Following the greatest carnage on American soil since the Civil War, our elected officials state that we are now at war, with terrorism. Why were they not standing, singing patriotic songs, on the steps of government buildings in Washington, D. C., in the past? Where have they been for the past two decades?
What about the Arab oil embargo, which was reported as not an act of war? Let's not forget the 1982 bombing of the Marine compound in Beirut, which left two-hundred and forty-one American soldier dead, how about the attack on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the Khobar Towers bombing, and the assault on the USS Cole? Terrorism is nothing new, it is just that America had never been punched in the nose while standing in their own neighborhood before, now it is different.
If it's war, let us be perfectly clear about the nature of the foe. Let us not mistake a mortal enemy for a religious belief or a way of life, these acts cannot hide in "custom" they are the shortcomings of mortal men. However, it is not only terrorism's forward units -- Osama bin Laden, the Taliban thugs, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
It's not just the barbaric animals who turned commercial airliners into aerial bombs. It's not just the sanctuary states -- Afghanistan, Iran and Libya., no, it does not stop there. It is the religious leaders and the mullahs who preach to impressionable young people that martyrdom and murder are shortcuts to nirvana.
Who else shall we point the finger at in this world, sometimes foreign to Americans, but suddenly, right in our faces. During the Gulf War the Saudi Arabians refused to allow American soldiers to wear religious crosses, although many still did so. All while we were protecting them from aggression and death. If you wish to learn about religious intolerance, it is Pakistan that condems "blasphemers" to death for insulting the Prophet.
Where else is our enemy, as we fix our war machine for action. In the Arab market and street scenes, where the deaths of thousands of Americans were greeted with unrestrained dancing and rhythmic jubilation equal to a small child's first view of the booty left behind by Santa Claus on Christmas morning. In the Palestinian city of Nablus, they cheered and shouted, "Beloved bin Laden"!
The death and loss that resulted in the wreckage of the World Trade Center, touch many shores. The conflagration isn't confined to the Middle East. The day before the attack on America, death visited in the streets of the Nigerian city of Jos. In the past year, scores of the faithful have died in fighting over attempts of Nigeria's northern states, in a campaign to impose Islamic law. The most recent discourse, which left scores dead and hundreds of home and cars smoldering ruins, began when a Christian woman tried to cross the street where a group of Moslem men had gathered for prayer, tread lightly poor Christian!
Then we have numerous reports from Indonesia. There the Laskar Jihad has been engaged in religious purification in the Moluccas islands. Estimates vary however reports indicate that as many as 5,800 Christians have been forced to convert to Islam. The women subjected to genital mutilation in the process. "They said that if we didn't convert to their religion, they would cut our throats," one young witness reported. That leaves little room for choice. It is grisly to wonder, if that treatment is better than being buried her under tons of debris.
Why now, one must ask, after so many years of being bullied and threatened, after all the small and large encroachments into the American style of freedom, why now will the United States finally show the resolve to eliminate terrorism? In all my years, I cannot ever recall any group of elected officials gathering to sing on the steps of a public building. Why did not one in this select group gather last week or last month, to sing? Where were the promises of proactive policies against terrorism two weeks ago, which now comes from "chest-thumping" publicity hounds?
My most profound recollections of elected officials were of them arguing, arguing national policies while American soldiers are either in harms way, or dying. Our soldiers continued to die with frequency, while American and North Vietnamese negotiators argued about the shape and magnitude of a table, at which they could , perhaps, discuss peace, in the early 1970's.
Make no mistake, America will finally go after the terrorist mindset and the terrorist state, however being reactionary to the evil of terrorism is not the best policy. The need for proactive measures to counter-terrorism cannot be stressed enough. It is my reverent hope that American elected officials will sanction the tools of the American anti-terrorist forces. It is incumbent upon our elected officials, to provide the experts in counter-terrorism the backing they must have, to effectively thwart the evil that was so evident, painfully obvious in America.
One cannot remove the vermin from the city sewers without getting dirty themselves, it is time for the big dogs to run, and instead of undercutting their efforts, let us arm them for the job that must be done.
Solgiers For The Truth
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J. DAVID GALLAND: MACEDONIA IS STILL STANDING IN THE BOXING RING, BUT IT CANNOT DO SO FOREVER
DAVID GALLAND: THE PRICE OF NATIONAL DIGNITY
J. DAVID GALLAND: CAN YUGOSLAVIA HEAL
NSP Lista isprobava demokratiju u praksi
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