The LuLac Edition #1753, September 11th, 2011

PHOTO INDEX: 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF 911 AND FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY LAURA BUSH AND FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON AT A DEDICATION CEREMONY IN THAT SMALL PENNSYLVANIA TOWN THAT BECAME A BURIAL GROUND FOR TYPICAL AMERICAN HEROES.

10 YEARS PASSED

Ten years ago I was a trainer at the old call center on South Main Street. I had worked the 10pm to 6am shift that Monday training agents about the intricacies of Cendant Membership services. I got home, took a nap but had to move my car so that Mrs. Lulac could get to work. I went back to bed and put on Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio. The guys were interviewing former Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps when the news broke about an air craft flying into a building. I got up, turned the TV on and saw the rest of the coverage. Mrs. Lulac called and we both concluded this was our generation’s Pearl Harbor. Except this wasn’t the Pacific Ocean, this was the East Coast. I went to work and everyone was in shock. One of the people in the class I was teaching wanted to hold a Candlelight Vigil, I knew there was one on the Square and told him he could go to that one if he wanted. A few other class members went. I think it made them feel good. Me personally, I was not in the mood for a holding hands moment of sorrow and tenderness, I wanted to, still do as a matter of fact want to, bomb the bastards to kingdom come. In a few days life returned to a semblance of normal as we worked at 169 South Main Street. In a few months the blood sucker that bought the place would run it into the ground and most of the people there would be laid off and go to other jobs. 10 years has passed since that awful morning. I can’t tell you the names of most of the people I was working with that day, but I can sure describe for you the zombie like expressions they had on their faces a decade ago. For most people this ten year mark might be a little bit of closure. After all a lot can happen to you personally in 10 years. It did to my co workers and of course to me. But I’m not looking for closure, even with the killing of what his face, I still want revenge.

911 TEN YEARS AFTER

Ten years ago today America was attacked by a group of people who set out to destroy us. They brought us down for a while, they scared us and they even made us doubt ourselves. In some ways we overreacted to the threat by going into a war with the wrong country and in some ways we lost many opportunities to become an even more unified nation. (See Tomorrow’s LuLac). We are constantly being threatened by these people and right now we are doing our best to beat them before they hurt us. Ten years after this war is not over, it is ongoing. Currently we are a squabbling lot and seem really divided. Some would say that we might even be ripe for another attack given the venom of the political debate. However one thing remains certain, even with our disagreements, if we are attacked again in the same manner we were ten years ago today, some leader, maybe not of the same political stripe, but an American leader nonetheless will hunt the terrorists down and kill them like the cowardly dogs they are! You can bet on that!

FLIGHT 93

The 40 passengers and crew who fought back against their hijackers aboard Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, performed one of the most courageous acts in U.S. history, former President George W. Bush said Saturday at a ceremony dedicating the first phase of a memorial at the nation's newest national park. The two-hour ceremony also kicked off a bipartisan effort conceived backstage to raise about $10 million to finish the memorial's first phase and maintain it in the future.
The hijackers likely intended to crash the plane into the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., where the House and Senate were both in session, said Jon Jarvis, director of the National Park Service. But the plane "never made it because of the determination and valor of the passengers and crew of Flight 93, that plane crashed in this field, less than 20 minutes by air" from the target, Jarvis said.
Bush said the storming of the cockpit "ranks among the most courageous acts in American history." Former President Bill Clinton likened the actions of those aboard Flight 93 to the defenders of the Alamo in Texas or the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae some 2,500 years ago who knew they were going to die. But Flight 93 was "something different" because those past heroes were "soldiers. They knew what they had to do."
The passengers and crew were, by contrast, "ordinary people given no time at all to decide, and they did the right thing. And 2,500 years from now, I hope and pray to God that people will still remember this," Clinton said. I understand that WNEP's Jon Meyer and WYLN TV 35's Kim Zboray and Ann Gownley were there to cover the event. Look for their coverage this week on those newscasts.

PAUL'S PERSPECTIVE

9/11 Gave Me a New Mission in Life: Winning the War on Terrorism by Matthew Paul
Yahoo! is asking Americans how September 11 changed them. Below is an account from a reader, Matt Paul.
At the time, I was working as a customer service representative for a major medical insurance company. This was a great change of pace for me. Previously, I was a Navy and then an Army civilian and part of the team that won the Cold War. I was part of the peace dividend as I lost my government job in early 1998, and the taxpayers no longer had to pay me. I did what every good civil servant should do -- I accomplished my mission and went home. Now instead of helping the nation prepare for war, I was helping the American people stay healthy.
[Your story: How has September 11 changed you?]
The attacks were brilliantly planned and well-executed. The enemy studied our airport security, down to the smallest detail, and found a weakness in the system that no one in the Western world thought of. The attacks themselves were horrific and cruel. They deliberately targeted innocent civilians who were not given a fair chance to defend themselves, and had little to do with the Mideast.
The soldiers in the Pentagon were working in offices and could not defend themselves as they never expected a civilian airliner to attack the Pentagon. We entered a new and dangerous chapter in modern warfare as innocent civilians replaced soldiers as the main targets. I knew the peace we had fought so hard to win was too good to be true and now it was gone and we had a new war to fight against a determined and tough enemy. This new war would be called the war on terrorism.
The history of the war on terrorism confirmed my worldview. As a Navy and Army civilian, my main objective in life was to help the country prepare for war, win any potential war, and limit our casualties at the same time. Now that we had a new war to fight and win, I maintained that strategy and implement it in my writing career.
I want to win the war on terrorism with as few casualties as possible. That is why I wrote the article, "Naval and Air Power Will Win the War on Terrorism." We can win the war on terrorism by using our advantages in naval and air power, combined with a limited role for our ground forces. This is exactly the strategy the United States and its NATO allies used to win the conflict in Libya and overthrow Gadhafi and put the opposition in power. The United States and its NATO allies provided massive air support to the opposition, and very limited support from ground forces.
I was against the war in Iraq as there was not sufficient provocation, and we relied on our ground forces and have suffered heavy casualties. We upset the fragile political culture in Iraq and now we cannot put the country back together, achieve stability and leave permanently.
Matthew Paul’s other comments can be read on Yahoo’s Associated Content. Here’s the link:
http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/408992/mathew_paul.html