My beef is that the media and tv folks should be replaying the planes crashing so we never ever forget.

They don't do that.

"Never Forgive, Never Forget"; I quote Pat Rogers; "DIRECT ACTION, NO PRISONERS". I have never served; I give a moment of silence to those that do; I know THEY will never forget; I hope those that command them can have the same singleness of purpose that must be mustered to make the world safe for civilized people. God Bless the victims and those that avenge their deaths.

I couldn't forget that day if I tried. My children will be taught the un-PC truth of it too when they are old enough to learn of such things.

Quoted: I couldn't forget that day if I tried.

+1!

I'm listening to a rebroadcast of the Sept. 11th, 2001 Howard Stern Show before I go to the range.  Guess which group of people I'll be thinking about every time I pull the trigger?

I've got an archive of images, video and audio at my LibertyNews WTC Image Archive, there's also a really nice image archive at Remember the 11th

Fox news was replaying everything last night, including stills of people jumping.

Local talkshow host Kirby Wilbur has a picture a friend took from her hotel room across the street that show the canopy above the entrance with holes punched in it by falling bodies. If that doesn't remind you of what happened, nothing will.

Never Forget!

Fly your Flag.............and try and understand that Islam and Christianity cannot co-exist.....................

I will never forget....

Those responsible will be punished. You know who you are. The Truth is on our side. We will never forget.

I am at work right now, on my Paramedic unit.

I am still angry, and still disgusted.
I stil have respiratory and health problems.
I still have horrible sureal images burnt in my head that I when I close my eyes I have to gain my composure sometimes.

I will teach my son that we were attacked! I will not let the politically correct media change it from "terrosists" to "homocidal bombers", from a day of infamy to a day of reflection.  I do not want some 9/11 day of peace and light, tree hugging happy hippy shit. I do not want a Holiday that will be turned into the {insert store here} Sept 11th Sale that memorial day veterans day have become. I don't want anyone to forget the trauma done to our nation.

We need to stop bringing the knife to the gunfight, we are the strongest, most powerful nation on this planet. People hate us. We need to take the leash off of our bigger meaner junkyard dog.
Also
While everyone so quickly remembers the loss in the FDNY & NYPD,
they far to often forget the loss of NYC EMS/EMTs and Paramedics who also lost thier lives.

God bless and god speed to those we lost
God bless the men and women who responded without hesitation and are now physically and emotionally scarred for life.
God bless and safe journey to our troops who are bringing it to the enemy abroad and defending our nations soverinty.

on my soapbox from NYC  

Thank you so much for posting the 9-11 rememberance.  Too many have forgotten what happened that day.  I am retired FDNY, former NYPD and although I was retired before 9-11  I watched the planes fly in and destroy our beloved towers and most of all murdered our neighbors.  I dug at the pile the next day and days and also worked the piers taking the wives through the process.  I would have rather have kept digging.  How do you tell the spouse your husband is dust??????????  It infuriates me how these liberals try to paint this as our fault!!!!  "Other countries will get upset with us, we have to understand Muslims and Islam, yadda yadda yadda"  My response, who cares if they are mad at us and everything I needed to know about Islam I learned on 9-11.  To my brother EMT, bravo, you said it all, nothing needs to be repeated.  Stay strong and keep the faith.  NEVER FORGET THIS DAY- EVER!!  Please follow this link and pass it along, it may refresh some peoples memory.  And to all you Muslim Pigs, remember payback is a bitch, you can have your ugly virgins since nobody else wanted them


http://www.fdnylodd.com/BloodofHeroes.html

I have been thinking about September 11th all morning. Where I was when it occurred, my thoughts at that time, how angry and upset I was when it was confirmed to be a terrorist attack and not simply an accident. It was pretty somber as I drove to work with the radio off reflecting in thought. As I proceeded through my day, which is usually very hectic on Mondays, I continued to think about everything that is September 11th to me.



I work for Perot Systems and this below was sent out this morning.  




Today our nation is holding solemn observances of the fifth anniversary of September 11, 2001.
As a tribute to those individuals, Mr. Perot has added the Flag of Honor, which contains the names of all the victims of September 11, and the Flag of Heroes, which contains the names of the emergency services personnel who gave their lives so that others might live.
As you reflect on this day, consider taking a few minutes to come by the Flag Hallway in Building E and see both Flags that pay tribute to those who perished.

