Posted on 09/11/2003 9:28:30 PM PDT by Utah Girl
It will be many years yet before the digits "9,1,1" revert to being merely a date. For so long as the youngest child who was conscious that day walks the earth, 9/11 will summon up the most painful and passionate memories of national life.
For those of us who have supported President Bush and the war on terror, today can serve as a time for stock-taking. Has this president lived up to our high expectations in those early days? Do the decisions made then still look right? Is the war still on track?
Many voices in the media urge a negative response to those questions. 9/11 changed much, but it did not change everything. The left remains the left: suspicious of the United States, eager to give America’s enemies the benefit of the doubt, consumed by irrational fears and hatreds. Liberals remain liberal: weak-willed, excessively vulnerable to the opinions of hostile foreigners, preoccupied with their domestic spending ambitions, and still caught up in the super-heated partisanship of the 1990s.
And so here we are, with the country divided, the left in outright opposition to the war, and the liberals constantly barraging us with criticism about how if Bush had done this and not done that, flight attendants on South African airlines might sympathize with the United States more than they now do.
To my mind, all that this criticism does is reinforce my conviction that there was something providential about George W. Bush’s presence on the White House in 2001. For two years, he has been unafraid to do whatever it took to fight this war with maximum vigor. The difficulties encountered along the way are the difficulties inherent in war itself.
This is not to say that every decision has been right. It was a mistake to go to the UN for a second resolution before the Iraq campaign – and a mistake too to invest so much energy and effort to the so-called Palestinian “roadmap.” Peace will come to Israel/Palestinian when the Palestinians lose their appetite for war – which means that there must first be more fighting, not more negotiation.
But a similarly close scrutiny of the records of any of our great foreign policy presidents will show similar imperfections. The test for a war leader is not that he get everything right – it is that he get the big things right – and especially that he galvanize and sustain the country’s fighting spirit. That Bush has done: and on this anniversary, continues to do – even as his would-be rivals lose heart, go soft, and yearn for the dangers that menace us to go away all by themselves.
It's very sad that the political environment in America and the governing establishment in WashDC, has deteriorated so much during this time of great historical events. We should be more united then we are. But I think its fair to say, PresBush has handled that situation very well and stayed above the fray of partisan political battles. PresBush has kept his eye on the ultimate objective. The goal of keeping the American people, as safe and secure as possible, while taking the fight to the enemy and winning each battle, one step at a time.
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