"18 years ago today" feels like yesterday when America changed forever

in the sense that it is no longer the eternal sanctuary for guaranteed freedom from

the foreign terrorist attacks and security.

I was having a golf vacation with three other couples in Northern Michigan.

It was a gorgeous early autumn day, and we stopped by the pro shop after playing

9 holes. We couldn't believe what we were looking at the TV.

The rest, of course, is in the history book.

America somehow has managed to wake up and has avoided any recurrence of

attacks so far.

America certainly continues to need the right kind of political leadership more so

than ever before for the sake of this vast country, as well as the wellbeing of planet earth.

It was the second day of my new job in California. In August 2001, I moved from Rhode Island to California.

I was getting ready to go to work around 6 AM. I turned on the TV and I saw the World. Trade Center in smoke.

 Since then, the U.S. has engaged in a string of actions that are doubtful of its cause for the national interest. I am 

not quite sure it is right for justice and democracy. War in Afghanistan and Iraq war created Alquita and 

ISIS. It led to a mass in Syria. Taliban are still vibrant in Afghanistan and U. S. is negotiating with them for 

the honorable retreat. In fact, the U.S. has lost the war to the Taliban after so many lives are sacrificed and billions of dollars

were wasted. I am afraid that it will end like the Vietnam war. Kissinger called honorable withdrawal, but it was 

the way of disguising defeat.  Since the Korean War, the U.S. has spent soldiers and weapons doing war games.

It must stop because the budget deficit is growing and it will catch up to our daily lives.

How could we forget such tragic day, buddies!

I was in Rome to deliver the lectures to IUP World Congress and it was in the middle of the session in the afternoon I had to moderate, when I saw many people/audiences in the room got startled with rushing in and out to disturb the meeting so that I asked the audience to remain quiet till I learned there has been a disaster in New York.

Soon after my session was over, I rushed out to watch the TV with a shock. Besides, I found out I can't go back to the U.S. to Washington DC as planned, to stop over for a week before I get back to Seoul - I was still in Seoul to work for SamSung Medical Center!-, so that I had to change the schedule to come right back to Seoul instead of Washington DC.

But, so many colleagues from the States were literally stuck in Rome with no way to return to the U.S. for a week. But some like Peter Gloviczki of Mayo who has a background in Europe took advantage to go home country to visit the family- Peter had his mother in Hungary so that he went back to Budapest to spend one week till he was able to get back on the road to Rochester, MN-.

Nevertheless, my wife with other colleagues' wives, at the same moemnts, on way to the shopping mall learned one lady got an urgent call from her son in Milan saying there is a big disaster on going in New York. Soon, my wife found out it was World Trade Center where our first daughter- a partner of Wilmer-Hale law firm in DC - goes to visit one of their offices in WTC regularly so that we were all panic with the fear. But, thank God, we got a call that she changed her visit schedule to WTC office on that particular morning so that she narrowly escaped the tragedy, though one of my close friends, Bob Hobson of New Jersey Med School lost his son who had an office at WTC, and subsequently developed myelophthisic anemia, literally hsi bone marrow dried up by this agony in my thought and died by its complication.

Hope it never happens in this country again!

BB Lee

P.S.  To me, you sound like Trump, Dr. Ohn, but in reality, it is like the beginning of the rationale to withdraw the U.S. troops from Korean peninsula, God forbid. I don't know why they call it war game but it is a drill like we do practice every year at the ER for the preparation of mass casualty every major trauma center is obliged to do. Indeed, I was always skeptical of the value of such drill till I became resonsible for the POTUS to make a preliminary prep for the evacuation from Korea in case when the disaster should happen while visiting to Korea especially at DMZ after we changed its first base from Yokohama to Seoul-SamSung Medical Center. So, we reviewed the drill plan and made a simulated practice at the beginning but when we really made a drill, we were so embarrassed how the people behave such stupid way- I can't release the appraisal details by the regulation, sorry!- . So I realized why the hell they do such stupid looking drill at the trauma center and can imagine why they waste(?) tons of money for such drill/war game every year.