Darcy Anderson
Chief People Officer and VP of Corporate Support




After I read the email I continued through several meetings and decided my only option for lunch was going to be running down to our cafeteria and grabbing food to go and eating at my desk. As I headed down there and proceeded through Building E I saw the two flags. Large flags, displayed quietly along the hall. I stopped and began to go through the names on both flags. All listed in alphabetical order. As I did, I had this overwhelming sadness come over me and just fought back tears and feeling such a sense of loss. I heard a voice next to me say,

“ They are beautiful flags aren’t they?” A voice I immediately recognized.  

I immediately, stood up a bit straighter, cleared the lump from my throat and responded, “Yes sir, they are. It is hard to stand here and reflect and not feel such sadness in remembrance of this event.”

I turned to Mr. Ross Perot Sr and stated, “Sir, I’d like to personally thank you for all you have done for this country and her military. It is and always has been much appreciated. Thank you for displaying these flags. “

He smiled and said, “You are welcome.“

He patted me on the shoulder and we stood there a bit longer and I proceeded on my way to grab lunch. For some reason I felt much better.

EDIT: Later in the day
Tomorrow I'm going to take photos if I can make the time and post them so you can see for yourselves.

"Have belief in almighty God, and peace will be your reward everlasting"

dedicated to those lost on Sept. 11, 2001

Quoted: "Have belief in almighty God, and peace will be your reward everlasting" dedicated to those lost on Sept. 11, 2001

...and, if I may add sir, to the MIL and civilians who have lost all while working hard to make sure it never happens again.

God Bless America, and my prayers go out to all those who have lost family and friends..

and may all terrorists Burn In HELL!!!

I apologize to those who take offense, but I am angry still.

God bless those that lost their life that day, and their families.  

God speed those that are giving their life today, to keep this from happening again.

Thanks to all who gave and continue to give so much.

Quoted: My beef is that the media and tv folks should be replaying the planes crashing so we never ever forget. They don't do that.

It sure seems as though they do not wish to show the images very often

Never Forgive

Never Forget

Both equally important.


We shall always and forever remember the couragous people that were lost.

Never forget.

Reading all the above posts has brought tears to my eyes...again.
We miss you Joe.

Rome fell September 4, 476AD. It was overrun with illegal immigrants: Visigoths, Franks, Anglos, Saxons, Ostrogoths, Burgundians, Lombards, Jutes and Vandals, who at first assimilated and worked as servants, but then came so fast they did not learn the Latin Language or the Roman form of government. Highly trained Roman Legions moving rapidly on their advanced road system, were strained fighting conflicts worldwide. Rome had a trade deficit, having outsourced most of its grain production to North Africa, and when Vandals captured that area, Rome did not have the resources to retaliate. Attila the Hun was committing terrorist attacks. The city of Rome was on welfare with citizens being given free bread. One Roman commented: Those who live at the expense of the public funds are more numerous than those who provide them. Tax collectors were more terrible than the enemy. Gladiators provided violent entertainment in the Coliseum. There was injustice in courts, exposure of unwanted infants, infidelity, immorality and perverted bathhouses.
5th-Century historian Salvian wrote: O Roman people be ashamed... Let nobody think otherwise, the vices of our bad lives have alone conquered us.
William Federer


www.patriotpost.us/


www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SbssOdruPQ&feature=Views&page=1&t=t&f=b

I have enough room to have empathy and anger and righteous indignation.
And while I was in Iraq, I did get some Justice.

"I will feel afraid no more, for I shall go forth and seek my vengeance...yes vengeance, because the honest fight is only for those with honor."

Never forget.

Won't forget

Can't forget

Never forget

I also think they should show the images to help the ones who tend to forget. I myself will never forget. Everytime I think about it I get angree and sad in the same moment. My heart goes out to the ones who lost loved ones on that day. I solute the ones fighting the fight as I solute the ones who fought the fight in WW 2. May god bless us and the people who are still feeling the pain of that day.

Stand proud, Stand fast, Stand together as one and together we will never forget.

