Robert and the rest of the JW crew,

Please, keep on keeping on.
(Apologies to R. Crumb)
By the looks of your site counter, there are more people being awakened to the Jihadist threats we face than ever before.

Thank you all!

ABS

لن استسلم

Posted by: Drewbenstein at September 10, 2008 8:05 AM

Tonight, I'm going bowling. I wonder how my average will be affected if I start seeing Osama bin Laden in the left pocket and Ahmadinejad in the right pocket.

Tomorrow, Obama and McCain will be in New York. They'll be accused of "using 9/11 for political purposes".
So what? They're politicians.
Would the people who make this charge be happier if New York were simply ignored on 9/11?

Posted by: PMK at September 10, 2008 8:13 AM

You said it Robert. Very well put.

All you have to keep doing is to tell the truth, which you do everyday.

More and more people are realising the nature of what non-Muslims face, especially due to the efforts of people like yourself. It's working.

May we continue to grow in leaps and bounds and may we defeat the jihadists, wherever we find them.

Posted by: S Perry at September 10, 2008 8:43 AM

9/11 - Always remember, never forget.

Posted by: tanstaafl at September 10, 2008 8:47 AM

The barbarians we face are still there. They haven't changed our mind but we have. We have gone back into our collective dreamland.

There is no doubt that they will attack again but our people have gone to sleep. The only question about the attack is when, where, and how.

Posted by: Spot on at September 10, 2008 8:57 AM

Sorry, typo..."changed our" should be "changed their".

Posted by: Spot on at September 10, 2008 8:59 AM

It's human nature to want to put troubles behind us. But it's still 9/11, 2001.

The people who hated America then, hate it even more, now. The boasting has gotten bigger, the screamed threats have gotten louder, the actions have gotten bloodier (and more animalistic), and the incidents of terrorism, if they haven't increased (I believe they have), certainly haven't diminished.

9/10, 2001 was then. The 9/11 attacks drew a deep, scorching line between then and now.

People want to move on, and that's fine--except that they want to do it, blindfolded. The way they want to do what they want to do, is akin to crossing a busy street, blocks away from a crosswalk, with their eyes glued shut, while wearing industrial earplugs. Danger is on every side, but they don't want to know it.

They want blindness and deafness, thinking that if they ignore Ahmadinejad, bin Laden, Zawarhi, Hamza, and the rest of them, that they'll magically go away.

"Magical thinking"--isn't that one of the DSMIV's symptoms of several psychoses?

Posted by: Abscedere at September 10, 2008 9:06 AM

People: American Muslim profiled at Israeli airport. What do you think about it?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/israel_airport_dance

Posted by: darcy at September 10, 2008 9:15 AM

I look back at September 10 of that year with the kind of dread one feels watching a historical movie, knowing what's about to happen but unable to warn the characters. Just as I'm glad there was only one Sept. 11, 2001, I'm glad there was only one September 10, 2001 to be shattered by Sept. 11.

Or at least that's the way it should be; that's where the "September 10" era should have ended. But if it was impossible that day to stop what was to come -- to warn or for most, even to imagine such a thing could even be possible -- well, now we can warn, but the question is whether anyone's listening. And that brings with it a similar sense of dread.

Posted by: MarisolJW at September 10, 2008 9:20 AM

People: American Muslim profiled at Israeli airport. What do you think about it?

darcy

We need to copy Israeli profiling right away.

Posted by: Spot on at September 10, 2008 9:22 AM

If we get the terrorism vote wrong, the economy vote won't matter worth a damn. As for myself, tomorrow in my call center the large display boards will sound & beep each of 6 signal events from Sept. 11 at the appropriate time. The four crashes & 2 collapses and display a brief message for each. I do it every year and every year there are a few who say it still gives them the shivers when those boards sound. Any chance I get I don't let anyone forget how it felt and what we're up against.

Posted by: midnight rider at September 10, 2008 9:34 AM

Today, I'm doing what I was absolutely not involved in 7 years ago:

Standing up for Israel, for the free world and liberty. 7 years ago, I didn't know we had a problem, and I wasn't involved. Things changed.

On a practical level, I'm part of the campaign against that conference on racism named Durban II, translating, publishing and encouraging a boycott - latest piece here: The UN must not give in to Islamic criticism.

