Posted by
Hank Rearden on Saturday, September 22, 2007 11:00:44 AM
In the days that immediately followed September 11, 2001 Americans were paralyzed by a combination of grief and fear the likes of which the country had never known. Those of us who were adults on that terrible day were forever changed. Through the pain of our national loss we as a nation slowly regained our resolve and began to sharpen our focus on the enemy. It was not long before we were made aware of the identity of the murderers: terrorists. Who were these people, and why did they seek to kill us? The bewilderment quickly turned to rage, and the desire to destroy these people wherever in the world they were became a national passion.
That was six years ago. In the days that followed from then until now the United States has experienced truly one of the most remarkable periods of time in modern history. The markets that crashed almost immediately have since doubled, impressive for any time period but significantly so during a time of war. Advancements in technology have allowed for supersonic communicative capability the likes of which have never been seen. During this time of war this nation has experienced unprecedented prosperity. The comforts of being an American today are such that those who lived only half a century ago could not imagine it.
All of this has happened during a time of war. Though the advancement of our comfort has been a national blessing it has come at a price. Way too many of us stopped focusing on the war because they could; the comforts of being an American have been such that one could simply ignore the terrorist problem and go about their lives unbothered by the idea that a bunch of savages on the other side of the globe want to cut their heads off. The rest of us have been divided into two groups, those of us who want to win this war and those who want America to lose. I know that is a harsh assessment. It is nonetheless true.
Some have asked the question that has been answered by the administration several dozen times yet is perpetually ignored by the drive-by media. That question is : how do we define victory in the war on terror? As plain as I can possibly lay it out, this is the answer: When the advancement of terrorism is halted to such an extent that they can no longer recruit new jihadis and are therefore totally ineffective, then we have won. How long will that take? God only knows, but one thing that I do know is that it will take longer as long as we have leftists and media types perpetually attacking the war effort and essentially emboldening the enemy. Such activity is UN-PATRIOTIC, and I don't give a damn if that angers someone. Helping our enemy to literally kill more of our troops makes me angry.
To those who say we are fighting the wrong enemy or that Iraq is not the proper battleground, I have a few questions. Who attacked us on 9/11? That's right, Al-qaida. Who are we fighting today? You guessed it, Al-qaida. Now some make the non-sequitur argument that there were no terrorists in Iraq until we went there. Well, even if that were true, they are there now. It occurs to me that if we went over there to kill terrorists, and exactly the terrorists we are looking for are coming to us to be killed, then I would have to conclude that that was a pretty effective strategy.
Some say we are creating terrorists by our presence there. Now I hate to call anybody stupid but I can think of no more appropriate description. We are creating terrorists by killing them? This is where I must come to the conclusion that the real anti-war diehards are actually anti-American zealots. It is no coincidence that the financiers of the anti-war protests of recent years were communist organizations who have more interest in the destruction of the country rather than victory over terrorism.