As I'm want to do in situations like this, I feel like some time should be given up to my elders and experts who know more about what we're in for than I. Among them is my favorites historian, Stephen Ambrose. In the wake of last week's attacks by "Islamic kamikazes," Ambrose says that Muslim fanatics are obsessed with control over people, and there is "nothing the United States can do that will satisfy these authoritarian fanatics, short of transporting our country to another planet."
In World War II the Japanese learned what kind of people Americans are, Ambrose added. "So will the terrorists of today."
Reassuring news of the awakened giant from the AP: "In the agonizing hours since terrorists stole thousands of lives and an enduring sense of security with attacks in New York and Washington, one notion has been reinforced like never before: Americans have a deep-rooted, if sometimes dormant, sense of pride and patriotism.
"Inquiries at military recruitment offices have swelled. Congressional members burst into "God Bless America" on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. A sign over a Nevada taco shop that usually displays the daily special now reads: "May God Bless the USA."
But I hope that we pray that God bless America every day, not just in times of national emergency and by those who wish bristle when the words God and America are ever mentioned in the same breath.
For example, just Monday, town leaders in Amherst, Mass., voted to restrict how often and how long American flags could fly along downtown streets. In the words of the town manager, extended displays seemed "a bit too much."
The next day, as the World Trade Center crumbled and the Pentagon burned, the banners were quickly hoisted once more on flagpoles lining two streets in the politically liberal town that's home to the University of Massachusetts.
I think we should orchestrate an attack on Bin Laden and his cronies similar to the end of The Godfather: all at once and vengeful, while ordinary Americans act oblivious and enjoy life's little pleasures far far away.
On Wednesday we heard from militant Islamic groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad who said they won't adhere to a cease-fire agreement that Israel and PLO leader Yasser Arafat observed. There is no glory in peace to these radical groups, but there is in martyrdom; they don't want to stop fighting until every non-Muslim is dead, whether in Israel or America.
Do you think our State Department will criticize Israel any more for retaliating harshly against Palestinian terrorists? Or even preventive attacks?
Pakistan is wavering in their help to us, despite the fact that the Taliban is threatening to attack them, or because of it. Sounds like a smart idea; alienate one of the few friends you've got. That would be like the U.S. threatening France in 1777 to give us shelter from the Brits or we'll take their ships.
It was reported that 20,000 Taliban troops had amassed at the border of Pakistan. Whoop-de-frickin'-do. I can gather up that many people to kick their tails on Peachtree Street downtown at lunchtime!
Memo to other nations: You're either with us, or against us. As fellow NATO members Italy and Germany now say they won't take part in retaliation, you'd think if anyone understood through their history the necessity in ridding the world of evildoers like Bin Laden, it would be those two nations.
Let's bomb Saddam again, just for nostalgia. Let's see how fast we can wipe that smug grin off his ugly mug.
Actually, I hope that Saddam was involved in the attacks; it will make it that much easier to get a worldwide coalition to finish what George Bush 41 started. All we have to do is pull out the old maps from a decade ago and let the pilots start flying up with big heavy bombs.
As we learned with the Japanese kamikazes at the end of World War II - leading us to feel it was necessary to use nuclear weapons - fighting an enemy that is able to brainwash followers into killing themselves for an evil cause, is a terrifying prospect. These radical terrorist groups and their followers don't want land, they want non-Muslims dead, and revel when non-military civilians are killed en masse.
It’s sad that the Muslim community has been largely silent in the face of constant terror around the world perpetrated by extremist minority groups in the name of their peaceful religion.
What is it about the Muslim faith that so many of them are convinced being a suicide bomber is noble? Do they forget to read the part of the Koran that forbids the murder of innocents? After the book's threat of great punishment for such a deed, how can they be convinced that they'll have a mansion in heaven with seventeen virgin brides after killing women and children?
This won't be World War III. It'll be a Third-World War, because that's all that will remain of those who shield the responsible terrorists.
There’s been a lot of talk from pundits who say that the terrorists aren’t cowards. Would you say that someone who killed a child is brave? That’s essentially the same as what happened last Tuesday, when innocents were murdered by cold-blooded bastards. Osama bin Laden has no trouble sending followers to their deaths, but won't take personal responsibility for the attacks. That makes him a coward.
Interesting that the attacks occurred just a few days after the UN Conference on Racism, i.e. The Conference Against Whitey and Jew. While the members were condemning Israel now and the West for hundreds of years past, the Arab governments where terrorists foster their hatred deprive their own populations of basic human rights. They jail opposition leaders; they intimidate or muzzle scholars; they censor the press.
The tragic stories of those who died at the hands of the bastards last week are astounding.
Among those missing at the Pentagon was Max Beilke, officially designated as the last American combat soldier to leave Vietnam. He had survived two wars: Korea and Vietnam. He boarded the C-130 at Tan Son Nhut air base on March 29, 1973 and returned home to Minnesota, only to return to the Army as a civilian employee, focusing on the problems of Vietnam War veterans. Beilke was 69 years old.
Ruth Clifford McCourt and her four-year-old daughter, Juliana Valentine McCourt, planned to fly with friend Paige Farley Hackel from Boston to Los Angeles, but couldn’t get tickets on the same jet. So Hackel boarded American Airlines Flight 11. McCourt and her daughter boarded United Airlines Flight 175. Barely an hour later, both jets were crashed into the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center. Ruth McCourt’s brother, Ronnie, lives in the city and escaped the ground floor of the WTC after the attacks.
Federal law enforcement sources told CNN Thursday that terrorists planned to hijack an American Airlines flight from Boston to San Diego, but the attack was thwarted because the plane was grounded by mechanical problems.
I bet passengers with tickets for that flight, two hours later never felt so happy about their plans being screwed up.
Remember during this tough time that there are self-haters among us who absolutely loathe the patriotism of the last week. From opinionjournal.com:
The Los Angeles Times reports that some "activists" are "uncomfortable" with all the American flags flying. Roger Lowenstein, whom the Times inexplicably calls "a patriot," tells the paper: "I grew up suspicious of the flag. It meant right-wing politics. It meant repression. It meant arrogance. It meant, 'We're the greatest.' " Jodi Evans of Venice, Calif., says: " "I feel confused and disconnected [from the flag]. Haven't people learned anything in the last 30 years? Haven't they been watching what America has been doing around the world? Instead of feeling humility and compassion, it seems like the flag is being flown to just arrogantly continue what we've been doing."
Ira Glass, who hosts a show on National Public Radio, also isn't comfortable flying the flag of the nation that subsidizes his salary: "The first day [after the attacks], it felt like waving a flag was an act of mourning. But now that we're going to war . . . waving a flag feels like giving carte blanche to Congress and the president to do whatever. And I don't believe that."
This will cheer you up: Apparently the Taliban flag is white, which could be quite fun.
Some relevant Vents from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
In times of crisis, character isn’t made, it’s revealed.
America has suffered; she has shed her tears. It is now time to sow her wrath.
Unfortunately, reality TV has become just that.
I’m a flight attendant. My job description just went from cutesy waitress in the sky to commando terrorist fighter.
It’s a strange world. At one time, we supported Afghanistan against Russia. Now we’re asking Russia to supports us against Afghanistan.