Strangely, Durban I ended on September 9th, 2001. September 11th was a huge wakeup call that we need to stand against religious racism (anti-Semitism in particular), Islamic Jihad and reactionary, violent religions. It might have been the deadliest and most brutal wakeup call ever, and I'm not letting go before we're done and democracy is safe.

For now, non-violent Jihad is a more delicate, yet more serious, threat than the violent strain, which has been widely discredited within Islam proper, not least due to Al-Qaeda turning on other Muslims instead of us 'infidels'.

Dealing with 'stealth Jihad' takes much reading, combining of events, and dilligence to stand up on even the tiniest of issues, such as the Minnesota taxi drivers.

We have work to do. I'm grateful for Robert Spencer and the other grand iconic figures who take a lot of flak for their work, while a thousand blogs identify and deal with the challenges whereever they are found.

This is going to go on for a while...

Posted by: Henrik at September 10, 2008 9:37 AM

To say that Americans have a short attention span is putting it mildly.

My own brother - whom I love greatly - told me a year or two ago that "people won't wake up to Islam until something really bad happens".

I thought to myself "what the fuck was 9-11?!"
That should have been a wake-up call to last for generations.

The passage of FISA and other national-security legislation is indicative that our political class (or at least a portion of it) is still at least partially attuned to the dangers we face. But where are their efforts to keep the American public psychologically prepared? The only time one hears of 9-11 is during electioneering.

For all the irrational hatred spewed against President Bush here and elsewhere, his inability or unwillingness to maintain any sort of heightened public vigilance about the continued threat of mass terror is perhaps his greatest failing as POTUS.

Thanks Robert, for reminding us all of the symbolic importance of Sept 10th - and the enfeebled and slothful mindset it represents.

Posted by: Cornelius at September 10, 2008 9:43 AM

I have a very nice 11 X 17 framed poster on the wall in my entrance hall that says "Remember 9/11," and depicts a plane flying over the towers. I ordered it from crusaderguy.com a few years ago.

Anyone who comes through the front door cannot avoid seeing it. Here is the reaction I most often receive as I see the visitors' gaze look on the print: Silence.

Sad, but true.

What in the heck is wrong with 21st century Americans?

Posted by: darcy at September 10, 2008 9:47 AM

"For all the irrational hatred spewed against President Bush here and elsewhere, his inability or unwillingness to maintain any sort of heightened public vigilance about the continued threat of mass terror is perhaps his greatest failing as POTUS." --Cornelius

To me his greatest failing is calling Islam a "religion of peace."

Because that shows how completely ignorant the U.S. President is about Islam, and how, over the years, he has apparently refused to enlighten himself about the true nature of Islam.

Posted by: darcy at September 10, 2008 9:50 AM

Oh, and esp. since Islam 101 is such a snap: "Kill Infidels for Allah." There. There's Islam 101. Any chance you can start passing Islam 101, Pres. Bush, Yale graduate?

Posted by: darcy at September 10, 2008 9:54 AM

Man is by nature flawed. Even with the guiding hand of providence, we make so many mistakes.

How long did it take the followers of Moses to worship a golden idol after deliverabce from Egypt?

History repeats itself indefinitely, teaching us the same lessons over and over. I hope the next lesson is relatively mild, but . . .

Posted by: JSobieski at September 10, 2008 9:57 AM

On Bush:
To me his greatest failing is calling Islam a "religion of peace."

I second that. Had he shown the courage to identify the enemy head on, he might have recieved some trouble from his Saudi friends. But we would have been significantly better off today. Probably with that scum ruler Saddam Hussein still in Bagdhad, but with many more Islamist leaders behind bars or pulverized in their mountain hideouts.

It's a complex world, mistakes are made. But we do need to identify the enemy to defeat him for good.

Posted by: Henrik at September 10, 2008 10:08 AM

For me 9/11 was a live experience, front row seats to a show I never wanted to see, never want to see again , but will most assuredly, never forget.

I am in the minority however, and that is tragic at this point, maybe even fatally tragic.

Thank you Robert for the reminder that the 9/10 era is gone, probably forever, that is at least Islam is eradicated or unlearned on a global scale.

A lofty aspiration indeed.

Posted by: awake at September 10, 2008 10:16 AM

The ticker on this site says it all:

Islamic Terrorists have carried out

11,819 Deadly Terrorist attacks

SINCE 9/11

It ain't over and will not be over in the lifetime of anyone reading this. I simply cannot ignore what is happening all around us, every day, and I will continue to try to raise the consciousness of people I know, despite the nervous politically correct glances I constantly receive even in the face of the overwhelming evidence Islam provides us with every day.

