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| Terrorized? Hell, no! |
| 2003-09-11 |
| by Steven Green, the "VodkaPundit." EFL "The purpose of terrorism," wrote the 20th Century’s first terrorist, "is terror." By that measure, our enemies have failed. And failed badly. Are you, two years later, still unable to comprehend? Be honest now. Unless you’ve dived head first into the bloodiest part of the heart of darkness, then, no, you don’t understand. You and I here in the West, or even that vast majority in the Muslim world, can never really know what makes an educated person do what those 19 men did two Septembers ago. But are you terrorized? Do you live in constant, unalterable fear? For me, the answer is: "Hell, no!" Dread is for the weak; defiance is, perhaps, the American virtue. I’m saddened for 10,000 children who lost a mommy or a daddy that day. I’m angered every time I see a picture of the altered New York skyline. I know a wearied irritation that this instinctively isolationist nation has been dragged into yet another world war. There is real, physical pain in my belly when that sound comes back, unbidden. You know the sound I mean – the thunk-splat of meat hitting pavement, of living people who chose to jump rather than be burned alive. Americans are defiant, even regarding the manner of death chosen for us by others. Now go on and let yourself relive that day, just a little. Remember the first reports that "a small plane" had crashed into the World Trade Center. Firemen who didn’t just run into a burning building, they ran up into collapsing skyscrapers. Grounded planes. The stock exchanges, closed. The doubt, the fear, the "what will they do next?" And the realization: Oh my God, we’re at war. War in the Old Testament sense, when the barbarians came to rape and to slaughter. Relive, too, the days after. The wall of inkjet "have you seen. . .?" photos. You, me, your friends, crying over obituaries in The New York Times. Widows grieving at Ground Zero, who breathed – breathed in – their husbands’ ashes. Remember, too, our just vengeance. Our president told us, "I hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." And they do hear us, in Iraq and in Afghanistan. They hear us, not because we used our weapons to murder their civilians, but to bring down their tyrants. From our loss, we gave them hope. The loss felt in Baghdad and Kabul is that of Sisyphus without his stone. The sound they hear is the ring of freedom. And they hear us, even if only a whisper, in Syria, in Iran, and – yes – they hear us in Saudi Arabia, too. Maybe defiance will prove as irresistible an export as Levi’s, Coke, and MTV. Two years later, I’m still angry – and I hope you are, too. But are we terrorized? Hell, no. Just one point of disagreement with this fine essay: I do understand, I think as well as possible for a middle-aged guy in Ohio who doesn’t have a security clearance, why our enemies hate us. They’re not shy about expressing themselves, and I see no reason not to take them at their word. However, "understand" is not synonymous with "accept," "forgive," or "validate." The more I understand our enemies, the more eagerly I anticipate the day when the last terror master is strangled with the entrails of the last Wahabbi imam. Delenda est Carthago. Let’s roll. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #3 Some equate moving on with forgetting. I will never forget. I have moved on. As I have said many times, our enemy has been explicit. He wants to enslave us or kill us. There can be no compromise, because he has no compromise in him. In the region where Carthage stood, nothing grows but a scattered weed or two, over 20 centuries after the Romans produced the Carthage solution. Remember you have not won, unless their grandchildren are scared of you. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-9-11 8:00:22 PM |
| #2 The thing I felt on 09/11/2001 most was PURE RAGE at those that did this! I had NO DOUBT that it was an ISLAMISTS because they are the ONLY people who could have done such a crime. I still want/need to lash out anybody who doubts this because they are FOOLS. But now that we know that the Arab despots (that breed Islamists) are easily defeated we should not stop until ALL are removed. We were alseep then and your attacks did not deter us. BRING IT ON BICTH! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2003-9-11 1:49:46 PM |
| #1 One thing I hated after 9/11 was the way the papers kept featuring hollow-eyed citizens trying to "cope" with the event. The survivors of those killed, I understand. But here in the midwest? I wanted to see some rage, defiance, dignified stoicism... something, other than just teary-eyed victimhood. That was what scared me the most, the thought that people were too wallowed in self-pity to stand up and do what needed to be done. I'm thankful that that fear was misplaced. |
| Posted by: BH 2003-9-11 1:02:06 PM |