Garrison, who understands words, also understands that words are communication between persons. The victims of September 11, 2001 deserve to be heard.

God knows what crass use the Republicans and their War President will make of "9-11" this election year. Glad Garrison got his bit in first.

Beautiful. Bravo.

A prayer for those voices to be heard...

Thank you so very much Mr. Keillor. Everything you say is so right, and yet it makes me sick to my stomach to know that so many bought into the "Current Occupant's" photo-op and side-show of those days. The bit about Guiliani, I had not heard (of course). November, hopefully, will tell the tale of who is listening now, and if not, then all I can say is God help us all!

I am currently working on the anti-horse slaughter bill HR No. 503, nearing another vote on Sept. 7th in the House. My very own Congressman, Bob Goodlatte,Republician, of the Virginia 6th, chairman of the Agriculture Committee where the bill now is, opposes the passage of this bill to outlaw this horredendous treatment of our American horses. I am disappointed in him beyond words, and am told that he has strong ties to the slaughterhouse industry. There are horrific photos of their treatment that have to be looked at. They are almost more than I can bear to see. BUT, like these phone calls that you have told us about on that fateful morning, as hard as it would be to hear the terror and desperation in these voices, they should be heard.

Mr. Keillor, what is to be become of our once proud, wonderful country if better, more decent people cannot be found to be our leaders? shelby staples

The events of 9/11 may have been a public tragedy, but each of the victims died a personal death.

It seems to me an invasion of privacy to release the recordings. People reached out for help. Some knew they were dying and reached for comfort. Did they know they were being recorded? Did they know their words would become fodder in a political battle? Did they know their friends, families and children would have to hear them die?

When my time comes I hope I remember to make sure there are no tape recorders running, or that someone loves me enough to protect my final thoughts, words and prayers from the media.

If I get the differential fixed, you can ride in my Olds convertible when you campaign through Detroit.

A very touching and thought-provoking piece, Garrison. Thanks so much!

Right on, Garrison Keillor. Tell truth to power. This guy's writing is a credit to Salon.

it is typical that this sad event is manipulated as a pretext for irrelevant hegemondery. (I made that word up)

I only wonder what new events will be manufactured to drive the next election. Only Rove knows for sure.

Good on you Garrison for going for the throat. I like the pieces oriented to daily life, but we need you here,on the national scene, in your enduring brilliance, also.

Death used to be a public event. Funerals were public and soldiers who died in war were mourned and honored.

Now we hide all of that. We don't want to hear about funerals or anything about the soldiers. We don't want to hear about the carnage of 9/11 or the carnage of Iraq. We want it all pushed away and hidden so we don't have to think about it.

Pretty soon our wars won't be public events anymore, either. They'll be completely private affairs held entirely at the discretion of the president. Soldiers who die or get wounded in a war will simply vanish, never to be seen again. Those who tell tales of the war will be arrested for treason. When the war is finally over (if ever), and revealed to a surprised and grateful public, we'll happily erect monuments in our public squares with the names of the glorious and lucky survivors. They were all winners! we'll think. And we'll feel so proud to have been true patriots who slogged forward in the dark and stayed the course.

"The 911 operators took thousands of calls and had no information to give. Police helicopter pilots, who had a clear view of the infernos and could see that the buildings were going to collapse, couldn't get word to fire chiefs on the ground, who, unable to see the fire, sent their men up the stairs to die. Official bungling cost those men their lives.

In the end, what we crave is reality. The woman crying on the 83rd floor was real."

Firstly, it occurs to me that Keillor sounds like he is saying the public's desire for a (lurid)sense of immediacy trumps other concerns. I hope this is not what he means, although it really isn't clear.

Secondly, there is a difference between respect for the dead, a real value, and the supposed "privacy rights" of the dead, a conceit manufactured by people who want to create a "right" to cover their asses. Keillor is correct to object to that. Someone's last words, if recorded, are potentially evidence illuminating the circumstances of how they died, no less so than forensic evidence obtained from an exhumation of somebody's remains.

Put me in the invasion of privacy camp. If their loved ones choose to, perhaps that's ok.

But you know what we really need? The voices of those the American public don't hear and understand.

I can't remember the last time I saw any substantive coverage of a Palastenian who was killed.

How about the voice of someone during torture from extraordinary rendition?

These are voices worth hearing, deserving to be heard, if the privacy issues are addresses. So are many others.

It's wrong for 9/11 to become nothing more than a symbol for American hatred for use for revenge, akin to 'remember the Alamo' (take half of Mexico in a war based on a lie!) or 'remember Little Big Horn' (genocide against Matives!) or 'remember the Maine' (seize Cuba!) etc.

It's a bit like the issue of fairness in a criminal trial, when the tragedy of a victim can lead a jury to feel such a huge need for 'righting the wrong' that the defendant begins to lose the presumption of innocence as the available target for the desire for revenge. It's the same with war, when fixating on victims can demand more war.

Works for both sides. Just ask the Hatfields and the McCoys.