Posted on 09/11/2003 9:50:13 AM PDT by Bob J
"Peace Through Resolve "
by Jonathan David Morris
God's honest truth? As a writer, writing about the second anniversary of September 11th isn't as easy as writing about the first one was. The story arc's not so obvious, I mean. Initially, in fact, I'd decided not to write about the second anniversary at all.
By now you know what happened, which is part of the problem. You know all about the nineteen men who hijacked four commercial planes. You know how they crashed into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvanian field. As for the thousands who perished and the wars that ensued, you can tell me about that stuff as easily as I can tell you. It's not like you haven't already heard it a thousand times, right? And to be blunt, there's only so many ways a guy like me can report the facts again and again before it all starts sounding exactly the same.
But, then, I'm thinking that's something to dwell on as we mark September 11, 2003.
I was struck by how tired George Bush looked in addressing the nation this past Sunday. The case he made was more or less the right one -- and more on that in a moment -- but what I took away wasn't that he's steering us in the right direction, or even the wrong one. All I got was this eerie feeling that the War on Terror's finally run him down. As well it should, I suppose. I know I wouldn't want that burden on my shoulders. I don't know about you.
And maybe I'm reading his expressions too deeply, seeing bags beneath eyes where there are no bags, but it reminds me of how this guy wept with us in the days after 9/11. I mean his face still wears the mood of a good many Americans -- the difference being that, after two years, the mood's changed. If ever there was a warmongering bone in Bush's body, he looks like he'd give up the struggle for a good night's sleep now.
If that's the case, I don't think he's alone.
A few weeks ago, the Northeast met with a blackout that in some areas lasted two days. Before anyone could come along and say, "No need to worry, the lights just went out," Americans were treating this non-crisis like a genuine disaster -- calm, cool, and collectedly. For the second time in less than 24 months, we learned the expression "New York's finest" might as well mean "most of New York." It's a testament to the preparedness of a nation that frankly still has less to fear than say, those living in or near the disputed region of Kashmir.
And, indeed, Americans have seen plenty of violence the last two years, but all of it on TV. None of it -- post-9/11, at least -- has hit too close to home.
Afghanistan is free but surely unstable. The same can be said for Iraq, where terrorists are having a heyday trying to make America look bad. Meanwhile, the Road Map to Peace is looking more like a Road Map to Perdition -- the latest chance of an Israeli-Palestinian truce is crumbling like so many chances before. But all things considered, America's really pretty secure. Sure, the terrorists hit us on September 11th, but that was it. They never came back. They never finished the job. Maybe that's thanks to Homeland Security, or what our military's done to al-Qaeda. It's hard to say. But it's easy to suggest we withdraw from the War on Terror, as if the fact that the turmoil's contained overseas means our work is done. This would be suicide.
"Two years ago, I told the Congress and the country that the War on Terror would be a lengthy war, a different kind of war, fought on many fronts in many places," Bush said in his recent speech. "Iraq is now the central front. Enemies of freedom are making a desperate stand there -- and there they must be defeated."
Earlier in his monologue, he put it this way: "For a generation leading up to September 11, 2001, terrorists and their radical allies attacked innocent people in the Middle East and beyond, without facing a sustained and serious response. The terrorists became convinced that free nations were decadent and weak. And they grew bolder, believing that history was on their side."
Can you blame them, though? I mean, if Usama bin Laden took issue with America's presence in the Middle East following the Gulf War -- as has been reported -- then it's no wonder he saw our refusal to remove Saddam as a workable chink in our armor. It also shouldn't surprise you that Saddam came to the same conclusion, both in '91 and for 12 years to come. You can't reason with tyrants and terrorists. You can't just request a nice, peaceful exchange with them and expect them to comply -- or even trust them if they do. That's when you put your guard down and find nineteen jerks in four hijacked planes ending thousands of lives on an otherwise beautiful morning.
