Nadia McCaffrey Gold Star Mom On Trump Attacking Another Mom

Nadia McCaffrey is a friend of mine and has been a champion for military, veterans and families ever since her son Patrick was killed in action. Very, very proud of her. 

One of the Gold Star mothers who signed an open letter to Donald Trump says the GOP presidential candidate's criticism of Humayun Khan's mother was "out of place."

Retired Colonel Meets the Man Whose Life He Helped Save on 9-11

Nearly 15 Years After 9/11, Retired Colonel Meets the Man Whose Life He Helped Save
PEOPLE
BY CATHY FREE
07/25/2016

"When I realized that I was looking at the same gentleman, I started to cry and told him I was so grateful that he was still alive," Maness tells PEOPLE. "We hugged each other and neither of us could believe that we were talking again. What are the odds?"

Medical personnel load wounded Pentagon worker into an ambulance outside the Pentagon on September 11, 2001
JOURNALIST 1ST CLASS MARK D. FARAM / U.S. NAVY / GETTY IMAGES

Every day for almost 15 years, Col. Rob Maness wondered about the badly-burned man he'd tried to keep conscious on a gurney after terrorists flew a 757 airliner into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

Did he make it? Was he still alive? Was he able to fully recover and live a happy and fulfilling life?

"It's something I've always thought about, but I never had an answer," Maness, 54, now living in Madisonville, Louisiana, and running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican, tells PEOPLE. "It was always a mystery."

Until now.
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New York 9-11 Firefighters Get Justice Out of New Budget

NY Lawmakers Applaud Passage Of 9/11 Health Bill After Congress OKs Year-End Budget Deal
December 18, 2015

Tale Of The 'Walking Dead'

The 9/11 legislation is named after James Zadroga, a responder who died after working at Ground Zero. It first became law in 2010, and the health benefits expired this fall.

WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/AP) — Congress on Friday sent President Barack Obama a bipartisan a trillion dollar spending bill to fund the government through next September, which includes an agreement to reauthorize the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.

A 65-33 Senate vote on the measure was the last act that shipped the measure, combining $1.14 trillion in new spending in 2016 and $680 billion in tax cuts over the coming decade, to Obama.

The legislation earlier swept through the House on a pair of decisive votes on Thursday and Friday, marking a peaceful end to a yearlong struggle over the budget, taxes, and Republican efforts to derail Obama’s regulatory agenda.

New York’s elected officials applauded the inclusion of the Zadroga Act, which extended federal health monitoring and treatment to Sept. 11 first responders through 2090.

The legislation also would pay an additional $4.6 billion into a compensation fund for victims and extend if for five years.
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Never forget: Central Florida remembers 9/11

Never forget: Central Florida remembers 9/11
13 News Orlando
September 11, 2015

Here's how one homeowner is observing the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks 14 years later. (Mitch Krause, Viewer)

ORLANDO -- Fourteen years ago, an attack on American soil shocked the country and defined a new sense of patriotism.

Lives in the United States — and across the globe — have changed since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Many people will stop what they are doing Friday morning to remember the 9/11 tragedy.
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Fake PTSD Claims in New York Beyond Police Department

The case of police officers faking PTSD for financial gain goes far beyond them. Wonder if they ever thought about it or thought about what this would do to veterans? Somehow I doubt they thought about anyone else.

With Esposito's plea, 87 people have admitted guilt. They must pay $100,000 or more in restitution, and most are expected to complete community service, probation or both. A few have gotten time behind bars.

Prosecutors dropped charges last week against eight defendants, saying that information obtained after their indictments had "led to the determination that these cases cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt."

Ex-officer admits helping others feign psych problems in massive NYC disability-fraud case
Associated Press
Published August 27, 2014

NEW YORK – An accused ringleader of a sprawling disabilities fraud scheme admitted Wednesday he helped coach retired police officers and others to fake mental-health problems to get Social Security benefits.

Joseph Esposito pleaded guilty to grand larceny in a scam that prosecutors say spanned a quarter-century, involved more than 120 people and netted tens of millions of dollars. The retired officer is the top defendant, at least thus far, to admit guilt in what Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. has called a massive case of "gaming the system," sometimes through invoking the trauma of Sept. 11.

Esposito's lawyer, Brian J. Griffin, said his client "acknowledged that in his role as a disability consultant, his actions crossed both an ethical and legal line.

