WTC Families

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This is a touchy subject and I’m sure I’m going to upset someone. I have noticed that some of
the families of victims of the attack on America (WTC, Flight 57 and the Pentagon) are upset when images are used in politics. My heart goes out to each and every one and I would love noting more than to be able to ease their pain and suffering by bringing their loved ones back, but that will never happen.

I first noticed this last spring when they were at the Richard Clark testimony in front of the September 11th commission. I noticed it again during the RNC convention. I heard it again on the 950 KPRC radio yesterday morning. Some of the families are upset the Judge Ted Poe is using images of the attack in some campaign ads. The story stated that they feel that Poe is exploiting their pain for political gain.

With all due respect to the loved ones who have to deal with the pain of loosing a loved one, but it’s not your tragedy alone. The attacks that day were an attack on your loved ones specifically and our nation as a whole. It is a major event in history. This will be remembered more than the USS Maine, More than the attack at Harper’s Ferry maybe more than the assignation of Archduke Ferdinand.

This event belongs to history and it is also a major policy issue in this election. The heart of the matter is national security and who is going to actively work at making us safer than we are now. It is a matter that has to be discussed in public. The images of that day are painful, they are extremely emotional, but they are not the property of the families.

Those images belong to the entire world for good or bad and should be used to remind people how we felt that day. If we forget, we will not learn the lessons taught to us so harshly that day. Hiding form them because the cause pain is not logical, it is because they cause pain we should look at them. To remind us that yes, we were attacked, that yes bad things can happen if we are not alert, that there are people out there that do want to kill as many of us that they can. It is for these reasons that I think we should look long and often so we do not forget the victims and so we do not allow it to happen again.

Vulture 6