It is easy to remain vigilant in a crisis. Far more difficult when things appear to be "peaceful."

Posted by: JohnAdams at September 10, 2008 10:32 AM

A timely reminder about islam and its willingness to kill.

The ideology of hate, whether it eminates from Cat Stevens, or Barry Hussein (of presidential lipstick comments).

Posted by: dgene at September 10, 2008 10:34 AM

Barry Hussein (of presidential lipstick comments).

Posted by: dgene at September 10, 2008 10:34 AM

Hussein is so worried about the Palin factor it's not funny!

Referring to Palin as a "pig" - wow, that's really brought him down, I believe.

Posted by: darcy at September 10, 2008 11:06 AM

Darcy,
re: Islam 101,

We expect the Muslims who believe in jihad to lie but how the heck are we supposed to respond to people, like Bush and McCain, who presume to lead us in the fight against "radical Islam" and who tell us that "killing infidels" is NOT basic Islam but the word of a few "misunderstanders"?

You call it Islam 101.
It took many years but I also call it Islam 101.
Everyone else calls it un-Islamic and totally unrepresentative of even Islam 101.
Then there are the Muslims-for-id-only who will not disown the faith that does this. They want it both ways - to stay within their community and with their traditions, all the while disregarding what is being done in the name of their community and their traditions.

Posted by: PMK at September 10, 2008 11:21 AM

And remember:

1. Frequently terrorist attacks within the borders of U.S. are mislabeled as other crimes. e.g. Moslems attack chanting "Allah hu Akhbar" and it is labeled an isolated instance and the attacker "mentally ill." Federal and Local law enforcement immediately dismiss any potential "terrorist" labeling.

2. Those few jihad supporters, who have been arrested and found guilty, are frequently released. E.g. Sami Al-Arian

3. Slow/covert Jihad is progressing at an alarming rate. Local governments and institutions
are increasingly having to deal with this. (e.g. the problems with Somali Muslims in Maine, Minnesota and at the JBS Swift plant)

4. Something unthinkable in the U.S. a decade ago, Honor Killing, has been appearing more and more in the local and national news.

etc, etc, etc

Posted by: StephenDvd at September 10, 2008 11:32 AM

"Everyone else calls it un-Islamic and totally unrepresentative of even Islam 101." --PMK

PMK, you know that those PC idiots don't know anything about Islam. They are Pac Men for Propaganda. Just swallow the Islamic propaganda whole.

And Muslims who say that are simply lying. The 'ol "al-Taqiyya!

I mean, "Kill the Infidels" as instructed by Allah is there in black and white (Koran). And the 9:111 verse in which Allah promises Paradise to those who "slay and are slain" in his name. Not to mention 164 specifically Jihad verses. Hello PC MoonBats - can you read, or what? Newsflash to Mohammedans: Western people can read.

"What is it about "Kill the Infidels" you don't understand?" --Ibn Warraq, to the West.

Posted by: darcy at September 10, 2008 11:37 AM

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day I woke up to how evil these evil people actually are. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day I and everyone else saw the most horrific events of my generation. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the deaths of nearly 3000 innocent, unsuspecting people. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day many people reached inside themselves and did heroic things that all of us can only read about.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day I will NEVER FORGET.

Posted by: gymgal at September 10, 2008 12:14 PM

Thanks Robert. We need you. The free world needs you. Every time I think about 9-11 I curse all muslims everywhere. It looks hopeless at times because we are too civil for our own good and they take advantage of that. We must all do the utmost to inform everyone we possibly can. Every time I fuel up the attendant gets an earful, and the price of petrol and diesel is a good opener. They are paying attention because when I go back they start asking questions, and I am very happy to give the answers. We must win.

Posted by: Dsinc at September 10, 2008 12:23 PM

I stand to be corrected Darcy, but I think that quote came from Walid Shobat.

Posted by: Dsinc at September 10, 2008 12:29 PM

Thank you Robert and everyone else at JW. It does feel we're beating our heads against a brick wall, doesn't it? But we cannot give up.

Because the jihadists are not giving up. They never will.

