The OTHER victims of 9/11

We all remember it, that horrific day when a small group of people perpetrated such a horrific act against their fellow man. In my minds eye, I can still see the first plane striking the building, and the dense black plume of smoke that rose from the shattered tower. I can still see the people jumping, in a futile attempt to escape. I am sure we can all dredge up memories of the attack, and the weeks and months that followed it; grime-covered fire-fighters staring with dead eyes at the camera, utterly exhausted; police morning the loss of a fellow officer, and red-eyed relatives near collapse, hanging on to someone for support.

I can still see these images, and many others. We saw them on the T.V, heard about them on the radio, read about them and watched them on the Internet; we all know about the struggles surrounding that day, about the horror, about the heroic actions.

What we don't see, are the heroes who are still dying, the heroes who are suffering and struggling still.

We see Giuliani standing at a podium, attacking Ron Paul about his reasons for the September 11 attacks; we see him tout his achievements, his responses to the tragedy; we see others do the same, but Oh Rudy! You are so very good at it.

We do not see the fireman hooked up the a respirator, his family tearful at his side; the policeman, coughing up blood, scar-tissue throughout his lungs; we do not see Giuliani, or The Administration offering aid, support, and their thanks to these people.

The Mt. Sinai Medical Center reports that of 20,000 people studied after the attacks, 70% of rescue workers suffer from some sort of respiratory illness. A separate study released last month reported that firefighters and rescue workers contracted A study of more than 20,000 people by Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York concluded that, since the attacks, 70 percent of ground zero workers have suffered some sort of respiratory illness. A separate study released last month found that rescue workers and firefighters contracted sarcoidosis, a serious lung-scarring disease, at a rate more than five times as high as in the years before the attacks. (Miami Herald)

If -as we are told time and again- the September 11 attacks were an attack on the entire country, then it is the responsibility of the ENTIRE country, to support, care for, remember, and help those who even now, 5 years later, suffer still.

Even you, Rudy.