Happy Anniversary

ejectejecteject ^ | 9/11/2003 | Bill Whittle

[Luis Gonzalez]

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Okay, the day is still young, and God knows what mischief may yet be in store. But I can’t help being amazed at how well we have done in these first two years of what we all knew would be a new world, back on that beautiful morning, a world ago.

Despite the best efforts of news media to portray us as a terrified, angst-ridden nation ready to fall apart with just one more good poke…despite desperate attempts to undo unparalleled victories for political gain…despite hysterical warnings of Islamic rage and retribution, we have gone two years now, knock wood, without a single terrorist attack on US Soil.

Who could have thought such success possible on that first evening? How many of us went to sleep expecting to hear in the morning of new and more terrible attacks on September 12th, or 13th? How is it possible to forget that first Thanksgiving, or Christmas, sure that the symbolism was just too great for our enemies to pass up? And then New Years. Superbowl Sunday. 4th of July. Elevated threat levels. Dire warnings on muffled audiotapes.

Nothing.

This is quagmire? This is a debacle?

Say what you want about George W. Bush and his policies – that is of course your right. But consider this, all you defeatists and self-haters out there: it is barely possible, mathematically, to tie the President’s record for defending this country from a new terrorist horror. You cannot – not even hypothetically – improve upon it. This is a fact that is undeniable and so obvious that only a few will see it.

And at what cost? Did jackbooted storm troopers descend in the night from black helicopters to take away those voicing dissent? Or do the most vile and baseless accusations fly hither and yon, blown ever larger by a terrified and complicit media elite? Did hundreds of thousands of Muslims have their businesses torched, their families terrorized and beaten, the rest hauled off to concentration camps, or are you far safer, both physically and emotionally, as a Muslim in the US then you would be in any middle eastern country – safer and less harassed, without question – than Jews are in France today? Have we given up our liberty and lifestyle for this perfect record, or do we still go to football games and shopping malls and fly, more or less, the way we used to?

What, indeed, has this victory cost us to date, other than the irreplaceable lives of our young men and women, fewer in number still after two earth-changing victories than the number lost in a Beirut barracks during a time of relative peace and hidden yet growing dangers?

Today, if it continues in its bland denunciations of the President and his policies, will be another day where New Yorkers can go back to suing each other over WTC memorials, where the Democrats can cry WMD and Quagmire to their heart’s content, and where life in general returns 1/730th of the way back to normal once again. For those too blind to see the magnitude of this victory, let them whine and seethe all they want. We are still here. We are still here, and far better off, then we were two years ago today, when entire countries were vast terror camps, and children’s cemeteries.

The people that launched that horror, and those that supported it, and those that applauded it – that dwindling number of those of them that are still alive – have, to put it plainly, had their asses handed to them by the country they saw as soft, decadent, gutless and afraid.

And we have been blessed with a President who for all his faults, gaffes, mistakes and compromises has nevertheless maintained the one simple, essential, necessary character trait needed to fight -- and win -- a war against ruthless enemy and the armies of useful idiots that rally to its defense: single-minded determination and an utter disregard for criticism from those who should know better. For all his many manifest failures, it is hard to imagine a politician less effected by the legions of hysterical people determined to put off this fight. In my eyes, he has not tired, he has not faltered, and he has not failed.

Much remains to be done. Many more horrors undoubtedly await. But we have made a decision to fight back, and we are winning on such a scale as to leave future historians shaking their heads in wonder at how so many could be so wrong about something so obvious.

So, it is indeed a Happy Anniversary, tasteless as it sounds. Take a moment, today – take a long moment – and imagine how just how much worse things could have gone.

[Luis Gonzalez]

**PING**

[Dog]

Thanks Luis!

[Grampa Dave]

Superb Whittle and perfect for today.

Thanks for posting it and pinging me.

[Skooz]

I almost forgot that today is my sister's birthday. I have been so wrapped up in the anniversary of the terrorist attacks, I forgot that my baby sister turns 41 today. Forty one. Yikes.

[Luis Gonzalez]

First resumed flight

"We, the American People… find ourselves in the peaceful possession, of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate. We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us…We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them--they are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors. Theirs was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess themselves, and through themselves, us, of this goodly land; and to uprear upon its hills and its valleys, a political edifice of liberty and equal rights; 'tis ours only, to transmit these, the former, unprofaned by the foot of an invader…to the latest generation that fate shall permit the world to know. This gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our species in general, all imperatively require us faithfully to perform."

"How then shall we perform it?--At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?-- Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!--All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide." -- Abraham Lincoln

[rintense]

Excellent!

Heroes are Forever and Two Years in the Life of America

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Thank you, Luis.

[Grampa Dave]

This is a great article. Whittle sums up where we are after two years inspite of the lies and spin by the American agents of Islamokazis/facists/nazis:

"What, indeed, has this victory cost us to date, other than the irreplaceable lives of our young men and women, fewer in number still after two earth-changing victories than the number lost in a Beirut barracks during a time of relative peace and hidden yet growing dangers?

"Today, if it continues in its bland denunciations of the President and his policies, will be another day where New Yorkers can go back to suing each other over WTC memorials, where the Democrats can cry WMD and Quagmire to their heart’s content, and where life in general returns 1/730th of the way back to normal once again. For those too blind to see the magnitude of this victory, let them whine and seethe all they want. We are still here. We are still here, and far better off, then we were two years ago today, when entire countries were vast terror camps, and children’s cemeteries.

"The people that launched that horror, and those that supported it, and those that applauded it – that dwindling number of those of them that are still alive – have, to put it plainly, had their asses handed to them by the country they saw as soft, decadent, gutless and afraid.

[The Bronze Titan]

BRAVO! Excellent post!

[Dog Gone]

Great essay.

[TxBec]

Thanks Luis.

[facedown]

But we have made a decision to fight back, and we are winning on such a scale as to leave future historians shaking their heads in wonder at how so many could be so wrong about something so obvious.

Many of us are shaking our heads now.

GBA

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Ping.

I am daily reminded of what it means to live in a free America, where my children can go to school, where I am allowed to read anything I like, where my daughter is learning to say her prayers to her God. I don't take my freedoms for granted, today. And, I will never forget September 11th, 2001.

But, when remembering the dire predictions about how terrible the future could be, I remind myself that truly very little has changed in my day-to-day existence. And that most people, when looking into my life from the outside, could never pinpoint the date, by observing my actions.

America is strong and powerful, because of the goodness of its people. We must give thanks for the protection that we have today, while fighting to maintain our freedoms. Each and everyone of us contributes to the dream of America.

God bless.

[snippy_about_it]

I also have a sister who's birthday is today. I forgot too. Thanks for the ping Luis and the reminder of birthdays Skooz.

[IncPen]

ping

[NonValueAdded]

Thanks Luis. A very fitting post for today.

[Rain-maker]

[fnord]

bump

[Luis Gonzalez]

Thanks.

Good to see you.