Manhattan museum puts visitors face-to-face with images of terror (LINK)
Gary Marlon Suson sits beside his photographs inside his Ground Zero Museum Workshop,Thursday, Aug. 25 in New York. As the official photographer for the Uniformed Firefighters Association, Suson spent eight months as the only full-time, all-access photographer at Ground Zero during the recovery effort following the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attacks.The end Of innocence
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I can't think of Independence day without thinking about the New York fire fighters that gave it all on September eleventh.
I couldn't talk about it for a month after it happened, but in the days following we became the most fiercely patriotic country in the world. We need to get back to that feeling of being proud of who we are and what we stand for. And what we will not stand for.
I'd appreciate your thoughts on America on it's birthday.
At least a month. I'd notice that there were almost no cars on the streets in Arcata. It tool a long time for people to recover from that.
ReplyDeleteWatching the clip you link brings alot of it back.
What we have here is unique in the history of mankind, precious beyond belief. We have to pay attention, treasure it and protect it.
I am thankful every single day that I live her in this day and time, in this country. That my kids aren't subject to the dangers of the streets in countries where their lives are not - - so much to say, Ernie. So much. Good post. We have everything to be proud of, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Happy Fourth.
Thank-you Rose.
ReplyDeleteI've often wondered what would bring people to the point of fighting for something.
How long can America tell terrorists "You can Run, but you can't hide", then do nothing, and expect to be safe.
Right up front I'll tell you that I hate war. But right up front I will tell you that I would have followed George Bush to the ends of the earth if he would do something about terror. I even agree that Saddam Husain could be compared to Hitler and had to be stopped, but somewhere along the way Bush got distracted. He should have pulled our troops out when he landed on the deck of the aircraft carrier and declared “Mission Accomplished”. That’s the problem with war, it’s hard to know when it’s over.
At some point we need to look deep into ourselves and determine what our motives are; Is it compassion for the downtrodden and oppressed, the need to feel safe in our own country, and help others to be safe in theirs? Or is it power and greed for wealth and oil? When does the fight turn from something honorable, and turn to something terrible?
I feel the guilt of having wanted this war, and now not knowing the right way to get out of it. I understand that an abrupt removal of our troupes will cause many thousands of people to die, just like in Vietnam. If the world would stand with us this Middle East conflict could readily end. United we stand, divided we fall. Yet we stand divided with world opinion against us.
As a Brit in the south of England once told me, “America is a hugely powerful country, and they bear a huge responsibility in the world to do the right thing”, yet he was unwilling to tell me what the “right thing” was!
I stopped singing publicly shortly after 9/11/01. The quiet with no air traffic was deafening. Although, we did observe military jets in formation fly along the coastline.
ReplyDeleteThanks Carol.
ReplyDeleteI know that something in me changed permanently that day, and I have trouble understanding it.
I could watch all the films and hear all the stories and I could stand stone-faced without a problem, but if I tried to talk about it, my lips would quiver and my voice was actually gone.
At first I didn't get the connection of Anne Frank to the Firefighter museum. Then it occurred to me that Anne Franks life was what it would be like to live in terror, and maybe that is why we should fight for the right to not have to live like that.
I didn't want to go to Iraq-sent money to peace organizations, spoke out and wrote-- yet now I'm not sure we can leave. We made a terrible mess and we have an obligation to help clean it up.
ReplyDeleteSomething inside me hardened into solidity that day on 9-11. Those terrorists thought they were heroes bringing attention to the evils they thought America was responsible for.
They thought they were helping.
But They just started another round of suffering. As we Americans respond with violence, aren't we just as guilty of restarting the cycle of death and destruction.
I believe more strongly than ever that violence is almost never acceptable. It almost never helps. Creating suffering doesn't end suffering.
Kym, I agree Iraq is a terrible mess. I agree that we now have responsibilities there. I agree that violence is always bad, and should only be used as a last resort.
