It seems obvious to me that the powers that be have a pretty good idea who is behind this, and no doubt it’s none other than Public Enemy Number One, Osama bin Laden and his gang of thugs, including the militant Taliban that controls Afghanistan. Already, I resent the ruses of some in the media who are saying that we can’t rush to judgment, and suggesting perhaps we take the high road and not respond militarily, rather arrest and try those behind this. They also pry administration and congressional leaders for sensitive information. This is unconscionable. Leaders with information relevant to the attacks should not be divulged to anyone, as it would compromise our strategic position, and ruin the element of any surprise attack on those involved. And yes, there will be an attack, a military one and it’s going to be of grand scale. Effectively, we are at War, and the prevailing school of thought seems to be that our response, like ours to Japan in 1945, must be so overwhelmingly decisive as to send the message that this will not happen again.
Times may very well get tough now, for all of us. This may push a teetering economy into recession. Loved ones in the military may be mobilized and sent overseas to fight, and at home we may all have to live with the threat of continuing retaliatory actions from the Enemy. We will have to keep our chins up and our wits about us to get through this time. But as Americans, that kind of resolve is in our blood. And let us pray that this situation can be resolved with as few of these kinds of difficulties as possible, but knowing that the Enemy and his countrymen our going to have to answer for what they did.
What we cannot allow to happen here is for fear to get the better of us. While terror reigns, it may be tempting to sacrifice individual liberties for increased security. The danger is that when the fear subsides, as it eventually will, that we won’t get those liberties back. That as a society, we will become more of a police state and less of the open society we are now. If that happens over the long term, the Enemy will have won, because he hates Freedom, and he will have succeeded in eroding ours.
These are the times that try men’s (and women’s) souls, or so they say. Let us fly high our flags, support those we chose to lead us, rally around our families and friends, and pray that end of this comes quickly. As for the Enemy, I think I heard it best put by Senator John McCain today – “God may have mercy on them. We will not.”
Ladies and Gentlemen, I never thought I’d be writing about something so solemn. Yesterday, carnage was wrought upon our nation by a foreign enemy the likes of which we have never seen. It’s often said that our generation hasn’t grown up in tough times, and that we are soft because of it. Perhaps that was true, until yesterday. For all the wars that Americans have fought in, never, since we kicked out the Brits 200 hundred years ago, has the enemy attacked us on our soil. Through a careful, coordinated and deliberate attack, the Enemy was able to turn innocent transport aircraft into cruise missiles, which they then turned at some of our most treasured landmarks. All of our prayers must go out to the families of those killed in the attack - that goes without saying. But this goes beyond the individual lives that were lost – this was an attack on us all, on freedom, democracy, capitalism and everything we as Americans hold dear. The Enemy cares not for these things. And today they have achieved their goals – as I write this, flights remain grounded, markets closed, because of the fear of further attack. This cannot, and will not be allowed to stand.