September 11th: A Day That Will Live In Infamy

The link below is a video shot on September 11th from an apartment window facing the Twin Towers. The couple who shot it lived on the 36th floor so they had an overview of the whole event. They didn't release the video to the public until 2005. It's long, but it's an intimate reliving of that day, with sounds of the couples' reaction to events, and the sound of the television news going in the background. The video is entitled simply: What We Saw

Watching the video brought the day back vividly. From my perspective today, 9/11 was a day of awakening for me. Until then, I had no interest in Islam. I didn't think it was important. I didn't understand what caused the terrorist attacks that had happened throughout my childhood (in the 1972 Olympics, the hostage crisis, the hijackings, etc.) and if you had asked me to guess at the time, I probably would have thought terrorists were simply fanatics creating random acts of violence for random reasons — to force a government to release prisoners, to get airtime for their cause, to scare people, or whatever.

But 9/11 was so much worse than previous acts of terrorism, and so much closer to home, it woke me up. The attack on the WTC was obviously a well-organized project by a fairly large group of people, using effective long-term planning, all for the purpose of inflicting a huge number of casualties. And my question was, for what?

It was so shocking, I was strongly motivated to understand where it came from, who these people were, and why they were doing this. What I've learned since then has often surprised me. I had no idea Islamists were such a large group, or so well-funded, or had such an all-compassing goal. But along with discovering the scope of the problem, I've also discovered that ordinary citizens like me could do something to help defeat it.

I feel I've personally repeated what Americans collectively went through in WWII. When the war in Europe and Japan started, most Americans didn't want to get involved. They wanted to go about their business and they hoped the problem would just go away. But when Pearl Harbor was bombed, everything changed. They realized how significant the problem was, and they fully understood their more trivial concerns would have to be put aside. The same change of mind has happened to many of us in the West in response to 9/11 and the change of mind has only deepened with subsequent events.

Since that day I have learned a great deal about Islam, and have been encouraging others to do so too. An understanding of the terrifying brilliance of Islam hasn't become as widespread as I had hoped, but more people are becoming aware of Islam's prime directive, and that is encouraging. I hope you watch the film, What We Saw, share it with your friends, and renew your commitment to finding a solution to the causes that led to 9/11 and the over thirty-nine thousand terrorist attacks since then.

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What I Have Learned Since 9-11

I was on my way back from a vacation when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. My wife and I were listening to music on a CD and enjoyed our ride home, and knew nothing about it. When we got home, we listened to our messages. The first two were from family members hysterically crying, "We've been attacked! America is at war!"

My first thought, of course, was the ever-eloquent, "What the fuck!?!"

We watched the news, and I was baffled. Why would anyone do such a thing? I was about as ignorant about this as someone can be. But I'm a learner. It's what I like to do. And since that day, I've learned a lot.

I learned that this was not an isolated incident. Attacks had become more frequent and more deadly over the years. I just hadn't noticed.

And I eventually learned that this is not just a problem of generic "terrorism," but a global movement based on teachings from the Koran and the example of Muhammad. I learned that Islam is a unique religion because it's a political system and a system of law as well as being what most people would call a religion. Its goal is world domination, it has explicit permission for (and approval of) violence in its holy books, and it is intolerant of non-Muslims. Its laws even include legally-imposed discrimination against non-Muslims (and all women). (Read more about that here.)

I learned that an almost-uninterrupted jihad has been waged against non-Muslims for 1400 years. The attacks are near constant. Most of us don't see it as a war. We see isolated attacks. If you take in the whole global view, however, or listen to the point of view of an orthodox Muslim or read this, you will see it for what it is: A global war — orthodox Muslims against everybody else.

I also learned that one of the main reasons democracies have so much trouble dealing with Jihadis is because of an important conflict within democracies. Specifically, most people in the free world believe 1) everyone has a right to worship as they wish, and 2) discrimination of any kind is wrong. These are important foundational principles of liberal democracies around the world.

Why is this a problem? Because the simplest way to deal with Islam would be to discriminate against it. In other words, to openly admit Islam is unique (because of its political aspirations and religious duty to overthrow all other forms of law and government), and stop all concessions to Islam and roll back any concessions already made.

We "can't do that" because it violates important values of our societies. Or does it necessarily? This dialog needs to happen and solutions need to be created for it. But of course, that can't happen as long as the majority of people in free countries remain ignorant of the most elementary facets of Islam. And it's not just ignorance. Many people have a real resistance to hearing anything about it because even talking about it seems to violate the principles of decency and kindness!

So the final thing I've learned is that the solution to this problem starts with a grassroots movement: Those who know something about Islam's dangers to the free world must talk to people who don't, and successfully educate them. Once enough people are educated, national conversations can happen that could result in new, carefully-crafted policies that retain our democratic freedoms while limiting the destructive and insidious encroachment of orthodox Islam.

Please add your comments below. What have you learned since 9-11?

Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam and also writes for Inquiry Into Islam, History is Fascinating, and Foundation for Coexistence.

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Did You Report On That Day?

ON THIS DAY, we have a memorable song for you, entitled On That Day. It is from a not-very-popular album by Leonard Cohen. First, the lyrics:

Some people say
It's what we deserve
For sins against God
For crimes in the world
I wouldn't know
I'm just holding the fort
Since that day
They wounded New York
Some people say
They hate us of old
Our women unveiled
Our slaves and our gold
I wouldn't know
I'm just holding the fort
But answer me this
I won't take you to court
Did you go crazy
Or did you report
On that day
On that day
They wounded New York

And a short article about the song (original post is here):

Bruce Springsteen took on the topic practically as if it were commissioned for his 2002 album "The Rising," but it took pop's most authentic poet to stare the subject of Sept. 11 straight in the face.

"Some people say it's what we deserve," Leonard Cohen sings on "On That Day," a little noticed track that appears on his overlooked 2004 album "Dear Heather." Cohen eschews metaphor but maintains a moral distance. "I wouldn't know," he sings, "I'm just holding the fort — since that day they wounded New York."

An unlikely Jew's harp twangs against the song, which could be Cohen's idea of ironic counterpoint. The slight song — it barely breaks the two-minute mark — sounds all the more mournful in his inevitable foggy baritone.

Like all the great poets, Cohen covers immense ground with a few well-chosen words and a couple of half-finished thoughts. "Did you go crazy or did you report," he asks, "on that day they wounded New York?" On the album's liner notes, he makes sure to include a dictionary definition of report: "To present oneself: report for duty."

Death and destruction in the twin towers was such a blinding catastrophe — like the sun exploding — that artists couldn't look at it long. Cohen, in his song, without dwelling on anything, in fact, cuts it short, suggesting we look to ourselves.

And now, the song, as sung by Ken Middleton:



Let us never forget that day. And if you haven't yet reported, it's not too late.

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