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Similarities between 9/11 and Jan. 6 are striking

| October 12, 2021 7:00 AM

To the editor:

I’ve been thinking about writing this letter for some time, but decided to wait until after the 9/11 anniversary commemorations, which have now gone by.

Wow! Twenty years since international terrorists attacked our nation in New York

City, the Pentagon and Flight 93. I want to specifically write about Flight 93. When the towers went down and a plane flew into the Pentagon, it was obvious we were under attack. The passengers and crew on Flight 93 discovered they were in the middle of being part of that horrific day’s machinations.

They took action. They could have done nothing and allowed the foreign terrorists to fly the plane into another landmark, likely the U.S. Capitol building. Instead, they made their choice. And they took a damn vote.

It wasn’t rigged. The outcome wasn’t stolen from a passenger who thought the vote should have gone the other way. They weren’t robbed. They voted, took action and one of the heroes on United Flight 93, Todd Beamer, said, “Are you ready? OK, let’s roll.” He and the other heroes on the flight saved the Capitol from extensive damage and saved an untold numbers of lives of people working in and around the building.

The perpetrators of the heinous acts of terrorism that day were international terrorists who spent months planning how best to strike fear in the American people and disrupt the workings of our government.

On Jan. 6, 2021, again, after months of planning, the very same thing almost happened. These were domestic terrorists — criminals and seditious individuals — who carried the American flag and hefted thin blue line flags. Later, as they surged forward to spread their hate, they too were shouting, “Are you ready” and “Let’s roll”,

Except this time, not to save the Capitol, but to destroy it and our democracy! They actually beat the men in blue with the thin blue line flags and the stars and stripes.

The two instances are near identical. The 9/11 international terrorists weren’t protesting. Neither were the January 6 insurrectionists. They both were trying to do the exact same thing: Disrupt the regular proceedings of our government.

The insurrections hoped to change the results of a legal election for the President of the United States based on a lie. Quick news flash: hate, bigotry, racism and the big lie lost!

As the men in blue were defending our nation’s capital against these domestic terrorists, they were beaten, sworn at and called racist names. The insurrectionists were all followers of former President Donald Trump — the guy who started the big lie even before the election. They had bought into the lie. Logic and reasoning were beyond them.

What have we become as a nation?

Now, these very same people, the people who bought into the big lie, have been told to drink bleach, ingest fish aquarium cleaner, take medicine designed for farm animals and shove an ultraviolet light up their backside, all to cure or prevent COVID-19, a virus that has killed more than 650,000 American citizens. Have we gone nuts?

Any civilized nation whose citizenry can be talked into becoming insurrectionists and domestic terrorists based on a lie and use these crazy remedies, based on lies, to combat a virus should not be able to leave and travel abroad and spread their seed or the lie to other countries.

Just stay home in your little bubble, living in your alternative universe. The world will be a much better place as a result!

Don Wilkins

Libby