6 observations about 9/11

See Also

Iraq

It’s been 6 years since the horrible events of that day. To commemorate, here are 6 small observations about that date:

• 6 years ago: “We Will Never Forget.” Today: “Time to Move on”. It seems there’s an expiration date on national grief.
• 6 terms most Americans didn’t know 6 years ago:
  • Osama Bin Laden
  • Al Qaeda
  • Patriot Act
  • Department of Homeland Security
  • Guantanamo Bay detention center
  • NSA Wiretap
• For the last 5 years, the Empire State Building’s lights were turned off in memory of those who died on 9/11. The lighting schedule for tonight says that it will be different this year: the colors will be “red, white, and blue”.
• 9/11 Memorials are not dominating this morning’s headline in the New York Times but the events of that day and their repercussions still are:
  • Of the 17 headline on the front page, one is about today’s ceremony’s, one is about Pakistan (a country few cared about before 9/11), 5 are about Iraq (a war that was launched based on the erroneous claim of a link to 9/11), one is about surveillance laws (part of the extended powers given to law enforcement after 9/11 but still contentious), and one is about Giuliani (who built his national reputation (and presidential bid) on the fact that he was mayor on 9/11). That’s 9 headlines out of 17 and more than two thirds of the front page.
• 6 years later, only one tower (World Trade Center 7) has been built at ground zero. It took 3 years (1929-1931) to build the Empire State Building and 3 years (1928-1930) to build the Chrysler Building.
• There was a building on 28th street between Park and Madison avenue where someone had created a mini-memorial by having the following words engraved on the window in neat 28 point sans-serif type: “9/11/01 – We will never forget”. The building was recently converted to luxury condos; the window is gone.

In Memoriam: Carlos Dominguez, Mark Ellis, Melissa Vincent, Michael DiPasquale, Cynthia Giugliano, Jeremy Glick, David Halderman, Steve Weinberg, Gerard Jean Baptiste, Tom McCann, David Vera.

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