TOPIC FOR SEPTEMBER'S ARTICLE:
September 11, 2001: Those Who Refuse to Learn From the Past are Condemned to
Repeat it.
When I was a kid I remember watching old newsreels
showing President Franklin D. Roosevelt, calling December 7, 1941 "a date
which will live in infamy." I think that most Americans would agree that
September 11, 2001 rates right up there with Pearl Harbor on our list of dark
dates in America's history. Like Pearl Harbor, the attack on the world
trade center and pentagon was a unprovoked sneak attack aimed at the very heart of our
nation. Yet today we are not really focusing on bringing those responsible
to justice.
We are told that
over 3,025 people were killed on that morning for no reason. We are told that it was a
relative few Islamic fanatics who perpetrated the dastardly act. However, since 9-11-01 we have
learned that in reality the perpetrators were not a few misguided individuals,
but a large scale assault on American interests, perpetrated by a well organized, well
financed group of misguided religious fanatics. We have also learned that these
groups are financed, sheltered and aided by Arab countries in the Middle East that we
have thought of as our friends.
Evidently we are
the main target in a religious war, waged by fanatics
who hate the west and all that we stand for. Apparently these people do not
understand the concept of freedom and tolerance for other people. They hate us,
our people, our way of life, our religions, our allies like Israel and virtually
everything that we stand for. They only want to strike terror in our
hearts, and cause those among us, who have limp linguini in place of a backbone,
to quake in their boots and hide under their beds. This is something that
we cannot afford to have happen in this country.
Our media tell us
that these people are part of a very small misguided minority that do not
represent the majority of peace loving Muslims of the world. Yet if this
was true, one would think that these so called peace loving Muslims would want
to rid themselves of these terrorists.
Instead we watch
as virtually every Muslim nation rallies to defend Iraq and provide help for the
terrorists. Even the Saudi's have stated that we cannot use the bases that we
built in Saudi Arabia if we intend to launch an attack against Iraq. If
you consider the fact that most of the 9-11-01 hijackers were Saudi
citizens, then you have to ask yourself what is really going on. Because
frankly some of the things we are being told by the media, doesn't match up with
the actual facts.
Each day, I
see more and more evidence that very little is being done to bring these people
to justice. Each politician tries to out do each other in demonstrating our
resolve, yet the leaders of the terrorists are still out there, hiding and
plotting their next moves. In the mean time our lives have been turned upside
down, and we, the innocent people of America are saddled with having to deal
with disruptions that do almost nothing to assure our peace or safety. One year
later these animals are still at large and I want to know why.
Today I hear some of our people speak in a
very cavalier manner of relinquishing some of their cherished freedoms
because they somehow imagine that if they do that they will be safe from terror
or whatever they are afraid of. Have we really become a nation of cowards
who would rather live in fear, than offend other nations that don't care about
us anyway. While I sincerely hope not, I fear that many among us just want to
bury their heads in the sand and pretend that 9-11-01 never happened.
What many of us
may not know, is that this is not the first time we have had this debate over
limiting freedoms in our country. In fact when our forefathers founded this
great country, a debate raged over the need to balance individual freedoms
against perceived security. One of our founding fathers bequeathed to us
the following admonition as a lasting legacy.
In this time of
trouble we would do well to heed his warning. The admonition goes like this,
"One who is willing to trade his freedom for the illusion of safety,
deserves neither freedom nor safety." You cannot make
deals with the devil, nor can you make agreements with tyrants. If we keep
trying to avoid stamping out this menace we will bequeath a foul and odious
legacy to those who come after us.
The people who
flew our airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were not
soldiers, nor were they heroes, they were religious fanatics hell bent on
killing innocent people. The insane suicide bombers that strap on bombs and blow
up busses in Israel are not heroes either. They are murderers and nothing
more. Criminals guilty of crimes against humanity.
What we need to learn is the same bitter lesson that previous
generations have learned when faced with tyrannical maniacs. I am amazed
ay how quickly we forget the lessons of the past. It is as if each time we
are faced with an evil presence, we have to relearn everything all over. When
all we need do is to look to the past to understand what our future could be if
we do nothing.
Take World War II
for example. If you ever watch old historical newsreels on television, you may
see Lord Neville Chamberlain return from meeting with Adolph Hitler just prior
to the start of world war II. You can clearly see Chamberlain waiving a piece of
paper, all the while proclaiming that solely based upon a scrap of paper that
Hitler signed, we now have "peace in our time."
We all know that
Chamberlain was snookered by Hitler and, as a result, England received no
peace and no security. Not to mention that we were all sucked into the power
vacuum and millions of people were killed as a result. Each time peace loving
people are faced with tyrants, they have had an opportunity to act in a decisive
manner and swiftly nip the menace in the bud. Each time, we have faltered and
tried to close our eyes to reality and make a bargain with the devil. Each time
this tactic is tried it fails.
I think that the
reason why it fails is because we really don't understand the true meaning of
the word "peace." We always waste
valuable time debating how we can coexist with maniacs who are hell bent on
doing us harm. We try the same techniques that people use when facing something
that is unpleasant. We ignore it; if that doesn't work then we try and bargain
with it; finally we come to grips with the problem.
We have done this
so many times that by now we should know that we cannot afford to do this any
longer. Especially if these tyrants have access to or can build weapons of mass
destruction. We need to learn that one doesn't declare peace and achieve it just
because you want it or because you are afraid of the alternative.