Posted by: Mo at September 10, 2008 12:31 PM

Yeah, the terrorists got lucky. Lucky that our entire intelligence network got caught with their collective pants down. But the reality is this, the terrorists only need to be lucky once, we have to be lucky all the time. To expound on the luck issue, we have to be lucky that an analyst gleams that one piece of gold in a pile of pyrite in a timely manner AND be able to piece it with another small nugget he/she read or heard about and be able to put it all together. The attacker always has the advantage of knowing when and where they will attack. The defender has to spend most of its time trying to figure it out. We have been both just good enough and very lucky. Having the enemy fight us overseas hasn't hurt either. That luck will not last forever. And if people have not awoken to the realities of what happened on 9/11, another attack won't do much to open their eyes. It will take something far more personal. Pity.

Posted by: Kevin at September 10, 2008 12:46 PM

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a very nice, decent, retired college English professor. He told me that it was silly to call our attempt to deal with Islamic extremists a "war on terror." It's not a war at all, he asserted, but merely a police action and nothing more. Hey, what's the big fuss? When I disagreed and said to him that it is not only a war we're in but a war to the death, just as WWII and the Cold War were, he looked at me as though I had just said, "Men from Mars have landed."

Much work and greater awareness need to occur to defeat these zealous Islamic monsters who will never give up. Thanks to Jihad Watch and Robert Spencer for the part they have played in helping us ultimately prevail against truly evil human beings.

Posted by: Wellington at September 10, 2008 12:48 PM

PMK, you know that those PC idiots don't know anything about Islam. They are Pac Men for Propaganda. Just swallow the Islamic propaganda whole.

And Muslims who say that are simply lying. The 'ol "al-Taqiyya!

by Darcy

You don't need to convince me. We're on the same side. The problem is all the good people that aren't affected or who think we're just crazy. Some of them are in power. Calling them liars will not get them to listen to you.
Hugh and Robert keep pointing to the Muslims-in-name-only. They're not all lying, either.

Three buildings, four planes and three thousand people killed within about an hour didn't convince them. WHAT WILL?

Posted by: PMK at September 10, 2008 12:52 PM

Robert, You have 24,792,497 hits on your website. Someone sure is watching JW. Us folks posting here cannot account for all those hits. I have noticed major media types that see your website.

Please keep up your good work. We are with you.

Posted by: Spot on at September 10, 2008 1:22 PM

More exposure needs to be given those who are doing an excellent job of clarifying the Jihadist threat. JihadWatch, of course, has a large readership (which could always be much larger!). But I wonder if we focus to exclusively on the big players.

There are some excellent resources out there for those looking for more in-depth analysis. In my mind, however, the one most grossly underaccessed is also one of the best (I know I sound like some sort of ad. Believe me this is unpaid -- I don't even know the guy, personally): Andrew Bostom.

Perhaps word hasn't got around yet that Andy Bostom has his own blog and a pile of other resources on his website. He has this way of finding stuff others don't pick up on right away, and he always gives razor-edge analysis. While Spencer also is penetrating, he appeals better to the mass market. Bostom is for those wishing to seriously dig into the facts. A valuable addition for anyone who already finds JihadWatch helpful in filling in the gaps left out by the mainstream media. Less prolific than Little Green Footballs but steady with the pen and second to none in scholarship. Jihadwatch does us a service by occasionally reposting stories Bostom breaks, but there's more there than is reposted here.

Posted by: Archimedes2 at September 10, 2008 1:23 PM

hi..
im just 16 years old, but i´ve read some books about islam, muslims, so on also parts of koran..and i agree that the islam is the religion full of violence and hate.. im sure that people which dont think so only dont have enough informations or they dont wanna take into accout what all bad could happen in (close) future.. we all have to start talking about this huge problem to our close friends, relatives or just all around..go everywhere in europe.. (paris is the worst)..there are hundreds and hundreds of immigrations..and they force their traditions, rules and religions (also law depends on sharia) please!!!! we must stop it and safe our traditions and society´s values!!! NO IS THE BEST and maybe the last time TO CHANGE IT !!!!
P.S excuse my english, im not from us, but from eu..:) bye

Posted by: anna at September 10, 2008 1:36 PM

I stand to be corrected Darcy, but I think that quote came from Walid Shobat.

Posted by: Dsinc at September 10, 2008 12:29 PM

I think you're right - it's Walid Shoebat.

