Debra Burlingame, whose brother Charles was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, finds comparisons between the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed her brother and thousands of others, and the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot “profoundly disheartening.”
“These two events are fundamentally different in nature, scope and consequences. Mentioning them in the same breath not only diminishes the horror of what happened on 9/11; it tells a false story to the generation of Americans who are too young to remember that day nearly 20 years ago.”
Burlingame points out in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal the loss of life from the attacks, the hundreds of victims whose remains are still unidentified, and the practical and economic costs, the shutting down of the US airspace and the Stock Exchange, pointing out that on January 6, 2021, Congress resumed sessions the evening of the riot.
