After 23 years, we still need to remember the lessons of 9/11

Weekly Editorial   —   Posted on September 13, 2024

(by the Editors, NY Post) – It’s been 23 years since America watched in horror as the Twin Towers fell on live TV.

Nineteen al Qaeda terrorists, hailing from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon, hijacked four planes and killed 2,977 of us, shaking the nation to its core.

America was suddenly, brutally awakened to the menace of those who hate our country and what we stand for.

Heroes stood up: Todd Beamer and his seatmates on Flight 93; firefighter Stephen Siller and his Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel run; Morgan Stanley’s visionary Rick Rescorla, and so very many more … some whose names we’ll never know.

And, for all the errors of the War on Terror, the terrorists have never ended their war on us.

Yet America, or at least its leaders, risks falling back into the complacency that led to the atrocity we swore to “never forget.”

In the last 3½ years, the Biden-Harris administration has made the United States vulnerable to enemies both within and outside our borders.

In the Middle East, the White House continues to appease terror-funding Iran as it seeks regional dominance, gets ever closer to gaining nukes, bolsters our enemies and uses its proxies to attack our military, slam Red Sea shipping and assault Israel from multiple directions.

China is hacking our critical infrastructure, interfering in our elections and sending spies into our government offices.

Russia is prepping for war with NATO states while kidnapping Americans as hostages to use in prisoner trades; President Biden’s response has been to timidly slow-roll much-needed military aid to Ukraine, dragging out a war that should have been quashed quickly and with extreme prejudice.

At home, terrorism is again a growing danger, thanks to Biden-Harris’ open borders — look at the Somali who, despite being on the terror watchlist, was allowed to roam free in the US for nearly a year after the Border Patrol flubbed his initial screening, or Basel Bassel Ebbadian, an admitted Hezbollah member grabbed by the Border Patrol in March.

The Border Patrol logged 98 encounters with individuals on the terror watchlist in fiscal year 2024 and 172 in FY 2023, a jaw-dropping jump from just three in 2020.

And countless “gotaways” enter without getting stopped by the overwhelmed border watchers. How many terrorists or outright enemy agents have slipped in?

Under Biden-Harris’ leadership, our enemies have grown stronger and more audacious as we forfeit our position of power on the world stage and security at home.

On 9/11, we saw endless proof that Americans are brave, selfless and resilient.

But we also learned that there are those who would try to bring America to its knees if given the opportunity to strike.

As the bells ring Wednesday morning at 8:46, 9:03, 9:37 and 10:03, as the names are read and the bagpipes play, let us all reflect on both lessons.

Published at NY Post on Sept. 10, 2024