9/11 Lest we forget

Number of years since the attacks: 11

Number of Muslim hijackers: 19

Number of airplanes hijacked: 4

Number of intended targets: 4

Number of targets struck: 3 

Number of murder victims: 2,977

Estimated financial cost of the attacks: $3.3 trillion

Number of apologies from Saudi Arabia or Muslim organizations for the attacks: Zero


In 2009 I reported that Fox News and others were reporting the case of:

"Peter Gadiel (who) wants everyone to remember his son, James, who was killed during the September 11 terrorist attacks.

And he also wants people to remember how he died: "Murdered by Muslim terrorists."

For Gadiel, any tribute to his son would be woefully incomplete without those words.

"I think it's important, because I think there's a nationwide effort to suppress the identity of the people who were involved in the attacks," Gadiel told Fox News.

Eight years ago, 23-year-old James Gadiel worked for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center. He died when a hijacked plane crashed into the North Tower.

For years, Gadiel's hometown of Kent, Conn., has wanted to honor the young man with a memorial plaque next to its town hall. But the tribute has hit a snag because James' father wants to include the phrase, "Murdered by Muslim terrorists," under his son's name.

For Peter Gadiel, it is a central fact of the Sept. 11 attacks that is often left out.

"It isn't just overlooked, it's suppressed," Gadiel said. "It's simply wrong to imply that people just died. The buildings didn't just collapse, they didn't just fall down — they were attacked by people with a specific identity, a specific purpose.""

So on the one side we have the father of a man who was killed by terrorists who killed in the name of Islam, those are incontrovertible facts. On the other side we have the usual 'liberals' for whom facts matter less than hurt feelings:

"Town officials call the phrase too controversial for a small town memorial, and they recently voted against erecting the plaque if Gadiel insists on the language.

"We perceive ourselves as a very warm, loving town," said Ruth Epstein, a Kent selectman and one of two town leaders to vote the plaque down. "To disparage any one ethnic group is just against everything that we stand for here."

Epstein noted that other Sept. 11 memorials, like the one at the Pentagon, don't mention Muslim terrorists, and she said she does not want to alienate any members of her small and close-knit community.

"We have at least one Muslim family living here with children and it — it would be just awful to have them see something like that," Epstein told Fox News."

What's 'controversial' about the phrase "Murdered by Muslim terrorists."? Could the local council explain which part of that phrase is not totally factual? Was James Gadiel murdered rather than dieing of natural causes or in an accident? Were the people who murdered him Muslims? Were the people who killed him committing an act of terrorism? I cannot see how the answers to all those three questions can be anything other than 'yes', in which case "Murdered by Muslim terrorists." is a factual statement. Stating how James Gadiel died is not 'disparaging' all Muslims, just the ones who decided to fly passenger planes into New York office buildings (and other locations) on the 11th September so as to kill as many people as possible and terrorise many, many more. The fact, if true, that the Pentagon memorial does not mention Muslims does not make that the right thing to do. It seems that the local Kent council care more about the potential hurt feelings of one local Muslim family than those of their local resident whose son was murdered.

I remember 9/11 as if it was yesterday. I was due to fly the following day to a business meeting and I, and the others who were to accompany me, watched the burning first tower of the World Trade Centre with horror and then experienced disbelief as the second plane hit the other tower. Later that day as I left for home I and others were passed by two bearded Muslims who were happily telling all passers by that this was a great day and that America had had it coming.

Yes I do remember 9/11 and yes it has affected my world view. Although I had been warning people of the possibility of large scale Islamic terrorist attacks for some time prior to 9/11, the reality was worse than I had imagined.

On the anniversary of 9/11 I wonder how MD Alam  is feeling...