Post-Gazette Editorial – 9/11/06

This page was last updated on September 11, 2006.

9/11, plus five / A sad date made sadder by what followed; Editorial; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; September 11, 2006.

In the footsteps of The New York Times and The Boston Globe, the PG manages to write a 9/11 editorial portraying the U.S. as the bad guys.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“On a beautiful clear morning five years ago today, America suddenly found itself in one of its darkest days, attacked by evil men who profaned God with their murderous deeds. In just a few hours, the nation’s sense of security lay in the ruins of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and in a scarred field in Somerset County.

“The nation had another date that would live in infamy. Although some 3,000 innocents died that day, the goodness and strength of the American people gathered up in resistance.

“New York City’s finest, police and firefighters both, charged into the burning World Trade Center towers without a care for their own safety, and many paid the ultimate price. The hijacked passengers on United Flight 93 heroically fought back and in their deaths denied the terrorists another target.

“This boisterous and divided country solemnly united as perhaps never before. President Bush went to the smoking rubble in New York City and made a rousing speech. Young men and women enlisted to serve their country. Ordinary citizens donated blood and gave money to help the victims.

“United we stood. And we were not alone, despite the instinct to think that the world is always against us. To be sure, the usual pockets of hatred rejoiced in this atrocity, but millions around the world prayed and sent money and good wishes. They knew that America the Good had been attacked and that was a tragedy for all.”

[RWC] Were some in the world truly saddened by the attack? Sure. The idea that the vast majority of the world backed us is hogwash, however. In addition to remembering victims jumping to their deaths from the WTC towers to avoid death by fire, I also remember pictures of cheering crowds in the Middle East.

“To remember all this today is to make a sad day sadder. Five years on, we are still good in our hearts, but our actions often betray us. The unity and good will have drained away.

“The home of the brave has become the home of people and politicians motivated by fear. In blind and unreasoning fury, we lashed out to attack Iraq, which was always a diversion in the war on terror and sold to the American people on the basis of untruths.”

[RWC] You’ll note the editorial author didn’t cite the alleged “untruths.”

“In the meantime Afghanistan, where the plot was hatched, has become ever more hospitable to our enemies. We, who preach human rights to others, think nothing of torture and secret prisons. Those who oppose such folly are branded appeasers and worse. In our toughness, we have banished the better angels of our nature. And so divided we stand.”

[RWC] Yeah, Afghanistan is so “hospitable to our enemies” that those enemies are being killed in big chunks.

“We … think nothing of torture and secret prisons?” I honestly don’t know how to respond to garbage like this. What is wrong with secret prisons for captured terrorists?

“We have banished the better angels of our nature?” Again, I don’t know how to respond.

Regarding “appeasers,” a pundit recently noted comparing today’s gang to the appeasers of the 1930s appeasers is unfair because eventually the 1930s appeasers saw they were wrong.

“Yet, by the government’s own admission, the terrorists still spin their plots, although they are said to be weaker. The Middle East is inflamed. Our reputation in the world has sunk to that of an imperious bully insensitive to its allies and hostile to reason.”

[RWC] “The terrorists still spin their plots?” No kidding. If anyone knows how to eliminate Islamofascism, terrorism, et cetera, please let me know.

“The Middle East is inflamed?” The last time the Middle East wasn’t inflamed, Adam and Eve were roaming naked around the Garden of Eden.

Regarding “our reputation in the world,” this is how U.S. Democrats/liberals view our country. When a chunk of America – including the mainstream media – blames America first, why should we expect different from the rest of the world?

“It does not have to be like this. Inspired by this remembrance, Americans need to demand accountability of their leaders, Republicans and Democrats both. There is a sadness today for the living and the dead, for what we were and what we have become.”

[RWC] I wonder what the members of the PG editorial board see when they look in a mirror.