A Message for John McCain; a Message for You

Do you know the name Kevin Cosgrove?

Six and a half years ago, Kevin Cosgrove died.  On the day of his passing, Kevin…46 years old and in good health…rose from bed, kissed the family goodbye, and hurried off to work like so many Americans do each and every morning.  Kevin worked hard in his life, took his responsibilities seriously, and was rewarded with a good job – he was a vice president for insurance giant Aon Corporation.  Unfortunately for Kevin, and thousands of others, his work address on this day…the South Tower of the World Trade Center…was the target of what most consider to be the worst terrorist attack in the history of mankind. 

Kevin Cosgrove became individually famous on that horrible day for a 9-1-1 call he made while he and two co-workers were stranded on the 105^th floor of Tower Two.  The planes had struck, but these men were alive, and it seemed as though it would simply be a matter of time before they were eventually rescued.  Alas, it was not to be; although Cosgrove indeed survived the initial plane crashes, he could not escape the building before it fell.  Cosgrove’s telephone call lasted several minutes, and concludes with a bloodcurdling scream as Tower Two collapses underneath him.  There are several recorded versions of Cosgrove’s last minutes; I have included a link to one below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbOzSeu6sJA

If I am John McCain, and I really want to win in November, I would take clips like this and play them over and over again.  I would do everything I could to remind people about the horrors of 9/11, and then I would keep reminding them.  I would not stop.

Many would be quick to refer to such a tactic as exploitation, and would scream about it far and wide.  But when it comes time to walk into the privacy of the voting booth and cast that ballot, I know that many of those complainers will hear, in their mind’s ear, the screams of Kevin Cosgrove as he perished in what can only be considered an unimaginably terrifying death, and will cast their ballots as they should. 

It is precisely in this area where President Bush has made a huge mistake.  Defense against Muslim terrorists has been the Achilles’ heel of the Democrats, but this administration, quite inexplicably, has allowed the sense of urgency we should all feel about this issue to subside.  Although I was never in favor of an invasion of Iraq (based on what we appeared to know/not know at the time), I was always very much in favor of ruthlessly and relentlessly going after the terrorists, to include a strong incursion into Afghanistan.  While the Iraq war may no longer be an easy sell to many Americans, the specific war against terror is, and yet, curiously, we aren’t seeing much of an effort to remind Americans about the importance of the conflict.  If I was the president, I would do everything I could to rise above the debacle in Iraq and keep the American citizens’ focus on the constant dangers presented by Osama and his minions, to include endlessly showing the sights and sounds of what happened on September 11, 2001.  Speaking for myself, I can tell you that whenever I spend time revisiting news clips or 911 calls or anything related to what happened that day in New York City, I am filled with dread, with sadness, and with great anger.  It does not matter if I happen to be in a positively euphoric mood at the outset – once I begin reacquainting myself with the direct evidence of those horrors, I head right into a tailspin. 

The central problem is that too few of us are capable of recalling, at will, just what things felt like for us Americans on that day, and we have suffered for it.  Until the battle against Islamo-fascist terrorism is won, we should always endeavor to feel what we felt on that day, and allow our acute sadness and anger to play an enormous role in picking our leaders.      

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Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Contributing Editor - www.ChristianMoney.com