17 Means Victory

17 Means Honor

via Badass of the Week:

"...Rick Rescorla died almost exactly [17] years ago today.  He was at his post on the 44th floor of World Trade Center Tower 1 on September 11, 2001, when a psychotic madman flew a passenger airliner into the building.  When the Port Authority came over the loudspeaker in the building and ordered everyone inside to stay put, Rescorla muttered "Bugger that Blimy Poppycock" (or something equally British) under his breath, and flipped his brain right back into Commanding Officer mode.  It wasn't his first time dealing with a terrorist attack on his place of employment – in 1993, when a truck bomb went off in the basement of the Tower, Rescorla had evacuated his offices, helping everyone out until he was the last man to leave the building – and he wasn't taking any chances this time either.

  

He grabbed a bullhorn and personally ran up and down the 22 floors that encompassed Morgan Stanley Dean Witter headquarters, quickly and calmly getting everyone out of their cubes and down the stairs.  Rushing up and down the building despite the fact that he was 62 years old and dying from terminal bone marrow cancer, Rescorla didn't even consider slowing down until all 2,700 of his co-workers were safely out of the burning building.  When he saw how terrified the men and women he worked with were, he went back to his old standby of singing British folk songs to try and cheer them up.

He was last seen on the tenth floor of the World Trade Center, headed up.  Of the 2,700 people he had been charged with protecting, all but 6 survived the terrorist attack."....... 

Rick Rescorla, Officer Moira Smith, Todd Beamer, Chef Benjamin Clark, Mark Bingham, Welles Crowther, Fire Marshall Ronald Bucca and so many others--they gave it all.

While the focus is on Sept. 11, neither should we forget the heroes and victims of the 1993 WTC attack. (Or Benghazi, either.)

Wiki: "The bombing claimed the following six victims:

• John DiGiovanni, age 45, a dental products salesperson.
• Robert (Bob) Kirkpatrick, age 61, Senior Structural Maintenance Supervisor.
• Stephen Knapp, age 47, Chief Maintenance Supervisor, Mechanical Section.
• Bill Macko, age 57, General Maintenance Supervisor, Mechanical Section.
• Wilfredo Mercado, age 37, a receiving agent for Windows on the World restaurant.
• Monica Rodriguez Smith age 36, a secretary, who was seven months pregnant."

Pregnant? Then that makes seven Americans.

"At the time of the bombing, Smith was checking time sheets in her office on the B-2 level. Kirkpatrick, Knapp and Macko were eating lunch together in an employees' break room next to Smith's office. Mercado was checking in deliveries for the restaurant. And DiGiovanni was parking in the underground garage.

A granite memorial fountain honoring the victims of the bombing was designed by Elyn Zimmerman and dedicated in 1995 on Austin J. Tobin Plaza, directly above the site of the explosion. It contained the names of the six adults who were killed in the attack as well as an inscription that read: "On February 26, 1993, a bomb set by terrorists exploded below this site. This horrible act of violence killed innocent people, injured thousands, and made victims of us all.".......

No, we foolishly did that to ourselves.

"The fountain was destroyed with the rest of the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks."

And then we did it again.

The difference between, say, Pearl Harbor and now: we didn't have mobs at airports howling "Let them in! Let them in!"

Or presidents telling us Japanese Imperialism is the Philosophy of Peace.

Rick Rescorla certainly never forgot it the '93 Terrorists. It was a dry run for Sept. 11, only failing to level the Twin Towers then because of bad bomb-engineering.  And despite an able prosecution by Andy McCarthy, it was basically shrugged-off by the Establishment.

Which, in so many ways, is the story of our times.

Washington Times:

From the SEAL raid, bin Laden in 2007: "...as you are aware, Iran is our main artery for funds, personnel, and communication, as well as the matter of hostages."

Mr. Phillips said there is a history to the al Qaeda-Iran relationship that predates the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. For example, Hezbollah, a creation of Iran in Lebanon, trained al Qaeda terrorists in bomb-making.

Hezbollah and al Qaeda both played a role in the 1996 Khobar Towers truck bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 Americans.

"Iran allowed members of al Qaeda to travel freely through Iran without stamping their passports, including at least eight of the 9/11 hijackers..."....... 

Yet knowing this, Obama made the Iranians responsible into billionaires.

Remember this the next time you hear him call for a "return to sanity".

Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.

He just did it.

Honor

]Why Sept. 11?--UPDATE:

"The Turks laid siege to Vienna in July of 1683. Lacking enough true siege cannons to reduce the city's defenses, they dug a series of parallel trenches surrounding the city, each one closer to the walls than the last. From these trenches they had placed gunpowder beneath the walls of the city, and by Sept 11 had blown them down in a significant number of places. On the 11th, the Turks struck! They surged out of their trenches, screaming like demons from hell. By a major stroke of fortune, the Viennese had detected the latest tunnels under their works and had managed to disarm the explosives. Desperately the Hapsburg army fought to keep the invaders out of the city, the Holy Roman Army holding the left flank, fighting man to man. All day the fighting raged, and it resumed on the 12th. By mid-afternoon both sides were exhausted, though it looked like the Turks would finally carry the day. At 4:00, however, a group of men appeared on the right flank of the Christian lines. Emerging from the forest were King Sobieski of Poland and his heavy lancers. Hesitating for a moment at the crest of a hill to form ranks, down they charged, King Sobieski at the forefront, straight into the Turkish lines!

The Ottoman Turks were impaled upon the lances and crushed under the hooves of the King Sobieski and his men, and Christendom was saved. So if anyone ever asks “Why Sept 11th?”, now you know. The hijackers wanted a symbolic date, this time they were sure that they were striking a blow to bring down the West, and getting revenge for the defeat of the Turks 318 years earlier. Ask Osama, he'll tell you. Oh, wait, you can't. He's deader that Kara Mustafa Pasha (The Turkish commander at Vienna, he was executed by his men for having failed to take the city)."