The Week

At a luncheon in New York, attended also by Hillary Clinton, the actor Alec Baldwin referred to two “catastrophic events” that hit America: September 11, of course, and the 2000 presidential election. Mr. Baldwin forgot a third: his reneging on his vow to leave the country if Bush won.

The six-month mark in the Terror War was observed in New York by a moment of silence during the St. Patrick’s Day parade (so many of the dead firemen and cops were Irish), and by the illumination of two pillars of light, spectral Trade Towers, shining from Ground Zero. New York being New York, there is an intense squabble over what should stand on the site permanently: new buildings plus a memorial? What sort of a memorial? Let us save the permanent commemoration until we have, in fact, won. Meanwhile, ordinary American visitors are showing the proper spirit. St. Paul’s Chapel on Broadway is the oldest religious building in Manhattan (Washington worshiped there when he was president) . It is blocks from Ground Zero, and the line to one of the viewing platforms snakes around its iron fence, which has become an iconostasis of tributes: flags, hats and shirts, messages. All bear printed or handwritten names of people and places, paying tribute by these tokens. New York after 9/11 has become the Alamo. The country remembers. Our enemies will learn.

Featured Tags

At a luncheon in New York, attended also by Hillary Clinton, the actor Alec Baldwin referred to two “catastrophic events” that hit America: September 11, of course, and the 2000 presidential election. Mr. Baldwin forgot a third: his reneging on his vow to leave the country if Bush won.

The six-month mark in the Terror War was observed in New York by a moment of silence during the St. Patrick’s Day parade (so many of the dead firemen and cops were Irish), and by the illumination of two pillars of light, spectral Trade Towers, shining from Ground Zero. New York being New York, there is an intense squabble over what should stand on the site permanently: new buildings plus a memorial? What sort of a memorial? Let us save the permanent commemoration until we have, in fact, won. Meanwhile, ordinary American visitors are showing the proper spirit. St. Paul’s Chapel on Broadway is the oldest religious building in Manhattan (Washington worshiped there when he was president) . It is blocks from Ground Zero, and the line to one of the viewing platforms snakes around its iron fence, which has become an iconostasis of tributes: flags, hats and shirts, messages. All bear printed or handwritten names of people and places, paying tribute by these tokens. New York after 9/11 has become the Alamo. The country remembers. Our enemies will learn.