Nine – Eleven
The fifth anniversary of 9/11 has come and gone. Many people say ‘Thank God, I’m 9/11’d out’. These are the same folks who think five years is a long time. It probably is to them. I think it is merely a blink of the eye to terrorists.
9/11 couldn’t have, and didn’t, happen overnight. It took long range planning by some rather sophisticated parties to pull it off. And let’s not kid ourselves, all the terrorists have to do is watch the nightly news to know they are winning. We have had some of our freedoms suspended, we are subject to closer scrutiny when travelling, we suspect neighbours rightly or wrongly of being ‘one of them’. In short, we have been scared out of our wits and the terrorists love it. They are winning even if they weren’t fighting us in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Remember how you felt on 9/11? The civilized world rallied in support of the USA and demanded blood. President Bush called on us to help him in the fight against terror. And we responded quickly and without question. The tide has turned lately and it seems more and more people are against this war. I think it is because people don’t understand this new type of warfare.
Most people can relate to WW II, where you had defined lines of friendlies vs enemies. They shot at you from somewhere and you shot back. Gains made by one side resulted in losses on the other, and everything was very neat, so to speak. You could plot the war on a map and make educated guesses as to what would happen next.
Not so in this war. As in Viet Nam, the enemy all look the same. But in Viet Nam you could at least distinguish between the villagers and the enemy army. Not so in this war.
The enemy all look the same. They dress the same. They don’t fight out in the open, but rather from villages, hospitals and mosques. How brilliant a ploy is it to park your rockets next to a hospital you know the coalition forces are loathe to blow up? What a great idea to store your weapons in a mosque that you know ‘The Great Satan’ will spare.
This is a fight being waged under rules of engagement by one side against an enemy who knows no rules. A film worth watching can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/v/-HlaVpqUXF0 . It just might wake some people up.
President Bush was right on 9/11 and he is still right today. The mistakes he’s made are easy to pick on. But the overall theme to his crusade is as valid today as it was then. He is not fighting ‘freedom fighters’, he is fighting terrorists. They are not ‘suicide bombers’, they are murderers. They are not ‘insurgents’, they are thugs. Pretending to be duly elected representatives of their countries, they still kill those of their own country and religion who disagree with them.
Pretending to want nothing other than peace, they still want to wipe out all infidels and see the world become an Islamic state. This is all very reminiscent of the build up to WW II. We fought that war despite Neville Chamberlain and his talks with Hitler. Now Jack Layton and a bunch of other cowards wants to end hostilities and talk with these unprincipled killers? What a slap in the face to those veterans who fought so valiantly for our freedom in wars gone by. What a slap in the face to those brave men and women who today are fighting not only to preserve our freedom, but to allow others a taste of what we seem to take for granted.
Stay the course Mr. Bush. Stay the course Mr. Harper. Stay the course Mr. Blair. History will prove you right in the end. And all freedom loving countries will thank you.
