Nearly a decade after the 9/11 attacks, Ground Zero in New York City remains both an open wound in the American psyche and a forge of renewed national purpose. Controversy over the inclusion of a “mega-mosque” and Islamic community center has drawn this singularly tragic tourist destination into sharper focus in recent days. But in profound ways, we have never stopped paying attention.

Today, American men and women fight on distant battlefields against a resilient enemy motivated by that same ideology that spawned those horrific scenes that for the briefest of moments, brought the USA to its knees. The latest front-line recruits were only children on the verge of adolescence when it all went down. Hateful dead-enders who consider Osama bin Ladin a prophet and hero will continue to take inspiration from 9/11 for decades to come, leaving murder, destruction and endless war in their wake.

In the Shadow of The Towers

I walked in the skeletal shadows of unfinished towers last year, astonished to see this place still indistinguishable from any other...More >>