Keeping 9/11 In Perspective
Posted: 2009-09-11 by Lou Ann Zelenik
As we pause this week to mark the 8th year since 9/11, keeping a perspective on its meaning is important to how our nation will move forward.
With a new administration in the White House, we again hear 1990's era debates about treating acts of terrorism as law enforcement matters. Opposing terrorists where they live and plan attacks against us are now "Overseas Contingency Operations." In their public statements and policies, officials serving under President Obama diminish the overall effort against terror groups and argue against providing the men and equipment needed to win in Afghanistan while the president jaunts around the world decrying American "arrogance" and apologizes for our nation.
Now supporters of the president have decided to create a new meaning for 9/11. It is no longer about honoring the lives lost or reaffirming our resolve to win the war on terror. Now, 9/11 is a "national day of community service". According to Van Jones, the "Green Jobs" czar who recently resigned amid controversy, 9/11 is now a day to "for people to connect, to find other people in your peer group who are also passionate about re-powering America but also greening up America and cleaning up America."
True community service, that makes a real difference, is a noble cause and should be something we all aspire to every day, not just on a day liberal activists seek to co-opt for a partisan agenda. 9/11 is not about green jobs, carbon credits or community organizers.
On this date, more than any other of the year, it is vital to remember what we lost, why the attacks happened and apply those lessons to future policies.
What we lost is clear. 3,000 friends and family, husbands and wives, moms and dads who committed no crime. They were just in wrong place on the wrong day and bore the title "American." However, we also lost the security of believing that people who seek to destroy us for our freedoms and values are an ocean away. They are one mistake in security away from exacting a terrible toll on our people with another attack.
9/11 happened for a simple reason. Islamic radicals view the United States as the last bulwark against imposing their ideology on the world. As long as their operations are not successfully interrupted, they will continue to plan for the next attack. If our government focuses its energy on apologizing for America and investigating CIA officials who sought to protect our people, these actions will embolden those who wish to strike us again.
In the coming years, recommitting our nation to standing against radical terrorists will be vital to building a secure future for our children. Seeing our struggle with radicals through to a successful end while showing all peoples of the world that an ideology of hate is not the way to a better life and honoring those, both in uniform and civilian, who have fallen in the struggle, are critical to forging a peaceful world.
The first step is not to lose sight of what the date means, regardless of what President Obama and his supporters wish.