ReplyDeleteDo you agree that the terrorist attacks on America had to stop? Do you agree that the only way to stop some terrorists is to kill them? Do you agree that if we pull out of Iraq suddenly and unilaterally, thousands of Iraqis are going to die? Do we care? Is it our fault?
Please take my questions as rhetorical, because I appreciate your comments and do not want to put you on the spot, but these are the questions that I agonize over. I wish that I was one of those kinds of people that could parade up and down the street with a sign that says “war is bad”. .. well pie is also good. What I would like to hear is some viable solution to end terrorism and violence.
As you know, and is often evidenced on these blogs, is that there are people out there that thrive on destruction, and they have no conscience about pushing it on everyone. How do you stop these people?
Rose, I like your avatar. I always thought that the white rose should be the symbol for peace, rather than the olive branch.
ReplyDeleteIt seems more pure and without politics.
I would venture to say that no one likes war. No one wants war. We all want PEACE. But there is more than one way to Peace.
ReplyDeleteIf a mountain lion is killing your livestock, you have to eliminate the problem. You may love mountain lions and hate killing, but still have to shoot it.
I'd also venture that - all rhetoric to the contrary - this 'war' did end quickly. We are not there in the same capacity as we went in.
And we are the only nation on earth that would go in, win, and leave the country back to its own people.
I think you will see a sea change when all of those veterans come back home. They're not gonna take the denigration and attitude that the Vietnam Vets did.
“ It is certain that today every honest German is ashamed of his government. Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes ... reach the light of day?" — From the first leaflet of the "White Rose society. Germany 1941-43
ReplyDeleteAmericans help end the war in germany and stop the killings.
:) Thanks, Ernie. For that and more.
ReplyDelete9/11 was an inside job!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.infowars.com
Peace
Anon, I believe in some pretty far out stuff, but there is to too much evidence that points to what happened being just exactly what it seems happened. Clear up to and including Osama Bin Laden chuckling about the planes hitting the towers. If it looks like a duck… Well you know the drill.
ReplyDeleteNow if you said that flight 800 was shot down, I would give you about a fifty-fifty chance that you are right, because of all of the irrefutable missile sightings. But I still have not been given a good explanation of why. That would be the only reason that I lower it to fifty-fifty. I think that there must have been a terrible accident with a missile and it was covered up.
But 9-11 is probably just exactly what it seems to be, some people just hate us and they wanted to kill us and ruin our economy. They darn near did it. None of the stories that say it was an inside job make sense. The plot is way, way more complicated than the simple truth.
I’ve spent a lot of time through the years worrying about “The Truth”, and I’m pretty good at seeing what “works” and what doesn’t. The twin towers conspiracy doesn’t work for me.
Their plan was brilliantly simple. They couldn't bring explosives so they used the fully fueled planes. They couldn't bring weapons so they used boxcutters. They used the apathy of the people who believed that a hijacking meant they might be diverted to Cuba or something while the highjackers made demands, who never imagined that they would be the weapon.
ReplyDeleteTo avoid suspicion they racked up frequent flyer miles, and appeared to be just ordinary citizens.
No one would have believed you if you told them you knew what was about to happen. they would laugh.
In fact we do too much laughing at what really is a serious threat. From Rambo to other movies portraying the bumbling Arabs trying to blow everyone up as comedic and ineffective, we fell asleep at the wheel. And we failed to retaliate as they struck time and time and time again.
Thus they laughed at us and our weakness, Bin Laden said we would throw a few lawyers at him and that would be all. And then we would go back to our gameboys and our American Idol, and he would be free to plan again. Better yet, we have turned against ourselves to his advantage. He must really be laughing now.
Rose said; “…we failed to retaliate as they struck time and time and time again.”
ReplyDeleteCondaliza Rice said, to the 9-11 commission: “The terrorist threat to our nation did not emerge on September 11, 2001. Long before that day, radical, freedom-hating terrorists declared war on America and on the civilized world. The attack on the Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983, the hijacking of the Achille Lauro in 1985, the rise of al Qaeda and the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the attacks on American installations in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and 1996, the East Africa embassy bombings of 1998, the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, these and other atrocities were part of a sustained, systematic campaign to spread devastation and chaos and to murder innocent Americans.”