Proud to be an American

Sniper243

My partner and I were on duty that morning. He was once on a "team" connected to the Pentagon. He lost some members that day. Lets not forget those lost at the Pentagon and the brave souls on flight 93. I remember the pain of waiting to find out who survived and who was lost. God Bless Them and the families and friends of those that were murdered that day.

I'll never forget...

<edit> This is neither the time nor the place for 9-11 Conspiracy Theories.
HD40
 

God bless the men and women lost on that horrible September day; and God bless the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who are seeing to it that the people responsible for that atrocity meet their makers.

And to those responsible - Your days are numbered, jack.

Just checking in and remembering that horrible day. I wish you all the very best and hope to God none of us,our kids and our grandkids's grandkids never see anything like it again.
Sad day of loss.
God BLESS the U.S.A.

Quoted: I'll never forget...   There was fore knowledge of the event...   Somehow, for the first time in history, our fighters could not intercept those planes   Building 7 imploded after NOTHING HIT IT and small fires on one floor   What hit the Pentagon was not a 757... The released videos show that.   The loss of privacy and liberties due to unconstitutional legistlation that followed   The lies propagated by the mouth pieces to swing the herd into war Most of all I'll never forget...   the lives of 3000+ Americans sensely lost   the lives of ???+ American first responders and cleanup crews that are dying from the toxic dust   the lives of our American Military lost which now is greater than those lost in the towers.   the lives of our American Military that sit awash in Depleated Uranium with their lives shortened each and everyday they are exposed. 911 WAS AN INSIDE JOB 911 TRUTH - I want to see those responsible brought to justice!!

With all due respect sir,
I am not sure about the rest of your post however...point in fact,
NYC OEM (office of emergency management) was in WTC 7 which was on Vesey Street between Church and the West Side Hiway. Opposite WTC 7 was WTC 5 which surffered significant danage from airplane parts and (I know I saw the landing gear on the sidewalk).


If you would like I can send you some of my pics from before and after the collapse that I took.
Anyhow...
WTC 7 had a 50,000 gallon storage of diesil fuel in the event of an citywide emergency,vehicles could be refueled at the site. Tragically it became one of the reasons for the collapse of WTC 7 which also housed Federal Marshalls offices, DEA and other federal agencies who also took significant infrastructure losses. This is public record before the 9/11 terror attack and is cited in the 9/11 commision report as well as FDNY NYPD and EMS FBI DEA MARSHALL command reports.
I'll dig em up and upload them as painful as they are to look at.
Respectfully Submitted

God bless those that were there, the fallen and those still here today.

"May God have mercy on our enemies,... I will not!"

---George S. Patton--
Gen. Commanding

As I was preparing for work this morning, I was raising my flag. I looked around at the other houses, barren of any outward remembrance. My neighbor 3 houses down (a vet) was leaving, and stopped to say "thank you" for putting up a flag. Him thanking me for something that should be standard on every house? Seems too many have forgotten.
Some of us will never forget, and can never thank those who serve enough.

height=8

Quoted: Fly your Flag.............and try and understand that Islam and Christianity cannot co-exist.....................

my sentiments, as well

Quoted: I'll never forget...   There was fore knowledge of the event...   Somehow, for the first time in history, our fighters could not intercept those planes   Building 7 imploded after NOTHING HIT IT and small fires on one floor   What hit the Pentagon was not a 757... The released videos show that.   The loss of privacy and liberties due to unconstitutional legistlation that followed   The lies propagated by the mouth pieces to swing the herd into war Most of all I'll never forget...   the lives of 3000+ Americans sensely lost   the lives of ???+ American first responders and cleanup crews that are dying from the toxic dust   the lives of our American Military lost which now is greater than those lost in the towers.   the lives of our American Military that sit awash in Depleated Uranium with their lives shortened each and everyday they are exposed. 911 WAS AN INSIDE JOB 911 TRUTH - I want to see those responsible brought to justice!!

EDIT: I have no words.

not sure what to say
but I'm still very upset about those events and still looking for absolute resolution.



I couldnt seem to make the links work on the pages given.

if someone can host them somewhere that's got the bandwidth that it might need, I've got videos of both plane crashes on my computer at the office I can email to a host so that everyone that needs to be reminded....can be.

when I start questioning myself and questioning things around us, I watch the videos and it all becomes clear, once again.

height=8

Quoted: I will never forget....I'm right there with you.  I was just a freshman in high-school when it happened, and i believe i will always remember exactly where i was when i heard it.