Peace is only achieved
when a foe is vanquished on the field of battle and left in such an utterly defeated
condition that further hostility is impossible. Then and only then can you truly
have peace. Peace is something that is bought and paid for in human lives and blood and
not with words on a scrap of paper. The only way that we can make this
world a safe place is to totally eradicate the terror and the terrorists
themselves.
This nation is going to have to understand that wishful thinking coupled with little or no
meaningful action is not going to give us peace or security. Terror has
declared war on our country and we are going to have to defeat terror. We must
root it out where ever it is found and destroy it. For if one terrorist
survives, he will regenerate and we will have to deal with him again.
We cannot bargain with terror, nor can we reason
with terrorists in a rational manner. In order to defeat terrorists, we
must understand who they are and what they want. If we wait too long
playing games, the terrorists will gain and use weapons of mass destruction on
us or some other nation. That is something that we simply cannot afford to let
happen. If a terrorist detonates a nuclear weapon in a city in the United
States, Israel or Europe, there is little doubt that a full nuclear reprisal
would be necessary.
We would finally
have the Armageddon that we have feared for so long. As long as the former
Soviet Union and the United States engaged in what was called the MAD
(Mutually Assured Destruction) scenario, we actually had some degree of
stability because neither side wanted to be destroyed in the conflagration.
Terrorists, on the other hand, do not give a damn if they are destroyed along
with everyone else. They believe that they will have defeated the great Satan
and will be rewarded in Heaven. For this reason alone we must clearly understand
that if they get the bomb, they will use it. Make no mistake about it, they will
use it on us.
If we are not
allowed to see these people for exactly who they are, then we will be blinded to
the reality of their true nature. We will see but not be able to articulate what
we see. Why will we do this? For the last few years, we have seen a wave
of political correctness spread over our land. The primary source for
these advocates of P.C. is the news media. If we destroy our way of life,
it will probably be because we will be afraid of offending someone by calling
attention to their attempts to kill us.
We are told that
if we state the obvious, then we are racists or bigoted. So in order to make
these P.C. people comfortable, we pretend that 80 year old grandmothers need to
have a full cavity search at an airport because she might be a terrorist. Yet these
same people say that we cannot single out young males of Middle Eastern
decent because that would be racial profiling. Didn't the terrorists
use racial profiling in choosing to attack America and Israel? Do we
really have to be on the look out for make believe Swedish suicide bombers just to make the
P.C. crowd happy? Think about it.
In nature, animals
profile each other all the time. Profiling is nature's way of allowing animals
to quickly react to danger. Yet we, the most intelligent animals on the planet,
are told to disregard our instincts and rely on P.C. crap because we don't want
to offend anyone. Only humans are capable of this level of absurdity, if
the wild animals of the world knew what we were up to they would split their
sides laughing at us. And then they would probably have us for lunch while we
pondered whether we offended them.
What I hope to achieve with this little article is that maybe
I can get one person to stop and think about this entire situation for
themselves. If they do, maybe they will talk to another person, and so on and so
on until everyone finally gets it. If we don't take effective action against
terrorists and very soon, someday we may have to face the reality of our worst
nightmares.
If you still
believe this P.C. crap, then go and find someone from the world war II
generation and ask them if they went through the same angst. I believe that you
will find out that for the most part they didn't. In fairness, there was a
degree of dissent during world war II, but it was fairly small and ignored for
the most part. They knew who was responsible and they reacted accordingly.
Apparently we cannot reach the same conclusion with our current foe. We need to
gather that same spirit and use it to help us before it is too late.
Each of us alone can do very little, but if each of us goes
to the polls in November and votes for a change, maybe we can finally make a
difference before it is too late. After all isn't it the politicians who are the
real problem coupled with their willing stooges in the media? Draw your own
conclusions.
Today we have
politicians who see the war on terrorism as another opportunity to gain
political advantage for themselves. They are ostriches who are sticking their
collective heads in the sand. When I think of them, another saying comes
to mind. "Time and tide waits for no man."
The time has come to change the way America does business politically. We need
people who put America's interest first and not the needs of a special interest
group that "donated" to their reelection campaign. We
need new blood, people who would really make campaign reform a reality and not
just something else to hype.
If we remain
complacent, one morning we will wake up to a nuclear mushroom cloud over an
American city and will be dealing with statistics that will make 9-11-01 pale in
comparison. If that happens, who will we hold responsible? History will hold us
all responsible, for selfishly pursuing greed and political advantage over the
good of the country and the world.
For the past few weeks, the media have regaled us with
stories of exemplary heroism on behalf of the men and women who worked so hard
to clean up the damage done to our assets by the terrorists. What is
conspicuously absent from this coverage is any hue and cry from the media to
bring the culprits to justice. Nor do they mention that it was just pure luck
that we didn't have 40,000 dead at the World Trade Center alone. Instead we hear
one poll after another saying that we should do nothing because we may upset
France, Germany or the Saudi's.
These countries
opinion is irrelevant. They don't have over 3,000 dead citizens demanding justice and an end to terrorism,
we do. Evidently they have grown complacent since WWII when they were
faced with Hitler's terror machine and needed us to save their bacon. Since
they don't back us, maybe we should repay the kindness the next time they need
something. Like when the terrorist bomb one of their cities. Europe must also
understand that they are not immune and neither are we.
If we continue on
business as usual, then it won't matter if the snail darter was or wasn't
protected, or if we had clean air or water or if we all thought good thoughts
toward the terrorists. We will be forced to deal with a human tragedy of
biblical proportions. This is something that we simply cannot afford to
do. If we allow this crime to go unpunished, then may the ghosts of the honored
dead haunt these people forever.
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