It was four years ago today, that our veneer of invincibility came down. It was four years ago today that we were finally drawn into a war we did not want, a war we did not start. It was four years ago today that the battle for civilization began.
Our first casualties were not soldiers in a great crusade. They were flight attendants and pilots, overpowered by heartless goons. They were windowwashers, businessmen, storekeepers, merchants. They were foreigners and natural born citizens. They were firefighters and cops. They were husbands and wives, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters. They were innocents. They wer enot little Eichmans. They were little American Dreams. Each and every one. And they were snuffed out by Evil.
Yes, Evil. Not culturally repressed freedom fighters, not insurgents, not economically depressed and oppressed citizens, but by Evil. Evil working through a vile, vindictive man who cares only for his own place in his misbegotten view of the Celestial order. There is no negotiating wiht this Evil. There is no kowtowing. All this Evil wants is the desruction of us, of civilization.
This Evil seeks the subjugation of women as objects of breeding and sexual ownership. It seeks the dehumanizing of children into pawns for death. This Evil seeks to reduce people to items of production for the good of their twisted version of religion, with no respect to diverse culture. It seeks to unite us under subservience, with the Evil sitting and directing us all.
And what was our great crime? What was the crime that 3000 people deserved to die? We are free. We do not force people to bow before one god or another. We let people choose their livelihood, their faith, their homes. Oh, yeah, and our bigger crime was defending the homeland of this evil person, of standing up to help his nation in 1991 when we were asked. Yep, some great crime, yes?
I remember where I was. I was teaching a group of seniors in Government who had just been to NYC that summer. When the call came to turn on the TVs, I thought it was a joke. When we turned on the TV in my little modular classroom, it was revealed not to be a joke, but a nightmare. We were filled with anger, confusion, questions galore. When we saw the second plane go into the Tower, we knew. We knew it could not have been some accident. We knew our lives were changed.
Going home that day, I marvelled at the stillness in the skies, the stillness on the roads. Everything had been grounded. Things looked perilous, at best. Then, the people, behind a leader no one expected to find, turned the corner. With great city and state leaders like Rudy Guiliani and Pataki, we were able to contain the damage. But the cost, the terrible cost!!!
Of course, the tragic thing is the aftermath. WE come to find out that we had warning signs for years. Little was done. We worked in the following weeks as one nation to rectify the mistakes of the past. We were unified undre a new doctrine...no more would we sit back and let threats gather. WE liberated two nations since then. Millions of free people at the cost of 3000 on that bright September day.
Sometimes, that tree of liberty requires blood to grow and flourish...tis sad, but true.
To those who still mourn, to those who still cry out for a wife, a husband, to those who still miss their mother's embrace or a father's love, our thoughts and prayers are with you. To those who still fight the good fight, despite criticism and hate home and abroad, we stand with you.
To those who have taken the call of liberty, who have joined us in this fight not just for American values, but for the values of civilization vs. Chaos, you have our thanks.
God bless us all. God bless Barbara Olson, Todd Beamer, Fire Chaplains, Matt Maupins, all of us, all of them. God bless America, land that we love.
