Remembering 9-11 (BBC)
A plethora of events and tv shows and media coverage for the 5th year 'anniversary'... but I do not have the time (right now) to get into details of the various events being coordinated and the view-points & op-ed pieces being voiced leading up to today!
Just one other thing for now - see this picture of a sand replica of the World Trade Center on a beach in Puri, India, attracts well-wishers.
(picture 6 in the series is interesting one too .. of the Shan-e-Dastar march in Amritsar, India, promotes the pride of Sikhs in wearing their traditional turbans.)
Some links cut-n-pasted from the above BBC article:
A plethora of events and tv shows and media coverage for the 5th year 'anniversary'... but I do not have the time (right now) to get into details of the various events being coordinated and the view-points & op-ed pieces being voiced leading up to today!
Just one other thing for now - see this picture of a sand replica of the World Trade Center on a beach in Puri, India, attracts well-wishers.
(picture 6 in the series is interesting one too .. of the Shan-e-Dastar march in Amritsar, India, promotes the pride of Sikhs in wearing their traditional turbans.)
Some links cut-n-pasted from the above BBC article:
KEY STORIES
HAVE YOUR SAY
BACKGROUND
FROM OTHER NEWS SITES
SABC Five years on, Americans mark 9/11 attacks
MSNBC Americans mark 9/11 five years on
Turkish Press US marks fifth anniversary of September 11 with silent tribute
Peoples Daily Online Amid tears and tributes, fears remain
Manila Times Al-Qaeda still haunts US five years since 9/11 attacks
RELATED BBC LINKS
RELATED INTERNET LINKS
ABC: The Path To 9/11U.S. marks lives lost and hopeful signs of healing
As loved ones recited the names of the dead at ground zero, America paused to remember a calamitous day.
Revisiting the Families - Getting Past the Pain of 9/11 With Steps, Big and Small
How the world remembers 9/11: an IHT/ZDF multimedia feature
Thoughts from Hendrik Hertzberg, Roger Angell and the Economist, as well as a conversation on the subject involving Seymour Hersh, Jon Lee Anderson and Geirge Packer.
Transcript of Bush's speech
Bush says safety of U.S. hinges on Iraq
Editorial: President Bush’s Reality
Bush gets a reaming on MSM! nice.. welcome change*! :)
Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment on Bush:
Who has left this hole in the ground? We have not forgotten, Mr. President. You have. May this country forgive you
(* Matt Lauer recent going after Bush recently over his admission of the existence of US-run secret prisons and torture was more an exception than the rule in MSM. Signs that MSM and the common layman are both finally getting tired of the Bush administration shenanigans: Read the comments in this link to an op-ed piece on the most-recent* admission & justification of these secret prisons as a "vital tool" in the war against terrorists (* The Bush administration has previously defended, justified, rejected and "refused to comment"on this issue.)
Meanwhile, what do the politicians start after yesterdays canned rhetoric (with a focus on Iraq and not 9-11!!) and public posturing...
Bitter partisan election-year squabbles engulfed Capitol Hill on Tuesday sparked by President Bush's 9/11 speech Monday night. Democrats charged that the president was playing politics with the memories of 9/11, and Republicans questioned whether Democrats are more interested in protecting terrorists than the country.
oh well... expected behavior some would argue.. for eg., read this excerpt from an interesting article from earlier this week, titled: Politics, the Media and 9/11):
Surveying the political landscape, veteran prognosticator Charlie Cook recently noted, "Unless something very dramatic happens" in the coming weeks, Democrats will reclaim control of the House of Representatives this November as part of an electoral "rout." It's that caveat about something "dramatic" that has Democrats worrying--not because they necessarily fear a terrorist attack on American soil but because they fear another signature terror scare from the Bush Administration.
The most succinct proof of Bush's politicization of his 9-11 speech, from Boston Globe's DC bureau chief:It was a political speech. There wasn't a direct attack on his political foes. But there was a dwelling on Iraq. It's interesting, you know, he has not spoken about Iraq on a 9/11 anniversary, except in election years, 2004 and now. Last year, by the way, he just did a moment of silence on 9/11.Update: More from Froomkin:What's also telling, as usual, is what Bush didn't say yesterday, and doesn't say, period.They want to be afraid. They need to be afraid. Otherwise, they wouldn't need Papa Bush to keep them safe and warm. Otherwise, they might have to come to terms with the failures of conservative ideology.
