On a clear fall day, witnessing a new kind of terror
People remember where they were when al-Qaeda terrorists brought their war to the U.S. 20 years ago today, killing 3,000 Americans.
That was when terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon, and a fourth was taken down by heroic passengers over Pennsylvania.
It was the biggest and most deadly attack on the U.S, since the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that prompted America to enter WWII. We won that war in 1945. Would that we had the same leadership in Washington today as we had back then.
Had Joe Biden been president in 1941 he would have declared Pearl Harbor a U.S. victory, as he did his humiliating evacuation of Kabul, abandoning hundreds of Americans and thousands of Afghan allies.
We went to Afghanistan 20 years ago to overthrow the Taliban and eliminate alQaeda and prevent another 9/11. By and large we succeeded.
Now, thanks to Biden, we are worse than when we started. The Taliban and alQaeda are back, along with other terror groups, bigger, stronger and better armed.
Biden originally planned to announce the end of the longest war on 9/11/21, until he realized how inappropriate that would be, so he changed it to the arbitrary date of Aug. 31.
And we have seen the horrific results of that mindless decision. Biden has shown the world that his doctrine is not only to lead from behind, but to lead from far, far behind
Like millions of Americans, I can vividly recall where I was on that tragic morning 20 years ago.
I was with former Gov. Mike Dukakis that morning, meeting with him at Northeastern University where he taught following his 1988 presidential defeat by George H.W. Bush, whose son George Bush was president in 2001.
I had known and covered Dukakis for years, beginning when he was a state representative from Brookline, and running through his three terms as governor as well as his campaign for president.
I was there to pick up the introduction he was kind enough to write for my book “Rumpalla, Rummaging Through Albania,” which documents the last days of communist rule in the country and the awakening of a democracy.
We sat in his office, which was next to a teacher’s lounge, and chatted about the introduction. I promised him a signed copy of the book upon its publication.
It was about 8.30 a.m. on a clear fall day. What we did not know was that two Boeing 767 jets, shortly to be hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists, had just taken off from Logan Airport headed for Los Angeles one with 92 passengers and the other with 65.
Fifteen minutes later one of the professors burst in to tell us that a plane had just crashed into the North Tower of World Trade Center. It was on television.
We rushed into the lounge. We watched in horror as the second plane crashed into the South Tower.
It was an attack. We were stunned. But there was more bad news as the third hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon and the fourth, thanks to brave passengers, was forced to crash in a field in Pennsylvania.
“Is this war?” a shaken professor asked. Yes, it was. The images were horrifying. Suddenly my book and Dukakis’ introduction did not mean much anymore
“It sure looks like it,” Dukakis said, “a low tech war, and we were caught unprepared. Those poor people. All our Star War technology would not have prevented this attack either. Basic security would have. That’s what we need.”
Unfortunately, all these years later, we still do.
Those poor people. Cover lightly, gentle earth.