"For that he has taken responsibility," Griffin added.

If Esposito, 65, keeps a promise to cooperate with prosecutors, he'll be sentenced to 1 ½ to 4 ½ years in prison and $734,000 in restitution.
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Green Berets Afghanistan Veterans Donate History to 9-11 Museum

Green Berets Donate Never-Before-Seen Photographs To 9/11 Museum
CBS News New York
August 15, 2014

Photograph donated by the Green Beret Foundation to the National September 11 Memorial Museum. (CREDIT: Green Beret Foundation)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Green Berets who served in Afghanistan are donating never-before-seen photographs to the National September 11 Memorial Museum.

Before the War in Afghanistan began — only a month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — less than 300 Special Forces soldiers went into Afghanistan on a mission that continues today, 1010 WINS’ Roger Stern reported.

“It’s not in the headlines, you don’t see a lot of it, but right now in the dusty, remote villages of Afghanistan, Green Berets are living and working among Afghan villagers, continuing to try to find ways to help them stand up for themselves,” retired Green Beret Col. Scott Mann said.

When those soldiers returned home, they realized they have a treasure trove of photographs, which they’re now giving to the 9/11 museum.
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Author tracked Indiana National Guard Women for 12 Years

Sept. 11 Changed Everything: Following 3 Women In The National Guard
by NPR STAFF
August 10, 2014

In spring 2001, three women enlisted in the Indiana National Guard. Each had her own idea of what a stint in the Guard might mean — free education, a sense of purpose, extra money. But just months after they signed up, the Sept. 11 attacks occurred and what they thought would be a couple days of drills each month turned into long overseas deployments.

In her new book, Soldier Girls: The Battles of Three Women at Home and at War, Helen Thorpe follows the lives of Desma Brooks, Michelle Fischer and Debbie Helton for 12 years. Thorpe talks with NPR's Linda Wertheimer about the soldiers she profiled and what they took away from their experiences in the National Guard.
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Troops sent into Afghanistan 12 years ago tomorrow

With little fanfare, Afghanistan War drags into 13th year
Stars and Stripes
By Heath Druzin
Published: October 6, 2013

Monday marks 12 years since the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, and for a conflict that’s been seemingly forgotten by most Americans who’ve grown weary of war, it seems fitting that the anniversary should be overshadowed by a domestic story: the federal government shutdown.

More than a decade since the U.S. launched Operation Enduring Freedom on Oct. 7, 2001, there are still 54,000 American troops in Afghanistan. That is more, by far, than at any time during the first seven years of the war, yet these days, they garner scant news coverage. Most recently, Syria’s civil war and the use of chemical weapons as well as the federal government shutdown have buried Afghanistan news, even as Americans continue to die — four were killed were killed within a week in so-called insider attacks just at the end of September.

“There is a bloody war happening, and no one is talking about it,” said Ahmad Majidyar, an Afghanistan expert at the American Enterprise Institute and a frequent adviser to the U.S. Army.
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Veteran Who Funded 9-11 Monument Says Vandalism Disgraceful

Veteran Who Funded 9-11 Monument Says Vandalism Disgraceful
KATC News
by Erin Steuber
Posted: Sep 11, 2013

As Americans around the country, and the world, paused to remember September 11th, a startling find in Lafayette. 35-year-old Salvador Perez is facing charges of criminal damage to a historic building, or landmark, and criminal trespassing. If convicted, he faces a fine up to one-thousand dollars, and two years in jail.

This is what he's accused of doing to the monument:

Police were called there early this morning to find two cardboard planes on the beams from the Twin Towers. There was also a cardboard cutout of former President George W. Bush, holding money and what appeared to be a remote. And on a nearby building, a drawing of a sniper, aiming at the monument.

It's a story that's receiving some national attention, not just because of when it happened, but where.

It was one year after the attacks, that the monument was put up in Lafayette. The beams, from the Twin Towers in New York; The dirt, from that field in Pennsylvania and the limestone is from the Pentagon. It is in every way a true representation of a national tragedy and that's why some say what happened is so disrespectful.
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Logan Airport freaked out travelers with 9-11 drill on 9-11

Boston airport apologizes for 9/11 training drill
NBC News
By Sophia Rosenbaum
September 11, 2013

A training drill at Boston's Logan International Airport on an airport tarmac on the 12th anniversary of the September 11 attacks was swiftly criticized and lead to an apology from airport officials.

