9/11 at the Movies
by Sharon Hughes

It’s hard to believe that September 2006 will mark five years since the 9/11 terrorist attack on America. Is our nation now ready to revisit this unthinkable tragedy on film?

I don’t know if you’ve seen the newly released movie “Flight 93” yet, but President Bush did at the White House theater recently with relatives of some of the 40 passengers and crewmembers portrayed in the film.  White House press secretary Tony Snow, who was also there said, "It has a very powerful ending. It is dead silence as the credits roll, and you hear sounds of quiet sobbing in the room."

While my husband and I took in another movie last night we saw the preview of “World Trade Center” the movie to be released on August 9th, about the true story of John McLaughlin and William J. Jimenez, the last two survivors found under the rubble of Ground Zero and the rescuers who never gave up on them. It stars Nicolas Cage who plays one of these two NY port authority police officers.

Much has happened since 9/11. Afghanistan and Iraq have had democratic elections. Saddam Hussein is on trial for crimes against humanity. Women are voting, girls are getting an education, and much more, despite the terrorist insurgents who do not want Iraq or any other Arab nation to be ruled by democracy, and are desperately trying to prevent the inroads of freedom into their tyrannical systems.

I’m not that old, but I remember the threat communism posed in the 80s before it fell, and I’ve done enough research and viewed enough documentaries to see what it is like under dictators such as Hitler. We are witnessing the same thing today with radical Islamists who want Islam to dominate the world.

On a History Channel segment about Hitler the commentator stressed the fact that Westerners, especially, even when they read the facts and hear the bold, unashamed statements of those aspiring to rule the world, don’t really believe it until the aggression is in full swing and starring us in the face. Such is the case I believe with Iran’s President calling for Israel to be wiped off the map.

Author of "Islam's Plan to Change the World", Professor William Wagner, who I’ve had on the show several times, says the conflict between Islam and the West is not just a clash of cultures - it is a head-to-head confrontation between a religion intent on world dominance and a culture that doesn't understand this. I frankly don’t understand why we don’t understand, but perhaps as we view “Flight 93” and “World Trade Center” it will sink in.

Sharon Hughes is President of The Center for Changing Worldviews and a radio talk show host on KDIA in  San Francisco, RIGHTALK.com, and online at Oneplace.com. Her column appears in many recognized news sites and publications, most recently FRONTPAGEMAG and NewsBusters.org. For further information visit her Website www.changingworldviews.com.

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