Fifteen years after the planes hit the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, many wounds have healed — though some never will, particularly for those whose loved ones’ names are once again read today at Ground Zero.
Yet as many as a quarter of Americans are now too young to remember that grim day. Slowly but inevitably, it’s becoming history that most only know of through books and video — not by having watched the news live.
Yet remembering the attack — and marking it — is vital, not only to honor the nearly 3,000 slain, or because it altered history, but also to never forget the Islamist enemy who remains every bit as hateful and as dangerous.
The 9/11 attacks shook markets and hobbled the economy; New York City took much of the blow.
A vast swath of downtown lay in ruins, with damage spread over blocks; much of the Financial District remained a “frozen zone” for weeks. The area lost 58,000-plus private-sector jobs, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli noted in a report Tuesday.
Today, the neighborhood has remade itself, with vastly more residents and ’round-the-clock life than before. That’s testament to New York’s indomitable spirit — but the comeback wasn’t easy, and many feared for downtown’s future.
Government bungling, legal nightmares and political squabbles delayed World Trade Center rebuilding for years. Who can forget how Team Pataki’s plans for the Freedom Tower failed to address NYPD security concerns, forcing a redesign that cost an extra year by itself? (We took to calling Ground Zero “Pataki’s Pit.”)
Ultimately, it was the private sector that led the way — most notably, developer Larry Silverstein forged ahead (on spec!) with a sparkling, 52-story skyscraper to replace wrecked 7 World Trade.
Soon the area was drawing marquee names, like Condé Nast and Time. And the Freedom Tower (aka 1 World Trade), PATH terminal and the Fulton Street transit hub projects are all finally done.
True, the job count today is still down some. But it’s growing: DiNapoli says downtown’s 228,300 private-sector jobs are the most since 9/11.
And there’s that residential boom— more than doubling the area’s population, from 22,700 in 2000 to 49,000 in 2014.
Indeed, as Steve Cuozzo notes in today’s Post, the district is thriving: With fancy new bars, hotels, restaurants and parks, “downtown is eating the terrorists’ lunch.”
If only the War on Terror had seen such progress.
Immediately after the attacks, the country was united in its commitment to wipe out terror. The Bush administration launched a quick war in Afghanistan against al Qaeda and its Taliban hosts.
Alas, the unity fizzled, as losses there and later in Iraq fueled opposition to military action. Last week, Hillary Clinton issued a sweeping vow: “We are not putting ground troops into Iraq ever again,” she said. “And we’re not putting ground troops into Syria.” Ever?
(In reality, US troops are on the ground in both countries right now, countering ISIS. But Clinton plainly doesn’t want us to even think about it.)
Sure, SEAL Team 6 dispatched Osama bin Laden, and “core al Qaeda” is a shell. But ISIS has wreaked havoc for more than two years. And despite setbacks in Syria and Iraq, its tentacles now reach all across the globe.
Al Qaeda-linked and other jihadi groups have sprung up, too — not to mention “lone wolves.”
The world has paid a horrible toll: in Nice, Paris, Brussels — Orlando, San Bernardino, Boston, Fort Hood . . .
Meanwhile, President Obama in effect gave terror-sponsoring Iran a green light to build nukes — if not today, then a few years down the line. And the billions Washington is shipping to Tehran will help.
Scarier yet: Fifteen years after 9/11, the nation’s leaders still have no clear strategy for how to end the Islamist terror threat. Attacks here and abroad increasingly seem the norm, with no sign the Age of Terror will ever end.
And that’s another thing to mark on this anniversary: As memories of the 9/11 horror — and life before it — continue to fade, the West is on the verge of resigning itself to the status quo, with thousands of lives lost each year, huge sums spent on “homeland security” and background fear a constant.
It doesn’t have to be. The civilized world — with America leading the way — has ample means to deal with the scourge.
What’s been missing is the will.