9-11 anniversary

At first I was not going to write about it. I remember that day clearer than most. I watched with horror as a place that holds very special meaning to me was destroyed. I went to college in East Orange NJ. The view from my dorm room was that of the twin towers. I used to hop on the PATH train on many a Saturday after a football game, alone, and go to the top of those towers. New York was a different city up there. Quiet. I could go there and clear my mind and collect my thoughts.

My frat brothers, all from blue collar families, being the first to go to college worked in that area after college. None of them were lost that day, but that didn't stop me from thinking about them constantly in the days to follow as we awaited word about their safety.

My thoughts were about how this happened, and how we would react. When the attacks came in '93, our response was immediate. Despite what the so-called docu-drama said, we lobbed cruise missiles at the camps. Clinton with all his faults, knew who was to blame.

In 2001, Bush sat and waited 7 minutes before he did anything. In those seven minutes we could have had fighters stop the attack on the Pentagon, but we didn't and more lives were lost. People ask me why I despise W and my answer is always the same: Because he waited. Because Donald Rumsfeld ran into the situation room at the Pentagon and was asking for a reason to attack Iraq. Because we waited months before we went into Afghanistan. Because the NSA warned Bush in August that this would happen and he did nothing. And because he conned millions of Americans into believing that Iraq was involved.

Now the Democrats are not without blame. They fell for it hook, line, and sinker. When Kerry had Bush admit that Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11 during the first debate and did not run that sound bite constantly for the next 2 months.

The war in Afghanistan I will always support. Saddam Hussein was neutralized, he was no threat, but we pulled our troops out of the real terror war, and dumped them into a civil war. I can never forgive W for killing our troops when it was not needed.

Things are getting clearer to the American public. A lady who works for me that supported W now has come over to our side. Polls are showing that we will have a shot of retaking the house and senate later this year.

I still cannot forget that day 5 years ago and how I sat in stunned silence as both towers fell. The feeling I had when my wife's dad, a retired DC fireman, told us how many memorial services in NY he played the bagpipes in. That day was an opportunity for W to become what he said he was, "A uniter, not a divider."

Did he succeed?