I feared Trump would crap all over the ceremony marking the 25 anniversary of the 9/11 attack at the Pentagon. Surprisingly, he more or less seems to have stuck with remarks loaded into his teleprompter. My opinion is he just wanted to get it over with so he could get on Air Force One for a trip to Ireland as the Irish Open is being held at his course there. No matter. His minion Pete Hegseth did Trump’s dirty work, as in ruining the event for the families by making the whole event about Trump, the Iran War and damned near anything BUT those who died 25 years ago and the brave people, both military and first responders who ran into the flaming wreckage.
This is personal for me and for more than one reason. More decades ago than I care to admit for a time I stood duty at the Naval Command Center up on the fifth deck (they wanted Marine Guards for it, the CNO and SecNav spaces) and that’s where the plane hit. So there’s that. More importantly I got to know two of the families of victims because I was the Cemetery Manager in Herndon, Virginia (right next to Dulles Airport) and arranged both the burials and design of their monuments. I’ll leave out names, but one thing became clear in the ensuing year. They felt largely forgotten by the public. Rudy G. worked feverishly and effectively to make it ALL about what happened in New York City.
Yes, that’s where the greatest damage and loss of life took place. However by a stroke of luck the side of the Pentagon that was hit was mostly empty. It was the first side to be rebuilt (and reinforced) from the inside into a far sturdier structure than it had been. Had any other side been struck the whole section would have collapsed. The plane might even have made it through the inner A-Ring and the conflagration would have damaged A-Ring offices around the courtyard. Upwards of five thousand people typically work in a single side of the Pentagon. However as I said people were only starting to move back into their newly renovated offices and instead of five thousand or so people there were less than a thousand.
Through a stroke of luck the plane hit the section that could most absorb the damage and had relatively few people in it. But there were people who died that day and as I said I arranged the burials of two of them. One was a civilian employee in his thirties who was on the plane. He left behind a widow and two children not yet ten years old. The other was a just retired Navy Captain. He’d turned down a promotion to Admiral because it would have meant a year unaccompanied in central America. A chance to do essentially the same work as a civilian, and a desire to finally spent lots of time with his wife and two children (both barely college age) led to his being at work, settling into his new office that awful morning.
I said all that because as I said I had a special connection to those families, and felt early on Rudy was trying to use 9/11 fame as ‘America’s Mayor’ to run for high political office. I was right as you know. As the years progressed and I moved on from that job I always took some time to think about those two men and their families. And, since most people in this country barely think of the Pentagon victims or the flight passengers crashed into a field in Pennsylvania rather than let it make it to DC I think of so many quiet moments. And doing my best to make sure they knew at least some of us think they and their loved ones are every bit as deserving of recognition as those in NYC.
A memorial was created on the grounds of the Pentagon on the lawn outside where the plane struck. Each year there’s a ceremony and it’s not been uncommon for high ranking people to speak. A simple and dignified ceremony. This year? Knowing both Trump and Hegseth would speak my heart ached for the families. Especially the two I got to know personally. I assumed the 25th anniversary would be marred by bullshit Trump promotion and I was right. I couldn’t bring myself to watch what I knew would be a train wreck and while reading this article from The Independent I’m glad I didn’t. As its headline says, Hegseth clearly didn’t ‘read the room.’ You have to wonder if he told Trump beforehand “I’ve got this – I’ll make sure it’s all about you” before the event began.
The linked article notes how Condoleeza Rice almost apologized in her remarks. Well, she damn well has reason to be sorry because her boss, Bush 41 blew off the warning he got in his final ‘turnover’ briefing with President Clinton about Bin Laden and Al Queeda. In fact they dismantled the Bin Laden unit which had made good progress on tracking them and what they might be up to! But at least she admitted they could have and probably should have done more, that had they done so no one would be gathered at the Pentagon today. Even Trump mostly stuck to his script. Of course he’s Trump so there was some self promotion but considering who we’re talking about it could be said Trumpty sort of behaved.
Hegseth? Nope. As The Independent says he turned what should have been subdued, solemn remembrance of a national tragedy into a ‘Tribute to Trump.’ My heart aches tonight for the families of the victims that they had so sit through that. That instead of remembering the victims and the families and friends with holes in their lives and hearts Petey Boy sucked up to his boss. It keeps being said Trump might dump him after the midterms as he’s grown tired of Pete’s screwups and all the bad PR that’s blown back on him. Trump as we know can’t stand NOT being the center of attention so Hegseth sang his praises to high heaven.
As the linked article notes it should have been an easy task to do the right thing and honor the victims and their loved ones. Instead he railed against Islamic threats and talked up the war he helped talk Trump into starting. Yes, he did mention Flight 77 and the 184 victims of the Pentagon attack but it seems with all the sincerity of a worn out cashier at the end of an 8 hour shift telling a customer to have a nice day. Hegeseth turned his attention to his boss:
He pivoted from honoring the 184 people killed at the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the building’s limestone wall to boasting about how the U.S. has “laid waste to the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism” and praising “warriors” for having “fought an Islamic theocracy … that cheered on 9/11.”
It was both wildly inappropriate and historically ignorant.
In his rush to justify the disastrous war he helped start by linking it to the attacks a quarter-century ago on the building he now runs, he left out the fact that the Iranian government at the time not only condemned the 9/11 attacks in harsh terms but Tehran actually offered assistance to America’s efforts to overthrow the Taliban in the weeks and months that followed.
Unfortunately Hegeseth wasn’t done. In a stark contrast with Rice, who spoke just before him Petey Boy kept piling on praise for his boss:
But Hegseth didn’t stop there. He moved on to praising Trump for waging war against Iran, telling the audience of 9/11 survivors and family members how Trump has “killed their leaders” and “destroyed their Air Force” and sent the Iranian navy “to the bottom of the sea.”
Think about the loved ones of the victims sitting there this morning. They were their to mark the loss of people who could never be replaced – only remembered. And Hegseth made the whole thing about Trump. I hope you’re as angry on their behalf as I am. The widows and families I got to know were likely there although the Captain’s wife would be in her mid seventies by now so who knows? I’m sure the son and daughter were there, and I’m sure the civilian employee’s widow and his son and daughter were as well. It was after all the 25th anniversary, one of those occurrences that stand out some. And Hegseth ruined it. Worse, Trump no doubt loved it and probably thought to himself something like ‘He’s screwed up a LOT but he just showed me why he’s worth keeping around.’
Screw Trump and his craving for the spotlight. Hegseth should never have been appointed in the first place and he’s been nothing but trouble for Trump from the get-go. BOTH of them need to for the good of the country STFU and go away.
Well, it’s a sad thing to contemplate tonight but those victims and their families need, deserve so much more respect than they got this morning. So if you’ve read this please think about them, and in years to come remember them (and the people who died in Pennsylvania) with the same reverence and respect you give to those up in NYC.
Thank you, Denis.