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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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 Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 5:10 pm Post subject: SEPT. 11--"The Bad Thing" |
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Byron York says it well. I couldn't agree more!!!
www.thehill.com
| Quote: | Mr. President, please talk more about Sept. 11
Byron York
June 30. 2005
Remember awhile back, nearly four years now — it may have been in September — something really bad happened?
We don’t like to talk about it now, but you may recall that it was in New York, and in Washington, and in a field in Pennsylvania.
A lot of people died. It changed the lives of millions of Americans, some in profound ways. And many people vowed to make sure it didn’t happen again.
But we don’t like to talk about it now. In fact, if the president even brings the Bad Thing up, some people become very agitated.
So it was no surprise that when George W. Bush gave a speech Tuesday night on the war in Iraq, and he mentioned the Bad Thing — he called it “Sept. 11” — there were lots of hurt feelings.
Like those of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). “The president’s frequent references to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 show the weakness of his arguments,” Pelosi said after the speech. “He is willing to exploit the sacred ground of 9-11, knowing that there is no connection between 9-11 and the war in Iraq.”
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was also unhappy. “The president’s numerous references to Sept. 11 did not provide a way forward in Iraq,” he said.
And, of course, The New York Times was upset. “We had hoped [Bush] would resist the temptation to raise the bloody flag of 9/11 over and over again,” the paper editorialized, “to justify a war in a country that had nothing whatsoever to do with the terrorist attacks.”
But what’s so wrong with talking about Sept. 11? It was only a world-historic, before-and-after event that has fundamentally changed the way the United States deals with the rest of the planet.
If Bush administration officials have made a mistake on the national security front in the months since the election, it is that they have not talked about Sept. 11 enough.
As many critics pointed out, Bush mentioned September 11 five times in his speech Tuesday.
First, the president said that American troops “are fighting a global war on terror. The war reached our shores on September 11, 2001.”
Well, that’s true.
Second, the president said, “After Sept. 11, I made a commitment to the American people: This nation will not be attacked again. We will defend our freedom. We will take the fight to the enemy. Iraq is the latest battlefield in this war.”
That’s true, too.
Third, the president said, “The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lessons of September the 11th, if we abandon the Iraqi people to men like Zarqawi and if we yield the future of the Middle East to men like bin Laden.”
That’s true, too.
Fourth, the president said that terrorists “are trying to shake our will in Iraq, just as they tried to shake our will on September 11, 2001. They will fail.”
That’s true, too.
And finally, the president said, “After Sept. 11, 2001, I told the American people that the road ahead would be difficult and that we would prevail. Well, it has been difficult and we are prevailing.”
That — hopefully — is true, too.
Still, the president’s critics became angry, accusing Bush of claiming that Iraq had a role in Sept. 11.
But wasn’t the plain meaning of Bush’s words that the same people who perpetrated Sept. 11 are today fighting the U.S. in Iraq?
That seems indisputable. Osama bin Laden has given his blessing to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi; Zarqawi has proclaimed his allegiance to bin Laden. And al Qaeda appears to view Iraq as its main battleground today.
So this is the situation: No, Iraq did not plan Sept. 11 — even though many officials, chief among them Richard Clarke, worried about a Saddam-bin Laden connection — but the United States is now fighting al Qaeda in Iraq.
Accept, if you choose, the Democratic premise that Iraq, when the president decided to invade, had nothing to do with the war on terrorism. Even if that was true then, it’s not true now. If we’re fighting al Qaeda — along with a host of foreign jihadists — it’s part of the war on terror.
But if some Democrats had their way, the United States would have to fight that war on terrorism without ever mentioning Sept. 11. Does that make sense to you?
Even though a much-publicized series of polls has shown that many Americans believe it was a mistake to go into Iraq, the surveys also suggest that the public knows the United States has to stay there now.
And they apparently weren’t offended by Bush’s five references to Sept. 11. After the speech, Gallup pollsters found that 74 percent of those surveyed had a very positive or somewhat positive reaction to it.
