WAR ON AMERICAN HOMELAND
Some sorrowful days are etched in memory, to be remembered forever. For me, it was December 7th, 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, April 12, 1945 when President Roosevelt died, Nov 22, 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated, and more recently, September 11, 2001, the day terrorists turned airliners into kamikazes and brought war to our American homeland.
On the early morning of 9/11, Marlene and I were awakened at home and alerted to the attack by a phone call from our daughter Robyn who was working in downtown Washington DC. My son Bob Jr., with the United States Foreign Service, happened also to be in Washington DC on State Department business (at the time, there was a report that an explosion had also occurred at the State Department - later confirmed to be in error). With the rest of the nation, we watched 9/11 events unfold with horror, sadness, and concern.To me, the terror act of 9/11 was a declaration of war on the United States - no less so than the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The attack on Pearl Harbor came from Japan, a nation with boundaries, easy to identify, easy to quantify. In contrast, the 9/11 attack came from an amorphous "nation" of ideology without boundaries - much more difficult to identify and quantify. But in neither attack, did reasonable Americans ask, "What did America do to deserve the attack?" That's not only "nutso," it's an unproductive response. The proper question is, how do we defend ourselves - both our physical homeland, and the ideology that makes America, America?
We don't defend ourselves by pretending the threat doesn't continue, or pretending we are not engaged in a war of ideology as well as weapons. In that sense of ideology, we are indeed engaged in a religious war. The religious war aspect of the conflict is the "elephant in the room" that few people - especially politicians - want to publicly acknowledge seeing. Anyone who believes America won't suffer another devastating physical attack on our homeland, is inhabiting fantasyland. The only question is, when and where?
We've suffered immense problems dealing with the results of Hurricane Katrina, when we had many days warning of nature's assault on the Gulf Coast. When the terrorists next assault the United States, there will be no warning at all. A scary thought. Too many forget the danger and become complacent, absent a terrorist attack every other day.The overseas actions of our US military are extremely costly in human, economic, and political terms. The cost is the price of survival. It's better to fight the enemy overseas than on our neighborhood streets. The cost also includes reasonable security actions here at home.
In the words today of Pope Benedict II on the 9/11 attack , "May God inspire men and women of goodwill everywhere to renounce hatred and to build a world of justice, solidarity and peace." I agree. And I join in that prayer.
In the meantime, however, God helps those who help themselves.
On the early morning of 9/11, Marlene and I were awakened at home and alerted to the attack by a phone call from our daughter Robyn who was working in downtown Washington DC. My son Bob Jr., with the United States Foreign Service, happened also to be in Washington DC on State Department business (at the time, there was a report that an explosion had also occurred at the State Department - later confirmed to be in error). With the rest of the nation, we watched 9/11 events unfold with horror, sadness, and concern.To me, the terror act of 9/11 was a declaration of war on the United States - no less so than the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The attack on Pearl Harbor came from Japan, a nation with boundaries, easy to identify, easy to quantify. In contrast, the 9/11 attack came from an amorphous "nation" of ideology without boundaries - much more difficult to identify and quantify. But in neither attack, did reasonable Americans ask, "What did America do to deserve the attack?" That's not only "nutso," it's an unproductive response. The proper question is, how do we defend ourselves - both our physical homeland, and the ideology that makes America, America?
We don't defend ourselves by pretending the threat doesn't continue, or pretending we are not engaged in a war of ideology as well as weapons. In that sense of ideology, we are indeed engaged in a religious war. The religious war aspect of the conflict is the "elephant in the room" that few people - especially politicians - want to publicly acknowledge seeing. Anyone who believes America won't suffer another devastating physical attack on our homeland, is inhabiting fantasyland. The only question is, when and where?
We've suffered immense problems dealing with the results of Hurricane Katrina, when we had many days warning of nature's assault on the Gulf Coast. When the terrorists next assault the United States, there will be no warning at all. A scary thought. Too many forget the danger and become complacent, absent a terrorist attack every other day.The overseas actions of our US military are extremely costly in human, economic, and political terms. The cost is the price of survival. It's better to fight the enemy overseas than on our neighborhood streets. The cost also includes reasonable security actions here at home.
In the words today of Pope Benedict II on the 9/11 attack , "May God inspire men and women of goodwill everywhere to renounce hatred and to build a world of justice, solidarity and peace." I agree. And I join in that prayer.
In the meantime, however, God helps those who help themselves.
posted by Blogs by Rep Bob Lynn | 2:00 PM
1 Comments:
A lot of people do believe that God helps those who help themselves, but that is actually not in the Bible! On the contrary, when we are a total mess, God reaches out to us with his grace.
However, your point is well taken that we need to take proper steps to prevent disasters from happening.
~ a blogsurfer from Seattle
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