God grant us peace but not until we have destroyed our enemies who mean us harm, until we have brought light to every dark corner of this earth, that no enemy may hide, that no enemy finds rest, so that we forever remember our fallen, that we may destroy all those nations of all people, and all religions that mean us harm, less no loss of innocent life go in vain.

C

We will never forget you Rod. See you on the other side.

For the past Few weeks I have been talking more and more about this excruciating pain in my chest. It all started after I asked myself have we gained anything from this. Has our country become any better, or worse, or indifferent.


After much deliberation and the concensus I have around me is NO. Americans havn't felt any safer. They havnt become more self reliant. They/We have and are dooming our selves to repeat History time and time again. I Am loosing my rights daily, my heart is still cold. I ASK WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? WHAT HAVE WE gained. We are being controlled by them, we are selling our selves out as americans. FLY YOUR FLAG, REMEMBER THAT OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED AND EVIL CONSPIRING AGAINST US.

because of what has happened we have lost out on or FREEDOM, Where does it end?






I hope this is food for thought for some. I love my country, I salute my flag, God bless us all.

It is a shame that there are so many people that will never "get it" when it comes to the events of 9/11 and the WOT. I'm very proud of those who serve and wish only the best for this Country.

The voices of the dead are screaming " AVENGE ME"

Hey preTex,
Go put your tinfoil hat back on to protect yourself from those evil mindrays the CIA beams at you and masturbate to some more X-Files you loser. This ISN'T the time or forum to express your frustration at never finding a live unicorn by spouting BS about 9/11 conspiracies. Here's a new one for you: spread the rumor that David Copperfield masterminded the whole thing, and that it was just an illusion, and the WTC is actually still there. That is about as plausible as your gripe, and should keep you busy enough to quell the ADHD that I'm sure is leaking out of your pores...
Anyway, 9/11 makes me see red. It makes me want to spread the kind of fear our innocent civilians felt on that day to every other country on earth, so that they will realize that the U.S. is STILL an angry and wounded-but never cornered or defeated-animal. Don't F with the U.S. No rest until we are avenged 1000 fold. Lets take the gloves off-finally-and win this war for all time so our grandchildren aren't walking the beat in Baghdad. Our troops and the civilians that died on 9/11 don't deserve any less.

Quoted: Lets take the gloves off-finally-and win this war for all time so our grandchildren aren't walking the beat in Baghdad. Our troops and the civilians that died on 9/11 don't deserve any less.

here here

I too, am pissed off whenever I think about it. I am angry and want to show these F'ers what terror is.
The world already paints us as the evil empire that controls and dominates interferes and violates rights.

Fine. I guess The US  apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, past & present.
You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those "good ole boys", we will never "interfere" again.

No foreign "students" over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. it's back home fucker.

The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness.  The caribou and tree huggers will have to cope for a while. Deal with it. Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (sounds like the ammo prices problem everyone is bitching about in the fourms)

If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not "interfere." They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need.  Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

I wont apologize, I will remain angry and pray for the safe return of our solders abroad and public servents at home.

I remember exactly where I was watching it on tv as it was happening. I remember when the first plane hit, I knew it wasn't an accident. When the second plane hit I knew it had something to do with Osama Bin Laden. I don't know how I knew, but I did. I have a deep hatred for the man and all of his sympathisers.

I remember that day it happened and I knew it was "arabs" hell they tried it before with bombs and failed!!!and the same day two years later when I went on active duty as a reservist,The General was giving a speach about what we would be doing but all I could remember was the images of the towers falling and all that went with it>I only hope that the 18mos I served helped in some small way and I continue to be "PROUD TO SERVE" I know it is not PC but I "HATE THE F***ERS"!!!! and hope that they realize the USA will prevail!!!!!! and hope they look over their shoulders every day wondering when some US Solder,sailor,marine or airman will be sending them to paradise

The first words out of my mouth (verbatim) on 9/11 when I saw the second plane hit were "Is it Osama or Usama?" I could never bring myself to cut the head off of a live human being, even if they deserved it. A bullet is one thing...but damn. In Osama's case however, I think I would make an exception. First, I would coat the dull knife in pig's blood, then after his gruesome death I would bury him face down, facing the west, wrapped in an Israeli flag, with a broomstick up his ass, and a porno magazine, a bottle of whiskey, and a 6 foot bong by his side. I'm sure that would negate his status as a martyr, even though he died at the hands of an infidel. Fuck you Osama and every other radical Islamist douchebag that you are in league with. Its time to start the deportations, and let the MOABs rain on Mecca. I AM JACK'S SMIRKING REVENGE.