They remember the Bad Thing very well — even if some people don’t want to talk about it. |
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“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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coldwarvet
Admiral
Joined: 03 Jun 2004
Posts: 1125
Location: Minnetonka, MN
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| Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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Did we wage war on Japan without making reference to Pearl Harbor?
_________________
Defender of the honor of those in harms way keeping us out of harms way.
"Peace is our Profession"
Strategic Air Command - Motto
USAF 75-79 Security Police |
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Tanya
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 13 Aug 2004
Posts: 570
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| Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.lindenreport.com/speeches/bush1.html
"And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism."
President's Address: September 21, 2001
~snip~
"Americans have many questions tonight.
Americans are asking: Who attacked our country?
The evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as al-Qaeda. They are the same murderers indicted for bombing American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, and responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole.
Al-Qaeda is to terror what the mafia is to crime. But its goal is not making money; its goal is remaking the world, and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere.
The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics, a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam. The terrorists' directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans, and make no distinctions among military and civilians, including women and children.
This group and its leader -- a person named Osama bin Ladin -- are linked to many other organizations in different countries, including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries. They are recruited from their own nations and neighborhoods, and brought to camps in places like Afghanistan where they are trained in the tactics of terror. They are sent back to their homes or sent to hide in countries around the world to plot evil and destruction."
~snip~
"Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated."
~snip~
"Americans are asking: How will we fight and win this war?
We will direct every resource at our command -- every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war -- to the disruption and defeat of the global terror network.
This war will not be like the war against Iraq a decade ago, with its decisive liberation of territory and its swift conclusion.
It will not look like the air war above Kosovo two years ago, where no ground troops were used and not a single American was lost in combat.
Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have seen.
It may include dramatic strikes, visible on television, and covert operations, secret even in success.
We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism.
Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.
From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."
~snip~
"Our nation has been put on notice: We are not immune from attack. We will take defensive measures against terrorism to protect Americans."
~snip~
"Americans are asking: What is expected of us?
"I ask for your patience, with the delays and inconveniences that may accompany tighter security, and for your patience in what will be a long struggle." |
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LewWaters
Admin
Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 4042
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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Two points;
1. During WW2, the battlecry and several posters were "Remember Pearl Harbor." We need the same today, posters and a loud battlecry, "Remember September 11, 2001."
2. We did not fight Japan in Japan only. Once the war was on, we sought out the enemy regardless of where they were and defeated them wherever they chose to entrench themselves.
The only difference I see today is the looney left's pitiful attempts to put America back to sleep with their distortion of facts and outright lies about our involvement in Iraq, all in their quest to regain political power.
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Clark County Conservative |
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coldwarvet
Admiral
Joined: 03 Jun 2004
Posts: 1125
Location: Minnetonka, MN
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| Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 10:51 pm Post subject: |
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| LewWaters wrote: | Two points;
1. During WW2, the battlecry and several posters were "Remember Pearl Harbor." We need the same today, posters and a loud battlecry, "Remember September 11, 2001."
2. We did not fight Japan in Japan only. Once the war was on, we sought out the enemy regardless of where they were and defeated them wherever they chose to entrench themselves.
The only difference I see today is the looney left's pitiful attempts to put America back to sleep with their distortion of facts and outright lies about our involvement in Iraq, all in their quest to regain political power. |
Right on the mark crank up the poster print shops. Perhaps under Old Glory and along side of POW/MIA we should unvail a new Remember 911 flag. Get the AM talking heads shouting throghout the North American Air Waves
"Remember 911"
_________________
Defender of the honor of those in harms way keeping us out of harms way.
"Peace is our Profession"
Strategic Air Command - Motto
USAF 75-79 Security Police |
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kate
Admin
Joined: 14 May 2004
Posts: 1891
Location: Upstate, New York
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 6:38 am Post subject: |
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| LewWaters wrote: |
During WW2, the battlecry and several posters were........
We need the same today, posters and a loud battlecry,
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lots more at thisFReeperthread
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one of..... We The People |
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