Just another day?
As I rolled out of bed this morning and hurriedly got myself ready to go to work, it didn't occur to me what day today was. I'm sure this had been the case for most people. It had been six years since that terrible day and it is fast fading into memory. Flags are still flown at half-mast and there are news stories online and in print remembering those events. However aside from that it's business as usual. This forces me to wonder about certain things.
In December of 1941 the Imperial Japanese fleet "awoke the sleeping dragon and filled him with a terrible resolve", as was aptly phrased by Admiral Yammamoto. The terrible resolve that Admiral Yammamoto feared came to fruition in August of 1945 when a new and powerful weapon was used against the enemy that had attacked us four years earlier. In September of 2001 the sleeping dragon was awoken again. However, this time the dragon appears to have hit the snooze button and sauntered back off to bed.
It's six years later and the dragon still sleeps. I'm not saying there wasn't a reaction to the 9/11 attacks. The inexorable march to creating a police state in America has been accelerated in an unprecedented way. However, my question is "Where is the terrible resolve?". Instead of a terrible resolve we find most Americans cowering under the threat of the terrorist boogeyman hoping to buy a little safety at the expense of our personal liberties. Instead of a terrible resolve, we've gone on nation building adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the last six years we have yet to see any terrible resolve.
Osama Bin Laden is still at large and he continues to gloat over his victory with each passing year. The "War on Terror" has been an abysmal failure for the most part by and large due to a lack of terrible resolve. All the while the American people are distracted by trivialities while we forget what happened on that September morning. An atrocity has gone unanswered and the enemy remains unpunished. On this day of fading remembrance I feel a need to remind whomever may read this of what is at stake. Al Queda and it's allies have the will to win at any cost. We want to win as long as we don't make anyone upset, ruffle any feathers, or look like the "bad guys". That policy needs to change. We need to take the initiative and we need to take the gloves off. "Winning hearts and minds" is a formula for defeat and will only create long-term military commitments. A true victory is a swift and decisive one. In August of 1945 we had such a victory and although the ethics of that decision are still being debated today, it did decisively end a long and bloody war.
That is what we need. We need the will to win quickly and decisively. This isn't about politics, this is about the correct strategy. If I could speak to the President I would tell him to quit screwing around and win this war on terror. We can win. We have the power, all we need is the will. On this day I only ask that we remember what has happened and what needs to be done to ensure that it never happens again. The solution does not lie in more airport security. The solution lies in more dead terrorists.
In December of 1941 the Imperial Japanese fleet "awoke the sleeping dragon and filled him with a terrible resolve", as was aptly phrased by Admiral Yammamoto. The terrible resolve that Admiral Yammamoto feared came to fruition in August of 1945 when a new and powerful weapon was used against the enemy that had attacked us four years earlier. In September of 2001 the sleeping dragon was awoken again. However, this time the dragon appears to have hit the snooze button and sauntered back off to bed.
It's six years later and the dragon still sleeps. I'm not saying there wasn't a reaction to the 9/11 attacks. The inexorable march to creating a police state in America has been accelerated in an unprecedented way. However, my question is "Where is the terrible resolve?". Instead of a terrible resolve we find most Americans cowering under the threat of the terrorist boogeyman hoping to buy a little safety at the expense of our personal liberties. Instead of a terrible resolve, we've gone on nation building adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the last six years we have yet to see any terrible resolve.
Osama Bin Laden is still at large and he continues to gloat over his victory with each passing year. The "War on Terror" has been an abysmal failure for the most part by and large due to a lack of terrible resolve. All the while the American people are distracted by trivialities while we forget what happened on that September morning. An atrocity has gone unanswered and the enemy remains unpunished. On this day of fading remembrance I feel a need to remind whomever may read this of what is at stake. Al Queda and it's allies have the will to win at any cost. We want to win as long as we don't make anyone upset, ruffle any feathers, or look like the "bad guys". That policy needs to change. We need to take the initiative and we need to take the gloves off. "Winning hearts and minds" is a formula for defeat and will only create long-term military commitments. A true victory is a swift and decisive one. In August of 1945 we had such a victory and although the ethics of that decision are still being debated today, it did decisively end a long and bloody war.
That is what we need. We need the will to win quickly and decisively. This isn't about politics, this is about the correct strategy. If I could speak to the President I would tell him to quit screwing around and win this war on terror. We can win. We have the power, all we need is the will. On this day I only ask that we remember what has happened and what needs to be done to ensure that it never happens again. The solution does not lie in more airport security. The solution lies in more dead terrorists.