Remember...
...This was said better by someone else, but it still needed saying...
We're at war, damn it. Isn't about damn time we started trying to win it?
Five years ago on September 11, 2001, America was, once again, subjected to what President Franklin Roosevelt so eloquently called "a day that will live in infamy". In those early minutes, hours, days and weeks that followed this assault on our nation, we shrugged off our differences. We set aside petty political, cultural and racial identities. In the aftermath of 9/11 we stopped being Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals, red state, blue state, gay, straight or hyphenated. We became that last damn thing that Osama wanted. We were, every damn man, woman and child of us, simply Americans and we were pissed. Tragically, this grim resolve, this unity of purpose didn’t last. We are alas, not the same nation that came together to fight - and win - a world war on two fronts, 64 years ago.
Five short years after we were inspired by the way New Yorkers - civilians, firefighters, police and especially Rudi Giuliani - met this unprecedented assault on the heart of their city, we are wallowing in our petty differences again. We are too goddamn busy pinning blame on who dropped the ball on terrorism in the years leading up to the 9/11 attack. We are too damn busy refusing to admit past mistakes - decades of mistakes - to step back and look at the big picture. The enemy is still out there. He’s wounded, to be sure, but he’s still dangerous and determined to hit us again, much, much harder this time. Is it going to take a second, much deadlier, attack to remind us that this great nation is at war with 7th century rat bastards who want to destroy us?
If we are going to survive as a nation...If we are going to defend the inalienable individual liberty upon which America is founded, the first item on our agenda is obvious: pull our goddamn head our of our ass. Our primary problem is an obvious one: we can’t, or won’t, properly identify who - or what - we are fighting. Our Warrior in Chief - George W. Bush - says that terror and/or "extremism" is the enemy. When pressed by a rational adult, W inches closer to reality by decrying the way terrorists like Osama twist, misuse and pervert "a great religion". In the next breath he, invariably, insists that we are not at war with Islam.
We’re not at war with Islam? Fair enough, Oval Office Sparky. But, any moderately observant rational adult knows the truth. Even the causal observer can see that around the world, a critical mass of Islam’s adherents are at war with us. The claim that Osama and his cohorts are Islam’s lunatic fringe doesn’t pass the smell test. In "day that will live in infamy" terms, it’s like FDR saying that Pearl Harbor wasn’t attacked by Japan...It’s like he insisted that Pearl Harbor was attacked by certain anti-social individuals who just happened to be Japanese.
"Terror" is a tactic. "Extremism" is pure bull crap. Terrorists (extremists) are those rat bastards who use terror as their primary tactic in a prolonged war. None of these terms gets to the heart of the matter. None of these terms identify the philosophy that motivates scumbags like Osama. None of these terms name the philosophy that makes countless millions of like-minded supernaturalists hate America - hate our liberty - so much they want to see us destroyed. We might not be at war with Islam, but it’s blatantly obvious that the lion’s share of Islam is at war with us.
September 11 was a wake-up call that we heeded, for a while, then chose to ignore by hitting a snooze alarm button called "business as usual". We might find it expedient to forget that our nation is in a war for its very survival with an implacable enemy, but you can bet the proverbial agriculture endeavor that Osama - and all the rest - spend every waking minute dreaming up ways to exterminate America and everyone in it. While America’s myopic appeasers ignore the lessons of history, our enemy in this war for survival is planning to hit us again. The enemy has taken some crippling losses, but he’s smelling victory down the road because he knows that a divided, unfocused America is its own worst enemy.
The time has come to face the bitter truth about this war. We begin by facing the facts and admitting that Islam - especially in its political incarnation - is fundamentally incompatible with America’s inalienable individual liberty. We continue this reality check by accepting that Islam - Islamists by the millions around the world - are, in their minds, at war with America. The most essential elements of our long overdue reality check involve how we’re fighting this war. We need to take the damn gloves off. We need to start acting like we’re in a fight for our nation’s survival. We need to stop playing at this politically correct warfare whose rules of engagement involve "don’t hurt anybody and whatever you do don’t piss anybody off". We need to start fighting this war as if our lives depended on it, which just happens to be the case. If we continue to avoid and ignore this painful reality it’s a recipe for disaster...It’s a recipe for defeat and national extinction.
Take a moment to remember how you felt when you heard about the 9/11 attacks. Take the time to rekindle that classically America resolve that served us so well on FDR’s "day that will live in infamy". Until and unless Americans find a way to recapture that singleness of purpose we had in those first minutes, hours, days and weeks following the 9/11 attacks, we’re sowing the seeds of our own destruction.
Remember this 21st century "day that will live infamy" because your nation, your liberty, your life depends on it.