"What is it about "Kill the Infidels" you don't understand?"

RS can certainly provide the true author. It's either Ibn Warraq or Walid Shoebat.

Posted by: darcy at September 10, 2008 3:51 PM

Three buildings, four planes and three thousand people killed within about an hour didn't convince them. WHAT WILL?

Posted by: PMK at September 10, 2008 12:52 PM

Unfortunately, another similar 9/11 attack.

And don't forget the field in Pennsylvania. Todd Beamer and all of the other heros/heroines of Flight 93, Rest in Peace, as you so deserve.

Your Islamic assassins are roasting in hell, along with their "perfect man," mass-murderer Mo.

Tears in my eyes for the American victims of 9/11.

Posted by: darcy at September 10, 2008 3:57 PM

Barack Hussein has gone too far--he has maligned all of us Kuffar, and especially, our women, with his "pig" remarks. Even worse, he demeaned pigs!

Posted by: John C at September 10, 2008 5:08 PM

Darcy, you asked what we thought of the profiling incident at an Israeli airport outlined in your linked news report.

Well, I agree with their profiling (& feel they've nothing to apologize for), but what really struck me was this statement within the report:

'...extremist Islamic rejection of the Jewish state's existence...

Huh? Someone over there'd best start looking into the idea that it's only extremist Islamic thinking that wishes them all dead.

Posted by: Vee at September 10, 2008 5:36 PM

Huh? Someone over there'd best start looking into the idea that it's only *extremist* Islamic thinking that wishes them all dead.

Posted by: Vee at September 10, 2008 5:36 PM

Good idea, as it's just your garden-variety Islam that wishes the Jews dead.

"Covert sympathizers," as author Tony Blankley calls "moderate Muslims" in his book "The West's Last Chance":

http://www.amazon.com/Wests-Last-Chance-Clash-Civilizations/dp/0895260158

Posted by: darcy at September 10, 2008 6:01 PM

Our thoughts are with you today (11th September in Australia) and our prayers. God bless America.

Posted by: jewcat at September 10, 2008 6:48 PM

We will never forget.

9/11 – Islamic Terror Hits America
by Jerry Gordon & Catherine Martin (Sept. 2008)

http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/25722/sec_id/25722

Posted by: Catherine Martin at September 10, 2008 9:45 PM

Thank you Mr Spencer and all the team.

Bless you, Henrik.

Anna - you say you're 16? Have you read the 'Harry Potter' books or seen the films? If so: think of it this way - here at this website you're in the Room of Requirement, studying the real Defence Against the Dark Arts, in order to be able to meet real - not mythical - Death Eaters...and win. Tell your friends: THIS is where you can wake up and realize that as heirs of Western Civilisation you already belong to the Order of the Phoenix. The 'Phoenix' being the living principle of everything that is best in our civilisation; the principle of life, the celebration of life, the love of life and beauty and joy, which also involves a willingness to offer oneself for the lives of others.

If you've seen 'Lord of the Rings' (or better, yet, read the books) - think of yourself as one of the Hobbits. Tolkien was a history minded Catholic, a medievalist through and through; his epic fantasy holds up a mythic mirror to the thousand-year struggle between Christendom and the Empire of Islam which is an Empire of Darkness.

If you haven't yet done so - read Oriana Fallaci, "The Rage and the Pride", and "The Force of Reason".

And then I recommend, perhaps, Kieslowski's "Three Colours" trilogy - for the unforgettable closing montage of 'Blue', to Preisner's glorious setting of 1 Corinthians 13, and for the final scenes of 'Red' in which seven characters rise alive from the waters after the ship has gone down: seven characters whom I regard as personifying the Seven Virtues - Fortitude, Temperance, Justice, Prudence, Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Other life-affirming films, profoundly un-Islamic in their theology and psychology: "Chocolat", "Babette's Feast", and two by Peter Weir - "Fearless" and "Witness".

That's for morale boosting.

Practically speaking: get all your friends who haven't already done so, to watch 'Fitna' and read "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades". Then persuade your parents to sign you up for 1. first aid classes and 2. self-defence classes or martial arts.

Posted by: dumbledoresarmy at September 10, 2008 9:48 PM

For Anna and Henrik and all other Europeans present, or who may read this in the future, I will take the liberty of linking back to one of Mr Fitzgerald's best postings - 'What's At Stake'.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/006213.php#comments

Mr Fitzgerald was focusing on what would be lost, if Europe is lost to the Jihad; the comments field adds an American perspective, on what people valued about America.