The airport announced on Facebook it would be running a drill that would include smoke on the airfield at about 10 a.m. People quickly reacted to the post and were outraged that the airport would conduct a drill on Sept. 11.

“Purposely inducing smoke, fire and alarms at an airport on 911 is nothing more than terrorism,” one woman posted.

Airport officials released a statement shortly after the drill apologizing for conducting the fire training exercise.
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Mother Fights For Memorial Justice After NYPD Cadet Was Killed On 9/11

Salman Hamdani's Mother Fights For Memorial Justice After NYPD Cadet Was Killed On 9/11
Religion News Service
By Omar Sacirbey
Posted: 09/10/2013

(RNS) It’s been five years now that Talat Hamdani has been able to talk about her son without crying, but she still prefers mostly not to tell his story.

“It’s all over the Internet,” she said.

She’s stopped talking about how she initially didn’t worry when her son, Mohammad Salman Hamdani, who was a cadet with the New York City Police Department, didn’t answer his cellphone that night; about how police questioned her and her husband when authorities couldn’t find their son’s body, to see if he had any terrorist connections; about the New York Post headline a month after the attacks — “Missing – Or Hiding? – Mystery Of NYPD Cadet From Pakistan,” that cast him as a suspect in the 9/11 attacks.

She’s mostly stopped talking, but she’s still fighting for the recognition she says is due her son.

Hamdani’s remains were found five months after 9/11 at Ground Zero, next to his medical kit. He had been headed to his job as a research technician at Rockefeller University in midtown Manhattan but apparently detoured to the World Trade Center, voluntarily, to help.

Hamdani received full police honors at his 2002 funeral, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly both praised his heroics. His name was cited in the Patriot Act as an example of Muslim American valor, and on the first anniversary of 9/11, Kelly presented Talat Hamdani with a police shield in her son’s honor.

NYPD officials promised they would “always be there” for her. “But everybody disappeared,” she said.
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September 11 remember the National Guards

The news carries a lot of reports on September 11th but it is important that we start paying more attention to the National Guards and Reservists. Here are a few facts.

National Guards since 2001 Posture Statement 2014
Over the past decade, Guard members have deployed more than 750,000 times in support of operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, the Sinai, the Horn of Africa, and other locations across the globe. Our nation has invested tens of billions of dollars in the National Guard and it has yielded a return that has produced one of the best trained, best equipped dual-mission forces in our 376-year history. The National Guard also blends military and civilian skills, including substantial untapped cyber expertise well-suited to understanding and working in an increasingly complex global environment.

Battle Ready
Since 9/11, National Guard Citizen Soldiers and Airmen have been mobilized by the Army and Air Force more than 750,000 times in support of the overseas missions, some multiple times. This does not include hundreds of thousands called up during that same period by their states for emergency response.

Over 115,000 former and current Army National Guard Soldiers have mobilized more than once since 9/11.

Air Guardsmen filled over 56,000 Air Force manpower requests in FY12. Nearly 90 percent of those were voluntary.

More than 19,500 Air Guardsmen deployed to more than 60 countries and every continent last year.

Since 9/11, the Air National Guard has deployed almost 250,000 Airmen, including over 185,475 who have served in support of overseas contingency operations, 42,000 of which have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Since 9/11, our Air Guard has flown some 290,900 sorties and over 951,220 flying hours in support of overseas contingency operations.

Since 2001, the Air National Guard has flown more than 5,050 sorties and logged more than 8,000 flying hours intercepting air threats to America in support of the Aerospace Control Alert mission.

The Air Guard provided the great majority of fighter-bombers that deployed to Afghanistan during FY12, 70% of all A-10Cs and 85% of the F-16s.

Army Guard fixed-wing crews logged 48,000 flight hours (6,000 8-hour days) hauling more than 60,000 passengers and 2 million pounds of time-sensitive and mission-critical supplies to Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, and the Horn of Africa in FY12. Nearly half of current Army Guard Soldiers are seasoned combat veterans, many with multiple overseas deployments.

Eager to serve, Army Guard retention is at 99%.

Eighty percent of our Guardsmen have joined since 9/11.

