It was nearly 10 years ago that our lives were forever changed when two fuel-laden passenger jets, hijacked by Islamic terrorists, hurtled into the World Trade Center. Nearly 3,000 people died on Sept. 11, 2001, including 2,752 in the attack on the Twin Towers, among them 343 firefighters and 60 police officers.
That day of infamy was a decade ago, but the horrific scene of the burning and collapsing towers is seared into our collective memory, and will never be forgotten. Many of us had friends and family who died in the 9/11 attacks — and time will never heal those wounds.
For those of us that live and work Downtown, we well remember the very unsteady weeks and years following the attacks. Our schools were closed, and then reopened. Our local businesses suffered immensely, and many closed their doors. Entire neighborhoods were in the frozen zone, and we suffered immense environmental contamination. We lived through weeks, months and then years of a walled-off W.T.C. Lower Manhattan has twice been in the terrorist crosshairs — first in 1993 and then again on 9/11.
The daring midnight mission by U.S. Navy SEAL’s in which Osama bin Laden was killed was a stunning blow in the war on terror. With Al Qaeda’s leader taken out, there is now a feeling of relief that we are safer, that the evil terror apparatus has been dealt a key blow. Psychologically, also, it was vitally important that bin Laden be captured or killed. That it was done by the U.S. sends a message to the world that we are strong, resolute and will stop at nothing to track down terrorists that attack us.
Bin Laden’s killing was also a great coup for President Obama. He personally authorized the risky mission — choosing it over the safer option of bombing the terror leader’s compound, since that wouldn’t prove conclusively that bin Laden had been killed. Obama comes out looking decisive, a strong and levelheaded leader dealing with the critically important, life-and-death issue of terrorism, while the Republicans who have been lambasting him over red herrings like his birth certificate now look like childish lightweights. To their credit, though, many Republicans are now praising the president for being the man who finally got bin Laden.
Not only is the timing beneficial for Obama, improving his chances for re-election, but it also comes at a key moment for the Middle East, which is going through tremendous changes. The recent Arab Spring, with its “Facebook Revolution,” has seen popular uprisings against despotic regimes in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain. The region is still in turmoil and flux, but it seems that democracy now finally has a chance to take hold, and that the ways of Al Qaeda — jihad as terrorism and hatred — are losing influence. Young Arabs are crying out for freedom and a better future, not for a return to a seventh-century caliphate.
No doubt, Al Qaeda now wants to strike back. It will take the ongoing best efforts of our combined federal and local antiterrorism agencies, police and the military to keep those that would do us harm at bay. We must still be vigilant.
Obama will be coming to Ground Zero on Thursday to bring some measure of closure and also reap the political capital to be expected from successfully getting the world’s No. 1 terrorist. In four months, the National September 11 Memorial will finally open — 10 years after 9/11.
Everyone always recalls the brilliant blue skies on Sept. 11, 2001, a tragic day that left a terrible, dark cloud in our hearts. With bin Laden finally brought to justice, that cloud has lifted more than a bit.