A good friend of mine sent this to me today. I hope it isn't too long for this thread. But it is germaine to the spirit of America as it is today... and the ugly spirit of those domestic people who spit on America's attempts to bring security to Iraq.

**********************************************

During last evening's (Sept 7, 2006) Special Orders on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) made the following remarks regarding Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good colleague, Mr. King, for yielding. And I listened, as you probably did, to some of the Democrat Members who were decrying the state of the world and ``woe is me'' and things are going terribly, according to them. And as the gentleman took the floor, as I watched him take the floor, and started talking about the Republican legacy in national security that they were complaining about and the Republican legacy of peace through strength, I was reminded about coming here in 1980 when a guy named Ronald Reagan was running for President. And we just finished with a President who was very, very similar to Jimmy Carter, the gentleman who had his tenure in office somewhat truncated by Ronald Reagan, and that was Bill Clinton. And I thought of the fact that the Democrats entered the Clinton administration with 15 Army divisions, combat divisions, and when they walked out of the White House and that administration left, they had cut the United States Army by about 40 percent. They were down to 10 divisions, and many of those divisions were undermanned, and then I was reminded that they were the same people that complained that we didn't have enough people on the ground when we went into Iraq.

And then I was reminded that, as we are talking about Iraq, and today there is a big hue and cry to get rid of Secretary Rumsfeld among the Democrats, in the Democrat cloakroom, thankfully, 6,000 miles away that sentiment is not shared by the Americans who are reenlisting in the combat zone, in places like the Sunni triangle, where the 101st is well over 100 percent of their expected reenlistment rate. The First Marine Division out in the very dangerous Anbar Province is up well over 100 percent of their expected reenlistment rate. So the people that serve in combat under Don Rumsfeld seem to like him.



But I was reminded, as I listened to that ``woe is me'' discussion by the Democrats, that it is the Republican Party that is the party of peace through strength, and the American people rely on us to do that. And I think that is one reason they are trying to pull down Secretary Don Rumsfeld.

         And I thought it was interesting today, as the President announced that Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, the mastermind of the attack that drove those planes into New York, into Washington, D.C., and into Pennsylvania, will soon be coming to a courtroom near us in the United States because he was captured and he was interrogated and others were interrogated in what the Democrats call inhumane methods, even though our lawyers and all of the people who scrutinized the methods of interrogation found that they were legal methods of interrogation, uncomfortable but legal and not torture, and that that person and others who joined him, his team of terrorists who joined him in masterminding the 9/11 attacks on America, will be coming to a courtroom near us, soon to be prosecuted, truly brought to justice because of the leadership of this administration and because of some of these methods of interrogation that have been associated with Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld. And the President laid out today how thousands of Americans had their lives spared, how we stopped attacks and we stopped plots to attack our country in mid course, including not only attacks that would include explosives but also attacks that would include things like anthrax, because we had a forward-leaning, tough, aggressive posture in this war against terror.

 So as the Democrats sip their lattes and find themselves very comfortable in what they describe as a very uncomfortable world, the reason they are able to be here having enjoyed almost 5 years after the 9/11 attack with no further attacks on the United States is partly because we had a President with an aggressive, forward-leaning policy against terrorism; that he went out and took them on; that he hunted them down in places where they didn't think they would ever be found, with the leadership of Don Rumsfeld, and we kept them off balance. And because of that, because they were kept off balance, because we penetrated them, because we were able to get into their cells and we were able to discover who was masterminding these plots against the United States, we were able to keep our people safe.



And I am further reminded that when Don Rumsfeld's military, our military, led by General Tommy Franks, was driving that iron spearhead up toward Baghdad, you already had the Democrats complaining that there were not enough troops and that he would get bogged down. And as you saw them on talk shows, the talk shows in which Democrats were complaining that he would get bogged down were interrupted by news announcements that Tommy Franks had taken yet other stronghold of Saddam Hussein. And they would seem to be almost disappointed rather than joyous when they would hear that American troops had, in fact, mowed down another line of defense by Saddam Hussein; so they stopped criticizing for a while.