America’s investment in upgrading the National Guard to an operational force has produced Soldiers and Airmen with training and capabilities that mirror the active component.

An experienced, equipped, and trained National Guard provides the nation a cost-effective force proven on the battle field and unequalled in domestic response.

Why National Guard and Reservist Suicide Numbers May Be Misleading
New York Times
By ANDREW W. LEHREN
May 16, 2013

One aspect of suicide statistics that is often overlooked – in large part because it’s so hard to quantify – is the number of National Guard and Reserve members of the various branches of the armed service who commit suicide when they are not on active duty.

Army Guard members and reservists appear to have higher suicide rates than active-duty soldiers, according to research and published Pentagon reports. These numbers, which are already escalating well above comparable civilian levels, may also be undercounting the problem by not counting all the National Guard members and reservists who are not on active duty, some experts say. That is because those deaths are often handled by local coroners who may not document that they involve members of the military.

“The Reserve does not get the same kind of data as the active Army,” said James Griffith, a researcher recently retired from the Army National Guard. Because the data is not kept as carefully, Guard and Reserve suicide totals are undercounted, he said.

September 11th firefighter and first responder to Pentagon succumbed to injuries

This headline got my attention and that is pretty sad because it was not the word "gay" that did it. It was everything that came after it. Firefighter, first responder, Pentagon and September 11th. Who decided that what people do in their personal lives mattered so much they had to be added to a headline? While there are many articles that should include this disclosure, it was not necessary here.

Gay firefighter, first responder to Pentagon on 9/11, dies
Washington Blade
By Lou Chibbaro Jr.
June 7, 2013

Phillip Curtis McKee III, a businessman, stained glass artist and firefighter who was among the first to respond to the fire at the Pentagon caused by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack, died May 31 at a hospital in Fairfax City, Va. He was 41.

Family members attribute McKee’s death to complications from injuries and illness linked to three days of fighting the Pentagon fire following the 9/11 attack, including inhalation of toxic dust, a severe leg injury that resulted in him being wheel chair bound, and a prolonged bout of post-traumatic stress disorder.

McKee’s husband and partner of 15 years, Nopadon McKee, said the injuries forced Phillip McKee to retire from his job as a firefighter due to disability. Although he displayed “tremendous courage” in persevering as an artist, businessman, and author over the next 12 years, the injuries and his struggle with PTSD took its toll, Nopadon McKee said.

“He succumbed to his injuries,” a statement released by the family says.
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Hundreds of angels filled the field after Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville

'A field of angels'
Author to host book signing in Jackson for memoir on 9/11 and United Airlines Flight 93
Jackson Sun.com
June 6, 2013

Lillie Leonardi was one of hundreds of law enforcement personnel, including FBI agents and other first responders who gathered in a field near Shanksville, Pa., only hours after United Airlines Flight 93 plowed into the ground there on Sept. 11, 2001. Like everyone that day, she saw the devastation of the plane crash and the loss of human life.

She also saw what she has described many times as hundreds of angels appear on the field near the crash. Despite the shock of the aircraft crash and the angelic vision, the former community outreach specialist performed her duty along with everyone else sent to the site.

“It took me a moment to get a grip. I sucked it up, and I did what I had to do,” she said in an interview with The Jackson Sun. For 13 days, amid myriad other duties, she served on and off site as liaison between the FBI and the United Airlines Humanitarian Team.

The events of that day became in her mind “a film that repeatedly rewinds and plays back time and time again.” Diagnosed with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), she retired from her position with the FBI in 2008. In addition to writing books, which sprang from personal journals she started keeping as a part of the healing process, Leonardi is a regular blogger for the website Huffington Post.
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Landing gear of plane that hit Twin Tower found

NY police: Landing gear part found, is tied to 9/11
By Chelsea J. Carter and Rob Frehse
CNN
updated 6:52 PM EDT, Fri April 26, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Authorities will decide after an inspection whether to sift the soil for remains
The part was discovered behind the site of a planned Islamic community center
Surveyors called police on Wednesday, saying they found "damaged machinery"
Police believe the piece is part of a landing gear from one of the 9/11 airliners

New York (CNN) -- A piece of one of the airliners that hit the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, has been found behind the planned site of an Islamic community center near ground zero, the New York Police Department said Friday.

