Uncommon Commentary #209: We Will Never Forget What?

In the immediate aftermath of the disasters of 11 September 2001, many of the people of the USA solemnly proclaimed "We will never forget"; within weeks, though, people did forget all about the attack upon the Pentagon, and were using "Ground Zero" to refer exclusively to the site of the remains of the World Trade Center. (That tragedy wasn't even the first attack upon the World Trade Center, and the 1993 bombing of the twin towers wasn't the first incidence of terrorism on US soil; in 1954, Puerto Rican separatists murdered five Congressmen on the floor of the US House of Representatives.  It's astonishing how few Yanks have any knowledge of this.)  The calamity at the headquarters of our armed forces may not have been as deadly as that in New York, but that doesn't mean that it ought to be ignored.