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Keller @ Large: Lessons Of 9/11 Not Forgotten

BOSTON (CBS) – A couple of listeners e-mailed me wondering why I didn't talk about the anniversary of the 9/11 mass murders Thursday, and I can assure you that was not an oversight.

I wanted to see how we marked that grim milestone, after several years of what has seemed to be growing public complacency and waning memories of exactly what that terrible day was all about.

A day later, I'm reassured that we haven't forgotten the lessons of 9/11.

Mostly, this is thanks to the savages of ISIS, so profoundly ignorant that they think their videotapes of beheadings and slaughter and enslavement are helping boost their hideous brand. Instead, they are on the verge of achieving the impossible, uniting unlikely allies around the world and within the US.

You won't be hearing any serious adult voices claiming the crimes of ISIS are a "failure of human understanding," as Gov. Patrick once naively described 9/11. The American public has already made it clear they understand ISIS and its homicidal intentions all too well, and even some Arab leaders with a track record of disinterest in human rights are appalled enough to at least promise action.

Americans are also saying they don't want our troops back in ground combat over there, and who can blame them, even if some of the president's critics claim it's a mistake to make that promise?

After what we've gone through, no wonder the message to Washington is: let the natives take the biggest risks.

No, we haven't forgotten 9/11, or lost our grip on how to prevent another one. It's a cold, cruel world, and the war on terror appears to be the cost of survival in it.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

Keller at Large Sept 12 2014

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

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