No matter what the record shows, there will always be the nay-sayers who have no trouble ignoring facts as obvious as the noses on their faces.
Monday was the 10th anniversary of the horror we call simply by the numerals that mark its point in time. Anyone who watched the minute-by-minute film record of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center buildings broadcast by cable networks such as Fox, MSNBC and CNN - and had any doubts about what happened and who made it happen - has a serious gap in their ability to process information clearly presented.
They exist, however, laughably calling themselves "truthers" despite their obvious inability to recognize the truth even when it stares them straight in their clouded eyes. How they can look at the films showing such horrors as the suicidal leaps of our fellow human beings trapped in the flames and still convince themselves that the whole thing was a hoax thrust on us by the Bush administration and the federal government is simply an astounding reaction to the plain truth faithfully recorded by plain citizens with cameras.
Those who fail to understand that this was an act of war committed by terrorists fail to understand that there are those who hate us, and hate our way of life, and are willing to go to any lengths to inflict serious harm on this nation and do it for all the world to see.
The idea that recognizing that a state of war exists between the people of the United States and those who would inflict a worldwide Islamic dictatorship on the people of the United States seems to have escaped the notice of the self-described "truthers."
Prominent among them is an academic, ultra-leftist and somewhat disoriented New York Times columnist, one Professor Paul Krugman, who viewed the ceremonies surrounding the recognition of 9/11 as mere hucksterism. In a column called "repugnant" by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Krugman pilloried as shameful those who want to commemorate this great American tragedy.
I'll tell you want is really shameful - it's the vision of this leftist academic dancing on the graves of the victims of 9/11 from the safety of his office. Civilians, firefighters and other first responders willingly went into the jaws of certain death in an attempt to rescue their fellow New Yorkers trapped in the two doomed towers. We all know of their heroism and stand in awe of their willingness to serve in those dark hours. Demeaning those who celebrate the heroism of those who risked their lives - or died trying to rescue their fellow human beings - is simply beneath contempt.
I'm certain that the souls of these heroes of 9/11 willingly forgive the likes of Professor Krugman from their refuge in paradise. Down here in the trenches of the war against terrorism, forgiveness doesn't come all that easy. We are entreated to pray for our enemies. So mutter a prayer for Professor Krugman. Although he probably doubts the power of prayer, he needs all the prayer he can get.
• Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution." Visit his website at www.reagan.com, or e-mail comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com.
