President Bush has been lampooned for years by the left for his reaction to hearing about the WTC attack on 9/11. He was reading “The Pet Goat” to some school kids when an aide came in and whispered in his ear news of the attack. Instead of jumping up running out of the room hysterically, Bush played it cool and finished reading the book. It only took 9 minutes to finish reading the book and then he left the room to take control of the situation. Bush has said since day one that he reacted the way he did for the sake of the children. It was a group of 6 and 7 year olds and he didn’t want to frighten them. He also thought it was important that as the leader of the free world he act in cool manner and not let his emotions get out of hand.

Those little kids are now 16 and 17 year olds and they’re speaking out for the first time about that day. They’re thankful to President Bush for reacting the way he did and believe his critics have it all wrong.

All sorts of similar kid fears started running through Mariah Williams’ head. “I don’t remember the story we were reading — was it about pigs?” says Williams, 16. “But I’ll always remember watching his face turn red. He got really serious all of a sudden. But I was clueless. I was just seven. I’m just glad he didn’t get up and leave because then I would have been more scared and confused.” Chantal Guerrero, 16, agrees: even today she’s grateful that Bush regained his composure and stayed with the students until The Pet Goat was finished. “I think the President was trying to keep us from finding out,” says Guerrero, “so we all wouldn’t freak out.”

…Dubrocq, now a junior at Riverview High School in Sarasota, doubts he’d be a student in the rigorous IB, or international baccalaureate program, if he hadn’t been with the President as one of history’s most infamous global events unfolded. “Because of that,” he says, “I came to realize as I grew up that the world is a much bigger place, and that there are differing opinions about us out there, not all of them good.”

Guerrero, today a junior at the Sarasota Military Academy, believes the experience “has since given us all a better understanding of the situation, sort of made us take it all more seriously. At that age I couldn’t understand how anyone could take innocent lives that way. And I still of course can’t. But today I can problem-solve it all a lot better, maybe better than other kids because I was kind of part of it.” Williams, also a junior at the military academy, says those 9/11 moments spent with Bush conferred on the kids a sort of historical authority as they grew up in Sarasota. “Today, when we talk about 9/11 in class and you hear kids make mistakes about what happened with the President that day, I can tell them they’re wrong. Because I was there.”

They also had a few words for left wing filmmaker Michael Moore who immortalized the classroom scene in his faux documentary, “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

One thing they’d like to tell Bush’s critics — like liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, whose 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 911 disparaged Bush for lingering almost 10 minutes with the Booker students after getting word that two planes had crashed into New York’s World Trade Center — is that they think the President did the right thing. “I think he was trying to keep everybody calm, starting with us,” says Guerrero. Dubrocq agrees: “I think he was trying to protect us.” Booker Principal Gwendolyn Tose’-Rigell, who died in 2007, later insisted, “I don’t think anyone could have handled it better. What would it have served if [Bush] had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?”

Click over to Time to read the rest of the piece. It’s a good one.

Here’s footage of Palestinians dancing and cheering in the streets on Sept. 11, 2001.

Here’s President George W. Bush addressing the nation from the Oval Office on the evening of 9/11/2001. This is another moment I will never forget. Every American was watching that night to see what the president would say.

Here’s President George W. Bush giving an impromptu speech via bullhorn to rescue workers at Ground Zero. This was on Sept. 14, 2001 — only 3 days after 9/11. This two-minute off-the-cuff speech has become an iconic symbol of 9/11. In my opinion, this is one of the most presidential moments in history.

[Breitbart TV]

Norah O’Donnell is one of the dumbest anchors on cable news. She constantly demonizes, race baits, smears, and generally acts like a jackass.

Take a look at this tape of 9/11 hijacker Ziad Jarrah. During the recording of his martyrdom tape which was supposed to be his last words — he can’t even keep a straight face. He recorded his last words more than a year before the 9/11 attacks.

I just can’t get over the fact that Jarrah and the rest of the hijackers lived among us for years before they committed their atrocity. Think about the kind of discipline it took to know they were in this country for a single purpose — to kill as many Americans as they could. Every single day they spent on American soil was in preparation for the 9/11 attacks.

So when you hear liberals downplaying the threat from Al-Qaida, just think about the dedication and the commitment those hijackers had to seeing us all dead.

Lan astaslem: Arabic for “I will not submit/surrender”

Hat tip to Michelle Malkin for getting the above translated. Everyone should read Michelle’s 9/11 anniversary message.

As we mourn the loss of of our fellow countrymen 7 years ago, it’s important also to remember that the fight is not over — not by a long shot.

The radical ideology that led to 9/11 is alive and well in the world and Americans must not be fooled by those who seek to downplay the threat or blame America for the attacks.

The International Herald Tribune has a detailed account of how 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, was captured and interrogated. Learn about a soft-spoken CIA analyst named Duece Martinez who became instrumental in the interrogation of high profile terrorists.

The article offers some amazing insight into how the War on Terror was conducted in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and how we’ve managed to prevent new attacks. The men and women who work behind the scenes both in the U.S. and around the world to keep our country safe are true heroes.

The mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, and his co-conspirators appeared today in a Gitmo courtroom for the start of their military tribunal.

All five defendants face execution if found guilty. Mohammed told the court today that he welcomes death and hopes he’s executed so he can become a Martyr.