He doesn't say we won't allow ourselves to be terrorized, and we won't be afraid. (That would run counter to the central Republican game plan for the mid-term election.) He doesn't say that in our zeal to fight the terrorists, we won't give up the qualities that make America great. He acknowledges no mistakes, he calls for no sacrifice, he refuses to reach out to those who disagree with him.
I saw signs of this kind of i'm-more-patriotic-than-you games to come up soon leading up to the Nov elections when the Democratic party expressed outrage over ABC-TV's "The Path to 9/11" movie (ABC altered the docudrama under pressure)... and of course kooky Rummy-speak earlier this month* where he was back to spewing his usual nonsense about how unpatriotic it is to criticize Bush and his policies..
Meanwhile, if polls are to be believed, strangely more people blame Bush admin for 9-11 and also Keith Olbermann surges past Paula Zahn in the ratings. Nice.. given the spunk he showed to criticize Bush last night.. (see earlier email below)!
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If you missed this Rummy-speak earlier this month..
* In a speech to the American Legion...where he said stuff like - 'America faces an undifferentiated fascist menace. Bush's critics are appeasers who don't understand the lessons of history who blame America first and hate freedom' and also craptalk of 'success of terrorist groups in "manipulating the media" to influence Westerners.'
I must have missed this story some years back.. did not realize that there was some amateur footage of the first plane hitting the towers too...
Must have missed this in the plethora of information about 9-11 ...was/am so jaded with all the coverage of that day that I do not want to see any of the various movies and documentaries on 9-11 that have come out in the past year (especially the last 2-3 months leading up to the 5th anniversary). In fact, I have not even bothered to read what the brouhaha over the 9-11 Commission findings was... though I probably should read at least the Executive Summary of the Final Report.
However, because of all the many many many many many many A+ 4/5 star raving reviews , I want to someday see the Brit-made movie, United 93 by Paul Greengrass...
I was reminded of the movie as I read this gloating review by Jai Arjun Singh... (Jai Arjun also refers to a fine review by Falstaff.) I usually enjoy Jai Arjun's various movie & book reviews - so, when he praises the movie, I think it may be good. In his review, he points out that Ebert says that the movie’s success stems from its deliberate refusal to see The Big Picture. Hmm... I usually have been a proponent of seeing the big picture but from an emotional visceral movie-going experience standpoint, maybe getting involved in the story of those on the plane is critical - forgeting and putting aside the big picture for some time!
And last but not least, while we remember the 2973 victims of 9-11, let us not forget that the count of American soldiers dead in the Iraq misadventure Bush has led the country using the pretext of 'revenge' for that day is eeriely around the same # today...
Total Fatalities: 2984
Operation Iraqi Freedom: 2,654
Operation Enduring Freedom: 330
(Updated September 11, 2006)
And not to forget those dead soldiers from other countries who have died in these two wars. And yes.. you know I cannot finish the mail without mentioning the 50,000 odd people dead in Iraq due to American bombings.. and an unknown high # in Afghanistan too...(most innocent civilians - NOT collateral damage - how I hate that term!!!) .. try reading out all the names of these people in a ceremony!!And so, while the people of the US remind us that we should "never forget" 9-11 (agreed!), I also ask people (through the right column at my blog, which has various links ) to Always (also) Remember!
P.S.
1. And what better day to 'celebrate' the 5th anniversary of 9-11 than shoot doves with Republicans?
2. Or maybe you buy into the conspiracy theory that there were no planes!! (haha.. have heard a few different conspiracy theories around 9-11 but this one takes the cake... you saw it but it didn't happen ;))
3. Objectivity is perhaps in the eye of the beholder, some would argue.. anyways, what its worth here is something to read and ponder or dismiss as a conspiracy theory.
9/11: FIVE YEARS LATER, A TIME FOR TRUTH
An objective examination of increasingly popular Sept. 11 conspiracy theories
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