of a world ruled by Sharia Law. Muslims simply practice their faith and want to be left alone.

Two of the heroes of 9/11 were Rick Rescorla and John O’Neill. Rick Rescorla was a British army officer who was the head of security for Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Center. He understood the Islamist mind and knew there would be a second attack on the World Trade Center. He routinely held evacuation drills for the employees of Morgan Stanly and had appointed fire chiefs for each department. John O’Neill was an FBI counter-terrorism expert who left the FBI in 2001 due to friction within the bureau. His focus on Osama Bin Laden and predictions of a second attack on the World Trade Center were not appreciated. He became head of security at the World Trade Center in late August 2001. Neither man survived the attack. Rick Rescorla went back into the tower to save people and John O’Neill’s remains were found on Liberty Street.

Recently the Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association (CCTA) did a radio show featuring someone who was in the second tower when the plane hit. You can go to cctaxpayers.com to hear that radio show. Patty Monachino’s story is a compelling reminder of the events of that day.

This is a picture of the Teardrop Memorial, Russia’s gift to the United States in memory of 911. The monument To the Struggle Against World Terrorism was dedicated on September 11, 2006, by President Clinton. It is located in Bayonne, New Jersey, at a place where the twin towers were visible. To read the entire story of the monument and how it came to rest there, this is the link to the story 911monument.com. The website tells the story of what inspired the monument and how it came to be.

The Role Of Iran In 9/11

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Yesterday The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about the role of Iran in the September 11 terror attack on America.

The article reports:

Iranian officials, in a first, have admitted to facilitating the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. by secretly aiding the free travel of al Qaeda operatives who eventually went on to fly commercial airliners into the Twin Towers in New York City, according to new remarks from a senior Iranian official.

Mohammad-Javad Larijani, an international affairs assistant in the Iran’s judiciary, disclosed in Farsi-language remarks broadcast on Iran’s state-controlled television that Iranian intelligence officials secretly helped provide the al Qaeda attackers with passage and gave them refuge in the Islamic Republic, according to an English translation published by Al Arabiya.

“Our government agreed not to stamp the passports of some of them because they were on transit flights for two hours, and they were resuming their flights without having their passports stamped. However their movements were under the complete supervision of the Iranian intelligence,” Larijani was quoted as saying.

The remarks represent the first time senior Iranian officials have publicly admitted to aiding al Qaeda and playing a direct role in facilitating the 9/11 attacks.

This is really not a surprise–Iran and Saudi Arabia have often been cited as the two major financiers of terrorism. It is truly unfortunate that as part of the Iran nuclear deal, America paid Iran $400 million in cash which has been used to further the cause of terrorism around the world. The argument can be made that the money was simply Iran’s frozen assets in America (with interest), but the fact remains that the money has been and will be used to fund terrorism and weapons to be used against American soldiers.

Our Relationship With Saudi Arabia Is Getting Complicated

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There is a price America pays for not being energy independent. It impacts the cost of living in America, but it also has a very negative impact on our freedom to make decisions about who are friends are around the world. Saudi Arabia is an example of one friend who has done some questionable things. The good thing that the Saudis have been responsible for is making sure oil is traded in American dollars. That is one of a few reasons America has not gone bankrupt. However, the Saudis are also a major player in the Wahabi sect of Islam. This is the sect that was responsible for 9/11 and is a major fund source for mosques and schools in America. There was a recent dust-up in Newton, Massachusetts, about a Saudi-funded social studies program that was teaching things about the Middle East that simply are not true. There are also a lot of questions about what is being taught in Saudi-funded mosques in America.

There are a few recent events that illustrate how complex America’s relationship with the Saudis is. The first event has to do with the families of the victims of 9/11 who want to sue Saudi Arabia as the source of the attack.

The U.K. Daily Mail reports the following:

Officials in Saudi Arabia have reportedly told the Obama administration they will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars of American assets if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible for any role in the September 11 attacks.

The warning was delivered by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir last month during a visit to Washington, the New York Times reported.

The minister said his country would sell up to $750 billion in US treasury securities and other assets before the bill puts them in jeopardy. 

These people play hard ball.

The article cites a New York Times article that states:

The administration has tried to stop Congress from passing the legislation, a bipartisan Senate bill.

Al-Juberi purportedly informed the lawmakers during a trip to Washington that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell a huge chunk of American financial assets on the world market, fearing the legislation could become law and U.S. courts would then freeze the assets.

The Times said Riyadh’s resolve to actually deliver on the threat is dubious, since selling off those assets would be technically challenging and would damage the dollar, against which the Saudi national currency is pegged. 

Under the current US law, foreign nations have a degree of immunity from being sued in American courts.

I don’t agree with The New York Times. I think this move by the Saudis would sink the American economy.

Also keep in mind that there are 28 pages of the 9/11 Congressional investigation that are still secret. Popular wisdom states that those pages have to do with the role of Saudi Arabia in 9/11. It will be interesting to see if those pages get released. President Obama has said that he will release them sometime in the next sixty days.

Meanwhile, President Obama has released nine Guantanamo prisoners to Saudi Arabia.

The Hill posted an article yesterday about the release. The article included the following statement by the Pentagon:

“The United States is grateful to the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility,” the Pentagon statement said. “The United States coordinated with government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to ensure these transfers took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures.”

I could fertilize my garden with the above statement. First of all, the Saudi government is not known for its humane treatment of prisoners. Second of all, if Saudi Arabia is interested in closing down Guantanamo, they are interested because they want their terrorists back. This is ridiculous, and it is a shame that the Pentagon has been politicized under President Obama to the point where they would make that statement.

The main job of  a government is to keep its people safe. It seems as if that is the only job the Obama Administration is not interested in doing.