September 11th, 2001. 9/11. It’s a day, like many others, that people remember exactly where they were when it happened. It was a surreal moment to watch what was going on in New York City, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

It was a day when four coordinated Islamist suicide terrorist attacks were carried out against the United States by al-Qaeda when 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners and used them as weapons. The 19 terrorists hailed from four countries – 15 of them being citizens of Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates, one from Egypt and one from Lebanon.

The 9/11 attacks have killed thousands in total and ignited a multi-decade global war on terror – which was made political by the Democrats whose allies in the media couldn’t stand Republican President George W. Bush and had a constant death count of U.S. soldiers to upset Americans and turn them against the country’s fight against terrorism.

According to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the attacks killed 2,977 people from 93 nations: 2,753 people were killed in New York; 184 people were killed at the Pentagon; and 40 people were killed on Flight 93.

42 of the victims have Michigan connections which can be read about here.

Even more Americans have died as a consequence of the attacks after-the-fact. ABC News reports, “New York City Fire Department has added 43 new names to its World Trade Center Memorial Wall commemorating firefighters, paramedics and civilian support staff members who have died from illnesses related to the rescue and recovery efforts in the aftermath of one of the darkest days in U.S. history. The additions to the memorial wall bring the total number of FDNY members who have succumbed to post-9/11 illnesses to 331, which is nearly equal to the number of firefighters killed in the Twin Towers on the day of the attacks.”

The terrorist attacks showed the worst of Muslims but the best of Americans, who reached out to help their fellow Americans at the site of the attack and in the cities where they happened. Much time and money was donated by Americans to help in whatever way they could with the terrorist attacks uniting the country together (at least for a while) in patriotism, grief, fortitude and generosity.

Fast forward 22 years…It’s been reported that the Biden administration is currently negotiating plea deals with the five masterminds behind the 9/11 attacks, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Held up by legal proceedings for more than two decades, there is still no trial date set for any of them.

The families of 9/11 victims, along with members of Congress have urged the Biden administration to abandon their plea negotiations with the Guantanamo detainees if it means it could remove the possibility of a death sentence. According to the Death Penalty Information Center website, on September 6th, President Biden rejected some of the terms requested by the detainees as part of a possible plea deal, but not the possibility of removing death as a penalty.

The website continued to say, “In the letter submitted by some 9/11 family members, they ask President Biden to ‘prioritize the interests of the victims of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks over those of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or other terrorists; that you not bow to the demands of any embarrassed government officials willing to sacrifice transparency.’”

They said a similar request was also made on August 23rd by 32 Republican Members of Congress and one Democrat, who also sent a letter to President Biden, writing, “We owe it to the victims and their families to deliver justice – and that should mean the death penalty for these murderers.”

The war on terror and all of the after-action reports about what we missed and what we did wrong are now over – and ignored – and replaced by open borders and terrorists easily coming into the country across our open borders. And the war in Afghanistan has been replaced by the war in Ukraine – but this time, it’s a war being spent with tax dollars and weapons and not American lives.

September 11th is now a federally-recognized National Day of Service and Remembrance. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I definitely agree with the remembrance part but having it turned into a day of service has always irked me a little.

However, seeing how many Americans reached out in service on and after 9/11 has softened my opinion about it a bit – and everyone should be able to spend their time and money in whatever manner they choose.

So if someone wants to honor the 9/11 victims by cleaning up a lake, volunteering at an animal shelter or buying a veteran a free lunch, more power to them – as long as we remember WHY we are volunteering our service – which is to honor all of those who gave their lives on 9/11 in a war that many never knew they were a part of.