We're at war, damn it. Isn't about damn time we started trying to win it?
Five years ago on September 11, 2001, America was, once again, subjected to what President Franklin Roosevelt so eloquently called "a day that will live in infamy". In those early minutes, hours, days and weeks that followed this assault on our nation, we shrugged off our differences. We set aside petty political, cultural and racial identities. In the aftermath of 9/11 we stopped being Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals, red state, blue state, gay, straight or hyphenated. We became that last damn thing that Osama wanted. We were, every damn man, woman and child of us, simply Americans and we were pissed. Tragically, this grim resolve, this unity of purpose didn’t last. We are alas, not the same nation that came together to fight - and win - a world war on two fronts, 64 years ago.
Five short years after we were inspired by the way New Yorkers - civilians, firefighters, police and especially Rudi Giuliani - met this unprecedented assault on the heart of their city, we are wallowing in our petty differences again. We are too goddamn busy pinning blame on who dropped the ball on terrorism in the years leading up to the 9/11 attack. We are too damn busy refusing to admit past mistakes - decades of mistakes - to step back and look at the big picture. The enemy is still out there. He’s wounded, to be sure, but he’s still dangerous and determined to hit us again, much, much harder this time. Is it going to take a second, much deadlier, attack to remind us that this great nation is at war with 7th century rat bastards who want to destroy us?
If we are going to survive as a nation...If we are going to defend the inalienable individual liberty upon which America is founded, the first item on our agenda is obvious: pull our goddamn head our of our ass. Our primary problem is an obvious one: we can’t, or won’t, properly identify who - or what - we are fighting. Our Warrior in Chief - George W. Bush - says that terror and/or "extremism" is the enemy. When pressed by a rational adult, W inches closer to reality by decrying the way terrorists like Osama twist, misuse and pervert "a great religion". In the next breath he, invariably, insists that we are not at war with Islam.
We’re not at war with Islam? Fair enough, Oval Office Sparky. But, any moderately observant rational adult knows the truth. Even the causal observer can see that around the world, a critical mass of Islam’s adherents are at war with us. The claim that Osama and his cohorts are Islam’s lunatic fringe doesn’t pass the smell test. In "day that will live in infamy" terms, it’s like FDR saying that Pearl Harbor wasn’t attacked by Japan...It’s like he insisted that Pearl Harbor was attacked by certain anti-social individuals who just happened to be Japanese.
"Terror" is a tactic. "Extremism" is pure bull crap. Terrorists (extremists) are those rat bastards who use terror as their primary tactic in a prolonged war. None of these terms gets to the heart of the matter. None of these terms identify the philosophy that motivates scumbags like Osama. None of these terms name the philosophy that makes countless millions of like-minded supernaturalists hate America - hate our liberty - so much they want to see us destroyed. We might not be at war with Islam, but it’s blatantly obvious that the lion’s share of Islam is at war with us.
September 11 was a wake-up call that we heeded, for a while, then chose to ignore by hitting a snooze alarm button called "business as usual". We might find it expedient to forget that our nation is in a war for its very survival with an implacable enemy, but you can bet the proverbial agriculture endeavor that Osama - and all the rest - spend every waking minute dreaming up ways to exterminate America and everyone in it. While America’s myopic appeasers ignore the lessons of history, our enemy in this war for survival is planning to hit us again. The enemy has taken some crippling losses, but he’s smelling victory down the road because he knows that a divided, unfocused America is its own worst enemy.
The time has come to face the bitter truth about this war. We begin by facing the facts and admitting that Islam - especially in its political incarnation - is fundamentally incompatible with America’s inalienable individual liberty. We continue this reality check by accepting that Islam - Islamists by the millions around the world - are, in their minds, at war with America. The most essential elements of our long overdue reality check involve how we’re fighting this war. We need to take the damn gloves off. We need to start acting like we’re in a fight for our nation’s survival. We need to stop playing at this politically correct warfare whose rules of engagement involve "don’t hurt anybody and whatever you do don’t piss anybody off". We need to start fighting this war as if our lives depended on it, which just happens to be the case. If we continue to avoid and ignore this painful reality it’s a recipe for disaster...It’s a recipe for defeat and national extinction.
Take a moment to remember how you felt when you heard about the 9/11 attacks. Take the time to rekindle that classically America resolve that served us so well on FDR’s "day that will live in infamy". Until and unless Americans find a way to recapture that singleness of purpose we had in those first minutes, hours, days and weeks following the 9/11 attacks, we’re sowing the seeds of our own destruction.
Remember this 21st century "day that will live infamy" because your nation, your liberty, your life depends on it.
posted by GibsonAV at
09:20
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