Some days transcend time. Some days burn into one’s memory to last a lifetime and beyond. Such is today, September 11th.
You know where you were… what you were doing… how you felt… what you thought…. Some of us remember an event that preceded 9/11 by 38 years. That day, one precious life was snuffed out suddenly and without warning. The September day we commemorate today witnessed thousands of innocent men, women, and children murdered by 19 cowards with a bent view of life and purpose that defies rational discourse.
That said we haven’t learned enough to stand up to the specter of what is really happening. The Islamic terrorists are no different than the bully on the playground or in the hallways of our schools. Yet, we launch program after program to help students and teachers deal with these thugs.
Let’s face it. Much as I admire President Bush, he missed the opportunity of a lifetime. If he had ordered the military to the US borders on 9/12, nobody would have batted an eye. The Congress, standing in union singing “God Bless America” would have stood behind him — united with a nation forged by shock and loss to counter a threat unknown never before seen on our soil.
Well, he didn’t do it. The borders have given easy access to untold numbers since that day. Can you swear that nobody has carried a suitcase packed with nuclear device across the border? Can you swear that nobody but Hispanics come across? Can you really recognize the enemy? They recruit among the disaffected, the ill educated, the brainwashed, the weak — and they haven’t stopped their recruiting efforts.
They use threat and intimidation as easily as they breathe. They think nothing of killing their women for supposed sexual misconduct, yet they purposefully force genital mutilation on young girls to rob them of any sexual pleasure. Evidently, that reaction is reserved for men. Give me oxygen. Do you think that people who espouse these values can accept the freedom and acceptance of others’ faith as we do? If you do, think again.
Building a mosque at “Ground Zero” makes as much sense as building a commemorative site touting the exploits of the US Army’s Cavalry exhibit at The Little Big Horn. How do you think that would play among Native Americans?
My grandparents come from deep French roots, yet Paris has areas besieged by Muslim fanatics where the Sureté Nationale (The French police) dare not go. I wonder if Orlando and Dearborn have similar areas.
We have stepped on radical groups within our midst before. Al Capone and his ilk are gone, as is the Klan. We work against White Supremacists today, yet we shrink in the face of a few nutcases whose holy book tells them that Jews are pigs to be slaughtered.
Jews are a proud people. God protects them. God help the country that abandons Israel. We are on the cusp of doing just that. When Britain gave a portion of then Trans Jordan to the Jews after WWII, the land did not belong to the Palestinians. Yet, the media continues to push that false idea forward, as if they need to underscore it.
Israel is a beautiful land where hard-working people have turned large desert areas into fields of flowers, vegetables and fruit. When forced to turn over millions of dollars worth of profitable greenhouses over to the Palestinians several years ago, the world witnessed a travesty. Did the Palestinians continue to operate the facilities to help their own people? No, they tore them to the ground and left a wasteland. Some gratitude, huh?
Whenever a nation is threatened by people bent on violence and it does nothing to stop them, the nation invites them to visit even more carnage on its people.
Thank God we have been safe for nine years. I firmly believe that Americans would shudder if they knew the details of the foiled and discovered plots over that time.
We focus on one site. Undoubtedly, the sight of those two massive buildings collapsing is stamped into our memories, but there were two other sites. We lost vacationing families and business people traveling for their jobs, not only on those planes that hit the towers in New York, but also on the plane that hit the Pentagon. We lost valuable military and civilian personnel in all three planes. We lost flight crews. We lost brave Americans who fought back against the terrorists and died near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. They knew of the attacks in New York. Yet, they willingly died to spare another attack that was, no doubt, on the fanatics’ list. We cannot underestimate the impact of the hundreds of NYPD, NYFD and Port Authority personnel killed in the line of duty in New York City. Now, people move to build a mosque nearby — replacing a building struck by a landing gear from that first plane. Why?
The name of the structure should give you a clue: Cordoba. By tradition, when Islamic forces triumph over an enemy, the first thing they do is erect a mosque. They tore down the Cathedral in Cordoba and replaced it with a mosque when they conquered Spain. I doubt if their mindset is less today. A new mosque is a symbol of victory, yet I hear no voices within the government who echo historical precedent. Sadly, few know of it. Media focus is misplaced. These people don’t need a reason to be mad. They are mad.
Don’t support the New York City mosque. Somehow, it reminds me of “The Trojan Horse”. It looks good, but the interior hides a dark secret. These people do nothing without good reason. I want to believe that there are many moderate, peaceful Muslims who deplore the violence, but I hear few of them speak out against the radicals. If their voices are heard softly, they aren’t heard often.
Perhaps they fear those who would bring our house down. Their history is one of fear and anger — of beheadings and mutilations. What a way to control one’s people.
Should we still be angry? Damn right, we should. What we need is another George S. Patton. If you don’t know enough about him, do a little reading. I cannot imagine what he would say under these circumstances.
Our security rests on peers of those who died going into the World Trade Center that fall day nine years ago — the policemen, the firemen, and the security officers. As we remember all those who died, give thanks for men and women, take a moment to thank God for those who protect us every day.
Not a day like any other? You bet it’s not. Don’t let it be. Think about it.