'United' America that followed 9/11 deeply needed now
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in 2001 bonded Americans together, albeit temporarily. Years later, it's a nation deeply divided on many fronts – including the ongoing war on terrorism. Why?
Seventeen years ago today, America changed forever. September 11, 2001 – the fateful day when commercial airliners carrying passengers slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field – was also a Tuesday. Nearly 3,000 people were killed and more than 6,000 others injured. The attacks using hijacked aircraft were the deadliest terrorist act in world history, and the most devastating foreign attack on U.S. soil since the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Terrorism expert and author Brigitte Gabriel is founder and president of ACT for America . She recalls how the terrible events of that day bonded Americans together – for a while, at least.
Gabriel"On that fateful in 2001, America came together as one united people," she tells OneNewsNow. "We were not Republicans, we were not Democrats, we were not libertarians – we were Americans who came together for the love of our country, bonded together with our patriotism."
But the national unity didn't last. Fast forward to September 11, 2018 – and Gabriel argues that America's very values as a Judeo-Christian nation now are under attack:
"The flag that once flew on every street corner is now considered a hate symbol on college campuses. Athletes who used to break out in tears of pride during the national anthem are now kneeling in protest. Patriotism is seen as hateful. Freedom of speech is being eliminated by the tyranny of tolerance. And police are being targeted by criminals while the mainstream media victimizes their killers."
MaginnisPentagon analyst Robert Maginnis, who was at his post that day, acknowledges the U.S. has won a string of battles against Islamic terrorism but notes that the struggle is far from over.
"The terrorists are strong today. They're well-embedded across the world. Al Qaida is stronger than it was on 9/11," Maginnis points out. "So this is something that's going to take, at best, decades to clean up, if ever." Along the way, says Maginnis, Americans have given up some significant civil liberties.
Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary , contends that current events are still playing out along a timeline that began on that Tuesday.
"I think that's one of the reasons that Donald Trump was elected president," Land tells OneNewsNow. "I think that the people did not feel that the Obama administration was taking this idea of the safety of the country seriously."
Zzzzzzz ... everything's fine
Was the Obama administration itself not taking the terror threat seriously – or was it merely reflecting a general apathy among Americans toward that threat? The leader of a Messianic Jewish ministry suggests Americans have a great ability to "go back to sleep," no matter the crisis.
"Human nature is to believe that's everything's fine, that life is going to go on forever just fine," says Jan Markell, founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries . "The radical Islamic world is intent on us not moving on and enjoying life to the fullest. And Americans need to wake up and realize that the battle is not over – but I don't think they realize that."
And Markell says today's "civilization jihad" is more about the ballot box than flying planes into buildings.
"They do have some candidates [running for public office]," she notes. "Minnesota has Keith Ellison running for attorney general [and] a Muslim running for 5th District House of Representatives [the seat vacated by Ellison]. And there are others: Mr. Carson in Indiana, various positions within Michigan – Detroit, heavily. So I just think Americans need to put their sensors up, whether its civilization jihad or whether it's airplanes flying into buildings."
President Donald Trump joined an observance today near a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania – the site where one hijacked airliner crashed on 9/11. And Vice President Mike Pence attended a ceremony at the Pentagon, which was targeted by another airliner.
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I heard the idiot Trump went up to a rope line at the Pennsylvania 9-11 memorial event and starting glad handing like he was at a campaign rally. What a worthless pos.
And how many scum sucking teavangelicals hold office? That's the very real radical religious threat to America.
You're right, HA, the left and right need to unite as Americans. Perhaps you can lead the way here at NT?
" September 11, 2001 – the fateful day when commercial airliners carrying passengers slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field – was also a Tuesday. Nearly 3,000 people were killed and more than 6,000 others injured. The attacks using hijacked aircraft were the deadliest terrorist act in world history, and the most devastating foreign attack on U.S. soil since the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941."
"On that fateful in 2001, America came together as one united people," Brigitte Gabriel tells OneNewsNow. "We were not Republicans, we were not Democrats, we were not libertarians – we were Americans who came together for the love of our country, bonded together with our patriotism."
"September 2015 - The FBI contacts the Democratic National Committee's help desk, cautioning the IT department that at least one computer has been compromised by Russian hackers . A technician scans the system and does not find anything suspicious.
November 2015 - The FBI reaches out to the DNC again, warning them that one of their computers is transmitting information back to Russia. DNC management later says that IT technicians failed to pass along the message that the system had been breached.
March 19, 2016 - Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta receives a phishing email masked as an alert from Google that another user had tried to access his account. It contains a link to a page where Podesta can change his password. He shares the email with a staffer from the campaign's help desk. The staffer replies with a typo - instead of typing "This is an illegitimate email," the staffer types "This is a legitimate email." Podesta follows the instructions and types a new password, allowing hackers to access his emails.
June 12, 2016 - During an interview on British television, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says that the website has obtained and will publish a batch of Clinton emails.
June 14, 2016 - The Washington Post reports hackers working for the Russian government accessed the DNC's computer system, stealing oppositional research on Donald Trump and viewing staffers' emails and chat exchanges .
June 15, 2016 - A cybersecurity firm hired by the DNC posts a public notice on its website describing an attack on the political committee's computer network by two groups associated with Russian intelligence. According to the post, two Russian-backed groups called "Cozy Bear" and "Fancy Bear" tunneled into the committee's computer system .
July 22, 2016 - Days before the Democratic National Convention, WikiLeaks publishes nearly 20,000 emails hacked from the DNC server. The documents include notes in which DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz insults staffers from the Bernie Sanders campaign and messages that suggest the organization was favoring Clinton rather than remaining neutral. Wasserman Schultz resigns in the aftermath of the leak.
July 25, 2016 - The FBI announces it has launched an investigation into the DNC hack. Although the statement doesn't indicate that the agency has a particular suspect or suspects in mind, US officials tell CNN they think the cyberattack is linked to Russia.
July 27, 2016 - During a press conference, Trump talks about Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state and calls on hackers to find deleted emails. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," says Trump. Newt Gingrich, a Trump surrogate, defends Trump in a Tweet, dismissing the comment as a "joke."
" In 2016, our country was targeted by an attack that had different operational objectives and a different overarching strategy, but its aim was every bit as much to devastate the American homeland as Pearl Harbor or 9/11."
And during that fateful campaign in 2016, America did not come together as one united people. We were Republicans, we were Democrats, we were libertarians – but mostly Republicans who refused to come together for the love of our country, refused to bond together with our patriotism, some even refusing to accept that we were even attacked at all.
Some Americans chose to view the aid of a foreign enemy like a bank robber accidentally dropping a bag full of cash in their backyard during his escape, they just scooped up the bag of cash and rationalized "Well, I didn't rob the bank, so I didn't do anything wrong...". Sure the Russians illegally hacked a political party and 22 States voter databases, gathered data on voters and targeted American citizens with propaganda using numerous social media platforms spending $1.25 million a month during the campaign to manipulate voters using phony ads and fake news that was readily gobbled up by the misinformed and poorly educated, all to get Putin's preferred candidate elected, but Republicans got what they wanted and they didn't do the stealing or illegal hacking so all is forgiven, right?