It was a somber Sunday, as we looked back to the events that shattered our sense of security ten years ago yesterday.  In DC and across our nation, people gathered to remember the attacks of 9/11 and the lives lost.   For some, it was a relaxing Sunday and for others a chance to give back to our communities.  We are just as unified, as we were when we learned of these attacks.

However, when I was reading the New York Times this morning, I happened to come across Paul Krugman’s op-ed piece slamming the commemorations of 9/11 and slamming then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and President George W. Bush for cashing in on the tragedy.  Krugman further accused them of using 9/11, as a cause to fight in Afghanistan and referring to it as “an occasion for shame.”

9/11 is not an “occasion for shame” as Krugman states, rather it is a time to reflect and remember the events that unfolded ten years ago.  Families lost loved ones, our country became more unified and grieved together.  Our leaders did what they believed was right in terms of defending our nation from further attacks.

While Krugman has the right to publish whatever he wishes, he should really be ashamed of saying that 9/11 created opportunity for war.

Tags: 9/11, Afghanistan, George W. Bush, New York Times, Paul Krugman, Rudy Giuliani

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I’ve been on travel the past week, visiting with college administrators, staff, and students. I’m often asked by concerned young people: “Has it ever been this bad before?”

Oh, my yes. When I was your age, I tell them, 300 American cities went up in flames after Dr. King was assassinated, riots in the streets turned huge areas of America’s cities into no-go zones. Bob Kennedy was assassinated en route to a likely presidential nomination. Three hundred young Americans were dying in Vietnam every week, with no strategy for victory and no end in sight. Inflation was rampant and few Americans could see our country healing after such terrible divisions.

But heal she did. Last week, I witnessed American troops coming home from Iraq in two of our major airports. Welcoming committees cheered them wildly. What a great improvement on the sullen indifference that greeted too many of our returning Vietnam vets. One of my pool pals–guys I swim with every morning–was one of those Vietnam vets who came home to no welcome. Today, he joins the welcomers in applauding our magnificent troops. God bless you, Bob Hogan!

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Tags: Bill Clinton, Ernest Furgurson, George W. Bush, Martin Luther King Jr., Norman A. Graebner, President Barack Obama, Robert Kennedy, Robert Reich, Roger B. Taney, Rush Limbaugh, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sarah Palin

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