Saturday, September 11, 2004

Remember



Sometimes it has to be repeated, and repeated, and repeated...

Back in the late 1980s, a small group of terrorists decided they wanted to kill Americans, and to do it in the most visible and costly way. Years later, on February 26, 1993, a van exploded in the parking garage of the World Trade Center, damaging the buildings and killing six people.

In 1994, four defendants were each found guilty in federal court, and four years after that, a man in Pakistan was arrested for connection to planning the bombing. Bill Clinton's Justice Department believed they had handled this "crime" effectively.

But while the trial for the WTC bombers was being planned, Osama bin Laden was already planning a greater retaliation against America, whcih came to pass on September 11, 2001.

Al-Qaeda bombed U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing hundreds of people. They also had connections to the deaths of U.S. military personnel serving in Somalia in October 1993 and several attempted terrorist operations, including the failed assassination of the Pope when visiting Manila in 1994, bombings of the United States and Israeli embassies in Asian countries in 1994, the mid-air bombing of a dozen U.S. international flights in 1995, and a plan to kill President Clinton in 1995.

President Clinton had no response to any of these events.

President Bush has taken a lot of flak for responding to these attacks as he has. Many on the Left would like to believe that there was no threat to the United States, that somehow the 9/11 attacks were our own fault. Senator Kerry promises a more "sensitive war", as if that would resonate with murderers. Senator Kerry chided President Bush for taking three-year old information seriously, even though the attacks for September 11 were discussed five years before the event. Kerry claims he supports the troops, even though he voted to deny them vital equipment and funding.


ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001:
2,657 killed at the World Trade Center,
125 killed at the Pentagon,
92 killed on American Airlines Flight 11,
65 killed on United Airlines Flight 175,
64 killed on American Airlines Flight 77,
and 45 killed on United Airlines Flight 93.


For comparison, 2,403 Americans were killed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which began a war we fought for the next four years, including the use of Atomic weapons, and the occupation of two major nations for the better part of a decade, and troop bases which are still active in both countries. Nobody calls World War 2 "the wrong war in the wrong place", however.

We're not supposed to talk politics on the third anniversary of 9/11, so I will talk about Life and Death.

John Kerry may have fought well in Vietnam, but ever since he came back, he has been a disgrace to our troops and to the United States of America. George W. Bush may have been an embarassment thirty years ago, but these days, he is a resourceful and bold leader, at a crucial point in U.S. History.

Between now and the Election in November, remember the nation depends on winning the War on Terror, not on 'nuance.'


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