Nothing will ever wash away the national sense of horror, loss and pain that the terrorist attacks left in their wake nine years ago today. That is as it should be. Today is a time to remember the thousands who died, in New York and in the nation’s capital, at the hands of extremists whose hate-driven, destructive act is utterly unjustifiable, regardless of the religious or political mission they purported to serve.

The 9/11 attacks wounded America’s psyche so deeply that some of the scars are visible, especially in New York City. The rebuilding of the World Trade Center has proved to be more troubled than anyone anticipated, with the planned redevelopment still far from completion.

However, the worst wounds are the festering fears and resentments that in recent weeks have broken through the surface with alarming force. Some averse reaction to plans for an Islamic center (called the "ground zero mosque") two city blocks away from ground zero should have been anticipated through better community outreach by its planners. But the demands that the center be moved — would any distance be far enough to satisfy some detractors? — do nothing to resolve anger. Instead, they do everything to diminish some core American values in the eyes of the watching world.

These include respect for the free practice of religion, the free exercise of property rights and the rule of law.

Politics certainly fanned the flames. With their finger in the wind, candidates and incumbents heading into the midterm elections have taken whichever side boosted their chances to keep or gain a seat.

And when this week the insanity reached a fever pitch — with a Florida pastor unveiling his obnoxious plan for a Quran-burning spectacle — President Barack Obama and Gen. David Petraeus warned that leveling this kind of insult would surely backfire in retaliation against members of the U.S. armed services.

Politicians, especially Republicans who usually snap to attention and applaud when Petraeus speaks, were ominously, shamefully silent. For some, politics trumps everything.

Even in Hawaii, thousands of miles away, the debate is being waged as if the events are right next door: In the Internet age, the news cycle has become truly global.

However, we should know better. Hawaii’s people still remember the anti-Japanese fever that drove California families into relocation camps and the islands’ young AJA soldiers into uniform to prove themselves American. The anti-Muslim vitriol on the airwaves and the Web today seems hardly less disgraceful, even reminiscent of those sad times.

American Muslims already are using a makeshift prayer space in the old Burlington factory the new center would replace. Fear- mongering pressure for them to abandon their plan for a new center compromises America’s commitment to equality and plays into the hand of al-Qaeda and other enemies of freedom. On this anniversary of 9/11, the world should be shown our strength of character, not watch us as we stumble backward again.