SEPTEMBER 11 - 2ND ANNIVERSARYJust about ten days before the Trade Towers went down, Milli and I were up there on top enjoying the view on a beautiful summer evening, looking north at the George Washington Bridge, then south at the Narrows Bridge, spectacular, peaceful, and the city slept below us as the hour approached midnight. We took the last elevator down that night.
Never, in my wildest imagination, could I have imaged that while we were up there, a plan was being hatched which would take both towers down, down within the space of thirty minutes of each other. And, we had had dinner at the dining room of the Marriott Hotel just below the towers a couple of hours earlier.
It is hard to imagine that one man, Osama bin Laden, could have held such hatred in his heart for the United States, and Americans, that he could conceive of such a dastardly act, that he could attempt to destroy thousands of lives at once, because there are times when those buildings might have more than 20,000 people in them. An hour or two later and the death toll would have been considerably higher. If the planes had hit fifty feet below where they did, the toll would also have increased. So many factors that meant the difference between life and death for so many.
Tyranny takes so many forms. On September 11, 2002 Afghanistan was suffering under the lashes of the Taliban, men and women who did not conform to some of the many cruel ideas of different mullahs could be beaten, stoned, or killed, no rhyme nor reason to it, a country ruled by fear.
And the same held true in Iraq, ruled by the cruel Saddam Hussein. Today both are free, free to elect their own leaders and free from these monsters.
It was a masterful tactical strike, and the effects radiated around the world, and they will continue to be felt for years to come. We know that those members of Al Quaeda still alive are continuing to plot and we must continue to be alert, because we have no idea when the threat of their terrorist acts will be over, no idea when it will be over.
All we can do is to remain alert. All we can do is to try to deny them a
next time. It won't be easy, but then, we have the strength and will to do it, and we must.