Then after we took Baghdad, the criticism started again. And this time the criticism was what I called the ``both ways criticism.'' In the same discussion, a Democrat leader would say we need to have more troops on the ground and in the next sentence he would say we want to have an Iraqi face on the security apparatus. Well, how do you have an Iraqi face on a security apparatus if you stuff enough troops into that country to have a GI on every corner? The facts are you cannot have it both ways.

  And then the other criticism was, we should have kept the Iraqi military intact.



The Iraqi military had over 10,000 Sunni generals. What do you do with 10,000 Sunni generals? You don't do anything. And that is what the army would have done to secure Iraq: nothing. The idea of having that army where corruption was the order of the day, where you had people who were simply following their own political agenda and making their own way and making their own profits and the idea that we would maintain that army as the new safeguard or security force in Iraq to protect this fledgling, newly elected, democratically elected government coming up makes no sense at all. The smartest thing we ever did was starting with scratch with that military and teaching the new army the chain of command; teaching them respect both up and down the chain of command; teaching them to take responsibility; teaching them to have a thing called NCOs, noncommissioned officers; teaching them to be decent to people; teaching them not to be corrupt. And that is why today the best force that we have in Iraq is not the police force, is not the security force. It is the military. And even people who have criticized this administration in the way they conducted the war concur that there is a strong core in this Iraqi army. That is because we built it from scratch, and we didn't start with 10,000 Sunni generals.

  Now, the last thing, and I have mentioned it, that the administration was condemned for and that Don Rumsfeld became a lightning rod for was uncomfortable interrogation methods. Well, you know, the world is a tough place, and the people that we are dealing with are not made out of cotton candy. And the fact that we were able to get information from terrorists because they are the ones that have the information, not Americans, but because the terrorists are the ones that have the information, the fact that we were able to get that information from them and use that to stop other actions against the United States before they could mature, before they could result in American casualties accrued to the benefit of America's security.

  So when I look at this ``woe is me'' and we have got the real security plan and if we had only taken the other road, you will notice that the road not taken is always the smoothest one, where we had all the Sunni generals, that we would have used those to somehow bring security to Iraq, or if we had stuffed enough GIs into Iraq that somehow there would not be any car bombings or would not be any violence, or if we would just ask people politely to give up the names of their co-terrorists, they would do that and we wouldn't have to be tough on them in interrogations. All those positions, I think, define why the American people, Democrats and Republicans, rely on Republicans for national security.

  And I thank the gentleman for yielding.

can some one make that my avitar ?

I hope this too isn't so long that people skip over it without a brief read. This is the article I wrote for The Tiger Town Observer's remembrance of Sept. 11, 2001. Some members on this board may know the TTO as the student newspaper at Clemson University who raffled off an AK-47 style rifle last semester. Read on:

---------------

   On September 11, 2001, the United States was irrevocably plunged into war. On that pleasant Tuesday morning the war which had been raging for decades in the rest of the world came home. Our enemies today threaten us not with tyranny, oppression, or persecution, but with our annihilation. This is a new kind of war that has never been fought before. On that day, the leaders of Islam’s global jihad made clear their utter contempt for a free society and their joy at the death of infidels. On that day, the war was no longer put on the back burner or ignored by those responsible for the defense of our nation. On that day and on every day since, nothing less than our civilization itself has been at stake.
   
President Bush, despite all the criticisms leveled against him, has a sense of history from which many Americans and other world leaders could learn. In a commencement ceremony at West Point Military Academy earlier this year, President Bush pointed out historical challenges to American freedom were met by strong and bold action that led our country to victory over our enemies.
 
 Many of the decisions made in our war against terror and Islamofascism have been controversial and severely criticized. And perhaps some of that criticism is justified. But it was over 40 years of controversial decisions by every president since Harry Truman, from Korea to the Cuban Missile Crisis to Vietnam to the Strategic Defense Initiative, which won the Cold War.
   