Hugh's original posting - which in its simple repetition of place after place, name after name, each one saturated with meaning for the past thousand years and more of our civilisation, takes on the quality of poetry - is extraordinarily moving. It demands to be read aloud.

The contributions it inspired from others, are equally moving.

I thought of nothing so much as the great rose window of Notre Dame, or Chagall's painted ceiling for the Paris Opera.

It is terrifying, to think - really think, really get our heads around - *everything* that we stand to lose, if we fail in the Defence Against the Jihad.

Posted by: dumbledoresarmy at September 10, 2008 9:59 PM

People: "BLOCKING The Path to 9/11"

I'm going to order the DVD tomorrow.

http://blockingthepath.com/main.html

Posted by: darcy at September 10, 2008 10:06 PM

Here is a link to a website that contains a transcript of the full Italian text - divided into sections, just click them - of La Rabbia e L'Orgoglio, 'The Rage and the Pride'.

http://italian.about.com/library/fallaci/blfallaci01i.htm

Next to the words 'see more about' you'll find some links including one entitled 'the rage and the pride' which will switch you to an English translation.

The opening passages of 'The Rage and the Pride' contain Oriana's description of her own experience on the 11th of September 2001.

Years ago I learned Italian, more to read than to speak; I was so glad I had made that effort, when I sat down to read through 'La Rabbia e L'Orgoglio'.

I will quote, here, just the first spine-chilling paragraphs of her report from New York City, first in Italian, then in the translation from that site:

"Mi chiedi anche di raccontare come l'ho vissuta io, quest'Apocalisse. Di fornire insomma la mia testimonianza. Incomincerò dunque da quella.

"Ero a casa, la mia casa è nel centro di Manhattan, e alle nove in punto ho avuto la sensazione d'un pericolo che forse non mi avrebbe toccato ma che certo mi riguardava. La sensazione che si prova alla guerra, anzi in combattimento, quando con ogni poro della tua pelle senti la pallottola o il razzo che arriva, e rizzi gli orecchi e gridi a chi ti sta accanto: ´Down! Get down! Giù! Buttati giùª. L'ho respinta.

"Non ero mica in Vietnam, non ero mica in una delle tante e fottutissime guerre che sin dalla Seconda Guerra Mondiale hanno seviziato la mia vita! Ero a New York, perbacco, in un meraviglioso mattino di settembre, anno 2001. Ma la sensazione ha continuato a possedermi, inspiegabile, e allora ho fatto ciò che al mattino non faccio mai.

"Ho acceso la Tv. Bè, l'audio non funzionava. Lo schermo, sì. E su ogni canale, qui di canali ve ne sono quasi cento, vedevi una torre del World Trade Center che bruciava come un gigantesco fiammifero. Un corto circuito? Un piccolo aereo sbadato? Oppure un atto di terrorismo mirato?

"Quasi paralizzata son rimasta a fissarla e mentre la fissavo, mentre mi ponevo quelle tre domande, sullo schermo è apparso un aereo. Bianco, grosso. Un aereo di linea. Volava bassissimo. Volando bassissimo si dirigeva verso la seconda torre come un bombardiere che punta sull'obiettivo, si getta sull'obiettivo.

"Sicché ho capito. Ho capito anche perché nello stesso momento l'audio è tornato e ha trasmesso un coro di urla selvagge. Ripetute, selvagge. ´God! Oh, God! Oh, God, God, God! Gooooooood! Dio! Oddio! Oddio! Dio, Dio, Dioooooooo!ª E l'aereo s'è infilato nella seconda torre come un coltello che si infila dentro un panetto di burro.

"Erano le 9 e un quarto, ora. E non chiedermi che cosa ho provato durante quei quindici minuti. Non lo so, non lo ricordo. Ero un pezzo di ghiaccio. Anche il mio cervello era ghiaccio.