19 attacks avoided since 9-11
Rose nailed it! We were so concerned about our image in the world that we let them kill us. We retaliated with nothing but empty threats. They laughed at us and asked, “What are you going to do? Send your lawyers?”
Bush had to stop terrorism, he was so good at it. He didn’t know where or when to stop. And here we are.
In 2000, Greg and I were back east visiting family. On our flight on United Airlines from Boston to San Francisco, at least half of the passengers were of middle-east descent, male, and not smiling. It was one of the same morning flights that hit the World Trade Center. It has made me wonder, if they were testing the flight prior to 9-11-01.
ReplyDeleteBush failed. Bin Laden lives. Bush's own people admit they lied to send our kids to their deaths in Iraq.
ReplyDeleteHey Ernie! How old are you?
ReplyDeleteYou talk like you just crawled out from under a rock!
That emotional clap trap you call patriotism is best left to your parents! You think those so-called terrorist struck America just because they wanted to? They used your kind of patriotism to suck this country right into where they wanted it. Spreading death, destruction and chaos all over the earth. For sure, what goes around, comes around.
http://www.911truthhumboldt.org/
ReplyDeletehttp://humboldttruth.com/
The twin towers had asbestos problems and needed to be redone it would of cost 1 billion dollars to redue it. The property was publicly owned then it was leased for 99 years to robert silverstein, silverstein then took out a huge insurance policy on the building as well as he hired a security team run by marvin bush "bush family" to run the buildings security. They also had the bomb sniffing dogs removed. The new security team was able to rig the building with therimite. Therimite resiue was found on the steel colums of the building this has even publicly be stated by a BYU Professor. This was the reason that there was a molten burning pit of steel under the wreckage even weeks after the event. Fuel from a jet liner cannot and i REPEAT CANNOT reach heats high enough to melt steel. IT would be scientificly impossible for this to happen. Not to mention that both the building fell at almost compleat freefall if you were to drop a rock from the same height it would fall at the same speed an entire steel structure collapsed at. This doesnt make sence to me. The twin towers and building number 7 on the world trade center property were the first steel structure in history to ever fallen from fire. This simply cannot be true and to deny this is wishfull thinking. I belive its hard to exactly pinpoint everything that exactly happened on 9/11 but i think its clear that the officical story we were told was nothing short of a conspiracy theory in itself. Lets not forget about building number 7 this was a building that was not hit by any planes it had a couple small fires burning on a couple of the floors of the building. Yet the entire building fell inwards starting with the middle columns first. This is exactly what a controlled demolition looks like. Plus this building did not get hit by any planes! therefore the jet fuel burning argument doesnt work! What made this building fall? These are serious questions to be asked and i STRONGLY belive as americans we must look into these events. Dont listen to me do your own research but belive me it doesnt take much to see things are not as they seem
- Thanks!
http://www.wtc7.net/
ReplyDeletehttp://www.infowars.com
http://desip.igc.org/WTC7.html
http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/analysis/wtc7/index.html
http://www.wtc7.net/lcache/wtc7.htm
http://11syyskuu.blogspot.com/2006/02/destruction-of-wtc-7.html
http://www.studyof911.com/articles/winstonwtc701/
If you'll go 50/50 on flight 800 Ernie, don't you think you should give just a bit of a handicap here (re. the Twin Towers)?
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your compassion for the firefighters, but I think you are blinded by the smoke.
Someone (or a few someones) hurt us that day- but why in the world do you have such faith in G.W.? Please don't say we must support our President unless you can say with a straight face "Bush was our elected President and we owe him allegiance". You do remember he stole the seat?
You opened with a quote from The White Rose society- well, don't forget the Reichstag. I'm afraid we are looking quite a lot like 'good Germans' and history will probably judge G.W. to be much closer to Hitler (from the use of propaganda to how many deaths he will ultimately get 'credit' for) than Saddam Hussein.