It is reasonable to expect our new war to be filled with controversy as well, especially given the new enemy and battlefield on which we are fighting it. It is not reasonable, however, to expect our nation to lose this war. Our enemies seek the destruction of our civilization. They do not wish to negotiate or reach an accommodation. They are fighting a jihad against us on every front and consider all their efforts worth the lives lost. Do we?
   
Some have called our war against Islamofascism a “clash of civilizations.” But it is not the culture of Islam or Islamic civilization itself with whom we are fighting. Indeed, millions of Iraqi citizens and Muslims in other parts of the world sincerely desire the life that a free and democratic society can provide. Many of them have died pursuing this desire.
 
  British Prime Minister Tony Blair accurately described our war as a “clash about civilization” in which we must directly and decisively win the battle over ideas, morals, and values. Those who do not wish to live in a society where religious tolerance, gender equality, democracy, and individual liberty is practiced and enjoyed by all are the enemies of America in this new war and must not be granted shelter, aid, or safety anywhere in the world.
   
When Harry Truman addressed the West Point class of 1952, he told them: “We can’t have lasting peace unless we work actively and vigorously to bring about conditions of freedom and justice in the world.” Our efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the broader Middle East reflect this ideal. Our enemies are, as President Bush describes them, “the followers of a murderous ideology that despises freedom, crushes all dissent, has territorial ambitions, and pursues totalitarian aims.” It is our task to hunt down and destroy those directly responsible and eliminate everywhere it exists the ideology of hatred spawned by quasi-religious cowards who would prey on the innocent.
   
The cowards we fight every day in Iraq and Afghanistan are not a modern phenomenon. The radical sect of Islam has been at war with our freedom, our values, and our way of life since before our generation was born. Thirteen bombings in Bombay, India in 1993. The 2002 and 2005 nightclub bombings in Bali, Indonesia. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York. The 2004 Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. The 2004 Madrid train bombings. The 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. The 1983 U.S. Marine barracks bombing in Beirut. The 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. The 2000 attack on the USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen. The reality is that our war is that it has been going on for far longer than since September 11, 2001. Our war is global and will require the contributions and sacrifices of our best and brightest to be won – but win we must. We will fight our enemies because we love our children and will not trade away their future or their freedom for a meaningless cease-fire disguised as peace.
   
While it is unfortunate that our enemies have chosen war, it is resounding defeat in this war that they must suffer for the death and destruction for which they are responsible. The stakes are high and victory will not be won easily and certainly not quickly. As in the Cold War, our current struggle will test our resolve as a nation. President Bush has said that, “In the early years of that struggle, freedom’s victory was not obvious or assured.” Indeed, there were times when the triumph of freedom was very much in doubt. We fight this new war because the tragic events of September 11, 2001 woke us up to the war being waged against us and we decided to rise to the challenge. Our “can-do” spirit means we cannot consider failure as an option.
   
Our national heritage is but one generation away from extinction. This extinction is hard to fathom because we have always had strong leaders who took bold action to defend their civilization and the civilizations of other free and peaceful peoples. This is the national heritage which we have inherited from our parents and begun to borrow from our children. This extinction could all too easily occur at the hands of cowards both foreign and domestic. Those abroad seek to destroy our culture and our way of life through violence, force, fraud, and religious excuses. Our national heritage is threatened by placaters at home in the form of those who seek to appease their foreign counterparts. Their fear to profile at the airport, or to incite cries of “Islamophobia,” or their enthusiastic desire to pander to the murderers we call terrorists is as much a threat to this country as an act of terrorism itself.
 
  Negotiating with terrorists is self-defeating and only encourages their growth. The use or promotion of terror as a viable weapon is recognized as a capital crime for which there can be only one sentence: death without appeal or pity. Remembering September 11 is not enough. Forgetting the events of that day are impossible. Instead, let us vow to never submit and never surrender. Why do we fight? We fight because there is no memorial to the victims of terrorism - only an unknown number of unmarked graves scattered across the globe. The land that has contributed so much to each of us is now fighting a new war.  If ever there was a time to take up the challenge of asking not what our country can do for us, but instead asking what we can do for our country – it is now. If ever there was a war where the only thing to fear is fear itself – it is this one. Our war began on our parents’ watch, but it will end on ours. What we contribute and how we fight will determine whether or not the war ends with the promise this nation made immediately after it came home: “we will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.”

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