"Non ricordo nemmeno se certe cose le ho viste sulla prima torre o sulla seconda. La gente che per non morire bruciata viva si buttava dalle finestre degli ottantesimi o novantesimi piani, ad esempio. Rompevano i vetri delle finestre, le scavalcavano, si buttavano giù come ci si butta da un aereo avendo addosso il paracadute, e venivano giù così lentamente. Agitando le gambe e le braccia, nuotando nell'aria. Sì, sembravano nuotare nell'aria. E non arrivavano mai. Verso i trentesimi piani, però, acceleravano. Si mettevano a gesticolar disperati, suppongo pentiti, quasi gridassero help-aiuto-help. E magari lo gridavano davvero. Infine cadevano a sasso e paf!

"Sai, io credevo d'aver visto tutto alle guerre. Dalle guerre mi ritenevo vaccinata, e in sostanza lo sono. Niente mi sorprende più. Neanche quando mi arrabbio, neanche quando mi sdegno. Però alle guerre io ho sempre visto la gente che muore ammazzata.

"Non l'ho mai vista la gente che muore ammazzandosi cioè buttandosi senza paracadute dalle finestre d'un ottantesimo o novantesimo o centesimo piano.

"Alle guerre, inoltre, ho sempre visto roba che scoppia. Che esplode a ventaglio. E ho sempre udito un gran fracasso. Quelle due torri, invece, non sono esplose. La prima è implosa, ha inghiottito se stessa. La seconda s'è fusa, s'è sciolta. Per il calore s'è sciolta proprio come un panetto di burro messo sul fuoco. E tutto è avvenuto, o m'è parso, in un silenzio di tomba. Possibile? C'era davvero, quel silenzio, o era dentro di me?"

- "You also ask me to tell how I experienced this apocalypse. To give, in other words, my testimony. Very well, I’ll start with that.

"I was at home, which is in the center of Manhattan. At exactly nine o’clock I had a sensation of danger, of a danger that perhaps would not touch me, but that undoubtedly concerned me. It’s the sensation you feel in war, or rather in combat, when every pore of your skin feels the bullet or the rocket as it approaches, and you perk up your ears and yell at the person next to you: "Down! Get down!"

"I pushed it away. It’s not like I was in Vietnam. It’s not like I was in one of the many wars, those fucking wars that have tortured my life since World War II. I was in New York for God's sake, on a marvellous September morning in 2001. But the sensation still possessed me, inexplicably.

"So I did something I never do in the morning and turned on the TV. The audio wasn’t working. The screen was.

"And on every channel—and here there are almost a hundred—you saw a tower of the World Trade Center burning like a giant match. A short circuit? A small plane gone off course? Or an act of deliberate terrorism?

"I stayed there almost paralyzed, fixed on that tower, and while I fixed on it, while I asked myself those three questions, another plane appeared on the screen. White, huge. An airliner. It was flying extremely low. Flying low, it turned toward the second tower like a bomber who draws a bead on a target and then hurls himself at it.

"That’s when I understood. I also understood because in that same moment the audio came back on and transmitted a chorus of primal screams. Repeated and primal. "God! Oh, God! Oh, God, God, God! Gooooooood!"

"And the plane went into that second tower like a knife going into a stick of butter.

"By now it was quarter past nine. Don’t ask me what I felt during those fifteen minutes. I don’t know, I don’t remember. I was a piece of ice. Even my brain was ice.

" I don’t even remember whether certain things I saw were from the first tower or the second. For example, the people who threw themselves from the eightieth or ninetieth floor to avoid being burned alive. They broke the glass of the windows, they climbed up and jumped out like someone who jumps out of an airplane with a parachute on. They came down so slowly, waving their arms and legs, swimming in the air. Yes, they seemed to swim in the air, never arriving. Around the thirtieth floor though, they sped up. They started to gesture desperately, penitently I imagine, almost as though they were shouting for help. And maybe they really were. Finally they fell like rocks and splat.

"You know, I thought I’d seen everything in war. I’d considered myself vaccinated against war, and in substance I am. Nothing surprises me anymore. Not even when I get angry, not even when I get indignant. But in war I’d always seen people who died by the hand of others.

"I’d never seen people who die killing themselves, throwing themselves without parachutes from the eightieth or ninetieth or hundredth floor.

"In war, I’d always seen things that explode. That blow up in all directions. And I’d always heard a huge racket.

"Those two towers though, didn’t explode. The first imploded, swallowed itself. The second fused and melted. It melted just like a stick of butter placed on the fire. And it all happened, or so it seemed to me, in tomblike silence. Is that possible? Was that silence real, or was it inside me?"