Part of a landing gear was discovered wedged between 51 Park Place -- the site of the controversial community center -- and another building just blocks from ground zero and "includes a clearly visible Boeing identification number," police said in a written statement.

The part was discovered Wednesday by surveyors hired by a property owner. They called 911 to report that they'd found "apparently damaged machinery," the police said.

Part of a landing gear was discovered wedged between 51 Park Place and another building. "The NYPD is securing the location as it would a crime scene, documenting it photographically ," the statement said.
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PTSD: Many struggle, few tell

PTSD: Many struggle, few tell
DVIDS
Holloman Air Force Base Public Affairs Office
Story by Staff Sgt. Carolyn Herrick

HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. - When you meet an Air Force gunner, what's the first thing you want to hear? "War" stories, right? You want to hear what missions he's been on, what he's seen, and where he's been. You might sit in awe as you hear about when he was a first responder after the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. He might even show you a picture of himself, all geared up in an MH-53 Pave Low, with Ground Zero smoldering below him, or of the inside of his helicopter, splattered with the blood of his battle buddy ... who almost didn't make it and now suffers from severe traumatic brain injury.

But what he might not tell you when he tells those stories is how all that affected him. And you'd never bring it up, would you? You'd never stop him in the middle of a terrifying tale and ask, "So, are you doing OK now? How's your family life? Do you ever think about suicide?"

Suicide: a word that brings the conversation to a screeching halt. But the reality is, many military members who have those "cool" stories to tell also struggle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, never seek help, and either contemplate or commit suicide.

Master Sgt. James Haskell, who is now stationed here, struggled with PTSD for years before he sought help. He was a gunner who responded after 9/11, and he has those photos. He spent most of his 21-year career in Air Force Special Operations Command, with more than 20 contingency deployments. Most of the things he saw or experienced didn't really affect him until nearly 10 years later.

"The symptoms were very insidious," the Haverhill, Mass., native, said. "It's not like one day I was fine and the next I wasn't. I noticed things like my stress level building, but not coming back down. I was unable to relax, I was becoming forgetful, I wasn't sleeping well, and I was short-tempered. I started experiencing stress-related physical symptoms like chest pains, muscle soreness, weight gain, and feeling anxious all the time."
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CIA veteran on what ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ gets wrong

A CIA veteran on what ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ gets wrong about the bin Laden manhunt
By Jose A. Rodriguez Jr.
Washington Post
Published: January 3

Jose A. Rodriguez Jr.is a 31-year veteran of the CIA. He is the author of “Hard Measures: How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Saved American Lives,” written with former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, who also contributed to this essay.

It is an odd experience to enter a darkened room and, for more than 21 / 2 hours, watch someone tell a story that you experienced intimately in your own life. But that is what happened recently as I sat in a movie theater near Times Square and watched “Zero Dark Thirty,” the new Hollywood blockbuster about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

When I was head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center from 2002 to 2004 and then director of the National Clandestine Service until late 2007, the campaign against al-Qaeda was my life and obsession.

I must say, I agree with both the film critics who love “Zero Dark Thirty” as entertainment and the administration officials and prominent senators who hate the movie for the message it sends — although my reasons are entirely opposite theirs.

Indeed, as I watched the story unfold on the screen, I found myself alternating between repulsion and delight.
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Afghan war enters 12th year

38 minutes ago
Afghan war enters 12th year
By AMIR SHAH AND DEB RIECHMANN
The Associated Press
Published: October 7, 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan — Nobody wants a repeat of the bloody ethnic fighting that followed the Soviet exit from Afghanistan in the 1990s — least of all 32-year-old Wahidullah who was crippled by a bullet that pierced his spine during the civil war.

Yet as the Afghan war began its 12th year on Sunday, fears loom that the country will again fracture along ethnic lines once international combat forces leave by the end of 2014.

"It was a very bad situation," said Wahidullah, who was a teenager when he was wounded in the 1992-1996 civil war. "All these streets around here were full of bullet shells, burned tanks and vehicles," he added, squinting into a setting sun that cast a golden glow on the bombed-out Darulaman Palace still standing in west Kabul not far from where he was wounded.

"People could not find bread or water, but rockets were everywhere," said Wahidullah, who now hobbles around on red-handled crutches.

The dilapidated palace is a reminder of the horror of the civil war when rival factions — who had joined forces against Soviet fighters before they left in early 1989 — turned their guns on each other. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed.

