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A 09/10/03 |
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Another Year’s Past
As the second anniversary of the 911 terrorist attacks comes upon us, we realize that, as a country, we have largely returned to a life of stability and normality. There are some Americans who will always feel the sting of that day, though. We have watched our country move from mourning the losses to the promise of retribution against those who hurt us. Politicians stood together to authorize the President to move against any group or country harboring or assisting those groups to eliminate the threats against us. We vowed to not be hit like that again. In the last year we watched as the anti-war movement grew and celebrities tried the old “Jane Fonda” approach to strengthen their status in the world. Luckily those movements have lost their momentum for the most part. Prominent Democrats, led by Tom Dachle, moved to undermine what they had previously supported. What has been lost in the politics, the search for weapons of mass destruction and a global pursuit of terrorists is two-fold. First of all our actions have beaten up on Al-Qaida and other groups pretty badly. The proof is in the fact that with all of the threats made against us, we have not been hit again. Any of these groups would have loved to nail us again after 911 failed to break our backs. We didn’t crawl into a hole or bury our head in the sand, as they would have liked us to. We struck back swiftly and fiercely. Closing the stock market for several days helped to soften the cataclysmic economic disaster that could have happened. The economy is not great, but I feel that part of it has to do with the tech explosion of the 90’s and the return to reality after the dot com feeding frenzy. The second aspect largely lost is that two Memorial Days have passed since the attacks. On both there have been a number of new headstones with young soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines lying beneath them. Beyond the initial carnage, how many families have suffered the loss of a loved one or have been left behind as a military member has marched off to war? The greatest loss is to the children of those serving their country. Some are left with only a neatly folded flag, a picture, and memories of their parent. Others spend months and years staring at the family photograph on the wall, looking forward to the day that mom and dad returns and can again tuck them into bed at night. All of our active duty and guard members signed on the dotted line voluntarily. Some went for the education and life experience; some went to start a career. Others chose to serve for the single purpose of giving back to the country that has given so much to them and their families. It is their time. Throughout our history, the men and women of our military have been the building blocks of our country, the best place in the world to live. The terrorists, like other enemies of the United States before them, are paying dearly for coming after us. We will never wipe out worldwide terrorism, but on the second anniversary of 911, I hope that our enemies are on the run, hungry, and as miserable as possible |
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