Posted by: dumbledoresarmy at September 10, 2008 10:25 PM

ROBERT, YOU AND 'JIHAD WATCH' ARE ON OUR FRONT LINE!
MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS YOU AND YOUR JW COLLEAGUES WITH STRENGTH TO EDUCATE EVERYBODY YOU CAN REACH THE DANGERS OF OUR ISLAMOFASCIST ENEMY!
YOU'RE AMONG OUR GREATEST WEAPONS!!!

Posted by: CHOI at September 10, 2008 10:37 PM

God bless the people at Jihad Watch and all the other websites that let us know what is really going on in the world, and who are biggest threat is, and who are biggest allies are. Keep up the good work.

Posted by: Jew the Destroyer at September 10, 2008 11:15 PM

dumbledoresarmy

Thank you so much for this. I can only imagine how chilling this must read in the original Italian. I do not read it, but I know it's similar to Spanish, which is much more passionate than English can ever hope to be.

Regardless of the language, nothing can fully capture the horror of that day. How completely we have forgotten!

Posted by: Mo at September 10, 2008 11:38 PM

On September 10th, 2001, I had just left left Texas, having finished my BA, driven back to Indiana with my hometown honey to whom I had remained faithful all four years and our kitty Simba the Travelin' cat to stay with my mom for a while, and read this in Douglas Coupland's 'Girfriend in a Coma (p. 267):'

"...We were all so lucky living when and where we did. There was no Vietnam. Childhood dragged on forever. Gasoline, cars, and potato chips were cheap and plenty. If we wanted to hop a jet and fly anywhere on Earth, we could. We could believe in anything we wanted. Shit--we could wear a San Diego chicken costume down Marine Drive while carrying a bloody rubber head of Richard nixon if we wanted--that would have been just fine. And we all went to school. And we weren't in jail. Wow." ...

"I remember running through the neighborhood in little more than a jockstrap. I remember being able to read Life magazine and making up my own mind about politics. I remember being in a car and thinking of a road map of Morth America and knowing that if I chose, I could drive anywhere. All of that time and all of that tranquility, freedom, and abundance. Amazing. The sweet and effortless nodule of freedom we all shared--it was a fine idea. It was, in its own unglamorous way, the goal of all of human history--the wars, the genius, the madness, the beauty and the grief--it was all to reach ever farther unclouded points on which to stand and view and think and evolve and understand ever farther and farther and, well, farther. Progress is real. Destiny is real. You are real."

The next morning I was awakened by my hysterical mother in tears, screaming 'they're flying jets into the World Trade Center!' I knew before even thinking it that my childhood, my youth as I knew it, my blissful ignorance, were all officially over before I even opened my eyes. My sister had just flown in to Logan Airport very early that morning. She may very well have passed by those terrorists.

Bless your heart, Anna. I'm sorry that you never got to experience 22 years of legitimate youth the way I did. Don't you forget either, even if eveyone around you does. In a couple of years you will go off to college and be surrounded by a bunch of people who may shock and appall you with their hatred for America, for freedom itself, for everything that is worthwhile and valuable in this world, for all the sacrifices and hardships of our forefathers, and with their leanings toward evil, regressive, parasitic, totalitarian ideologies. Those people are hardly better than the Muslims, hardly better than the terrorists, and like them, they waste their lives on a deathwish. Freedom is wasted on people like them. People like you are more intelligent than most people twice your age, and I say that as a 29-year-old who is surrounded by so-called intellectuals. But you understand better than they do, and you're certainly more capable of education. Keep reading. Learn about history, because no matter how many history courses you take in college, you will never even hear about the Tears of Jihad, the 270,000,000 people whom Jihad has extinguished. You may take a course on WWII in Europe, but you'll never hear about who carried out the Eastern end of the Holocaust, about how Bosnia killed off 90% of its Jews. You'll never hear about the Bengali Holocaust, the Armenian Holocaust, the Assyrian Holocaust, the entire North African holocaust, which continues today in Sudan and Egypt. Keep educating yourself and tell the truth to everyone who will listen. Life is not a popularity contest and it's too short to take idiots and evil people as your friends and confidantes. You've read the Koran? It's not complete trash. There is a lesson to be learned in the parable of the Cow. Muslims are the Cows. Terrorists are the Cows. People who, unlike you, don't want to know the truth--those people are the Cows.

Posted by: jdamn at September 11, 2008 12:09 AM