Fed up with the bloodletting, the Afghan people longed for someone — anyone — who would restore peace and order. The Taliban did so.

But once in power, they imposed harsh Islamic laws that repressed women and they publicly executed, stoned and lashed people for alleged crimes and sexual misconduct. The Taliban also gave sanctuary to al-Qaida in the run-up to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. When the Taliban refused to give up the al-Qaida leaders who orchestrated 9/11, the U.S. invaded on Oct. 7, 2001.
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Soldier's son visits fire stations on 9/11 to thank firefighters

Soldier's son visits Rock Hill fire stations on 9/11 to thank firefighters
Published: September 15, 2012
By Andrew Dys
Herald columnist

Nobody made Makai Byrd go visit all six Rock Hill fire stations on Tuesday.

The 8-year-old went on the urging of his mother, sure, and she did the driving, but he wanted to go see these places himself after school.

His father was not around to go.

“My dad is in Afghanistan,” said Makai. “He’s in the Army. That’s his job.”

On Tuesday, Sept. 11, Eddie Byrd was in a place that time forgot, except the time that started with Sept. 11, 2001.

Eddie has been deployed to Iraq, twice, in the past decade. He was on a plane trying to get home eight years ago when Makai was born. Eddie did not make it in time.

People on the plane drank a toast to the soldier in uniform, cheered the birth. Eddie missed the birth of his son by two hours.

Capt. Eddie Byrd grew up in McConnells in western York County. He has been in the military for more than 20 years.
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Looking for God in the wrong places on 9-11

Looking for God in the wrong places
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
September 12, 2012

Last night I was watching The Four Crosses at Ground Zero.

"As rescue and recovery began, fireman, police, and rescue workers would be forced to endure the nightmare of working and living inside Ground Zero. Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into hopelessness as the reality of what had happened sunk in. While working in Building 6 in the World Trade Center complex, workers discovered a cavernous type hole in the debris."

As I listened to some of the people there, while I thought it was a beautiful story, I kept thinking of what was missing from the program.

It is easy to wonder where God was on that horrible day as other people decided such evil acts were justified when they used everything in their power to kill. Where was He? Why didn't He stop it? How could a loving God allow it to happen?

We ask those questions all the time. We suffer in our lives, then try to figure out why God thought we deserved it. What did we do to make Him turn away from us?

If we search for Him in the dirt and debris we are looking for Him in the wrong place.

God was on those planes that hit the Twin Towers and the Pentagon as much as he was on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. He was not the pilot but He was the comforter. When one hand reached out to comfort someone else, He was right there. Whenever people push past thoughts for themselves to think of someone else, He is there.

Many wonder why He didn't just cause the hijackers to suffer a heart attack an spare so many innocent lives. Others wonder why He just didn't stop them from doing it. The truth is in the Bible that God does not interfere with freewill so He would not have just snatched the hijackers out of their seats. Still how do we know He didn't try to get them to change their hearts?

It is natural for us to ask what caused other humans to do such horrible things but we miss the other question about what causes so many to do compassionate things afterwards.

What caused the police and firefighters to rush into the buildings after pure evil struck them? What caused them to climb the stairs over and over again trying to save as many lives as possible after others tried to kill as many as possible?

While the evil that man does is apparent, the good they do is inherent. It was not just public employees risking their lives that day, there were average citizens in the Towers thinking of others instead of their own lives. Some of them could have survived had they used the time they had to think of their own lives, but they had the lives of others in their thoughts and actions. It was God driving them to do for others and they had the freewill choice to allow His voice to guide them or not.

But then there were smaller miracles. Survivors reached out to help others. Strangers took the hands of other strangers, put their arms around people they would have normally just walked past under normal circumstances. Then people rushed to the area to give whatever help they could.

Days passed while more and more people showed up to help find survivors and recover bodies. God was still there hearing the prayers of the nation and comforting the weary as they refused to leave.

Families of the missing were comforted by others while the time of hope faded into thinking of funerals for when the remains were found.

Every street across the country became decorated with flags and so did our cars. We were all thinking of others glued to our TV sets and reminded to be kinder to other people.

Even members of Congress joined together on the steps side by side. And we know it took a miracle to do that.

Whenever we look for God in what has been lost, we miss where He was all along.