The woman who complained that the trailer for the film “United 93” should not have been shown at a local Manhattan Loews theater is typical of the New Yorkers who don’t want to be reminded of why we are at war. The theater manager, Kevin Adjodha, told a Newsweek reporter that the woman cried and said it was wrong to show the trailer, which was subsequently pulled. “It’s too soon,” some say of the first film about September 11, 2001, to hit the big screen. Balderdash, I say.

United 93 is the flight that crashed in a Pennsylvania field. The passengers, aware that their hijacked plane was heading toward another target like the World Trade Center, fought back against the hijackers, and the plane went down. No matter where one stands on the issue of the Iraq war, this film will be a grim recollection of one of the worst days in our city’s history.

September 11, 2006, will be the fifth anniversary of that awful day, and yet for some it’s still too soon to show the terrible images that haunted us during the months following the attacks. Pardon my insensitivity, but I can’t help but sense that much of the objection to viewing these images is not coming from those personally affected by 9/11.

America Online recently presented a forum to discuss the trailer and its impact on the audience. Some of the most surprising comments came from unexpected quarters. Sandra Felt, whose husband was on United 93, was quoted as saying, “I did not anticipate the general reaction that I’m seeing. But I think of it as a good thing. It creates awareness about terrorism.”

That’s exactly what’s missing in this town. Many New Yorkers have become downright complacent, ignoring the reality of the hole in our hearts known as ground zero. That complacency is probably the result of a concerted effort by mainstream journalists and celebrities to label this war as unnecessary. Afghanistan was okay but not Iraq, they say. I ask these simpletons: Where are these jihadists liable to go next?

The vitriol against our president is not unlike that hurled at Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. He, too, was branded incompetent. “He is ignorant, self-willed, and is surrounded by men, some of whom are almost as ignorant as himself,” charged General George Bancroft, a former secretary of the Navy. Now where did I learn this? From a Canadian. Ian Robinson’s informative and clever columns in the Calgary Sun are regularly posted on www.lucianne.com – a great source for news and commentary from around the globe, whether conservative or liberal. Mr. Robinson’s recognition of reality is much sharper than that of so many dwellers in our concrete jungle – a sad commentary.

This coming Sunday is Iraq Liberation Day. I was reminded of this by a press release from an organization called “Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission.” It calls this the anniversary of the end of Saddam Hussein’s barbaric regime, as well as the day that launched the people of Iraq down the challenging road toward freedom, democracy, and self-sufficiency. It included a letter from Merrilee Carlson, whose son, Michael, made the ultimate sacrifice. She writes, “My son died to liberate people from oppression,” and her letter includes his personal credo that confirmed that he knew the cause was honorable. She urges that we sign a petition at www.familiesunitedmission.com to “encourage the media to remember this historic milestone.”

Thank goodness for the Internet, for otherwise I would be under the impression that all military parents were as self-promoting and bitter as Cindy Sheehan, who’s viewed as a kind of Mother Courage in this town. In the past year, I’ve cancelled at least seven subscriptions to various magazines that focus only on the negative news coming out of Iraq. The monthly attack on President Bush by the editor of Vanity Fair, Graydon Carter, had far more to do with the magazine’s sinking sales than whether a man or a woman is on the cover.

The myopic vision of these elitist Manhattan liberals needs to be jolted with harsh images. Just last month, the falling man was tentatively identified. What falling man, you ask? How could anyone forget that photograph of the man who jumped from the burning towers – his body barreling straight down with one leg bent as if he were an Olympic diver? His identity was the source of much speculation and commentary in Britain, but not here, where he was murdered by a barbaric enemy still waging war against our fearless military and brave Iraqis.

“United 93” will be shown on the opening day of the Tribeca Film festival. It’s been nearly five years. The wakeup call is long overdue.