And it ought to be our mission that September 11th never happens again -- not here, not anywhere. Going about this means keeping the memory alive. It means remembering exactly what it was that emboldened America's enemies: Our complacency.
The terrorists may or may not have believed our system was inferior to theirs, but that was secondary. They knew we weren't always willing to defend our values. This gave them hope.
Now, I'm not saying war is the answer to all the world's problems. It isn't. As we're seeing right now, there are many downfalls even to being victorious in war. So, clearly, we shouldn't be going around picking fights all over the world. That's a real fine way to destroy what we stand for. But so, too, is a willingness to compromise with the uncompromising enemies of all things free. This much we must keep in mind, not just now but always.
Ronald Reagan spoke of achieving peace through strength, as did our Founders in the Second Amendment. Without treading on what that means, I would argue a more fitting creed -- and a more definitive purpose -- would be "Peace Through Resolve." We must have strength, of course, but also an ethic for using it. We must never hit first but always hit back. We must hold to this belief and treat every attack on our people -- large and small, at home and abroad -- as an equal affront to freedom, democracy, and human rights. Maybe then, we could avert war by deterring those who'd push us that far.
By definition, resolve is a weapon terror can't defeat. That's because terror itself is merely an outgrowth of control. This is what feeds the bin Ladens and Husseins of the world. Theirs is an insatiable lust for power. They seek to create a climate of fear in which their values and personal well being are law.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that "all men" are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." To protect these rights, he wrote that "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," and "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."
And it's for this reason that we must announce an exit strategy in Iraq, entailing one key principle: The right of the Iraqi people to govern themselves. This, after all, was the purpose behind American independence. It's something our control-thirsty enemies determined to destroy on September 11, 2001, and it's something Saddam -- and his rapists and torturers -- kept from millions of innocent men, women, and children for three decades.
Two years after the fall of the World Trade Center, our War on Terror has brought us to Iraq -- our presence there, in turn, has brought the worst of the worst out of hiding. Self-rule won't come to the Iraqi people by rashly pulling out as if to save face. The terrorists who strike that country daily would fill Saddam's empty palaces in the single beat of a cold and empty heart. We must stay the course. We must exhibit resolve, and we must teach it with a steady hand to a population oppressed for years -- so that someday they, too, can act as a beacon of freedom to people all over the world.
If I can get back to the point I was making up top for just a moment, I don't think it's a stretch to say that many Americans -- Left, Right, and somewhere in the middle -- are tired of warring by now. Some of us more than others, maybe, but I'd like to believe we all miss that time of blissful ignorance known affectionately as the '90s -- that wonderful era when Americans could ignore world affairs and concentrate on more important things, like 401(k) plans and the Pets.com Sock Puppet. Times have changed, though, and time is not on our side if we fail to accept this as fact.
You can talk all day about America's imperfections, and what you'd like to change, and that's fine. I've got my own grievances. We all do. But our country allows us to make changes peacefully, and that's something we should be thankful for. To be sure, America carries a torch of liberty that remains strong in the sights of oppressed peoples everywhere. The Cubans who sail here on makeshift rafts prove it, as do the Mexicans crossing our borders by the cover of darkness (in a strange, albeit illegal and sometimes worrisome, way). It doesn't matter how many times we've heard the stories behind days like July 4th and September 11th, or how much we may belabor their commemoration as the years go by. It's important to remember what many brave men -- and, in some cases, civilians -- have fought and died for, lo these last 227 years.
September 11th is as good a time as any to look within yourself, your family, your friends, and your country, and to thank God you've got it as good as you do. It's a time to reflect on liberty and how much it deserves to be guarded and fought for.
"We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail," President Bush once said. Certainly, anything short of this promise would mean our enemies already won.
© 2003 Jonathan David Morris. All rights reserved.
Jonathan David Morris is a conservative commentator (www.readjdm.com) and can be reached at Jm@readjdm.com
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