The Internet Monk 

"the power of opinion, the phenomenon of speech, the impact of truth"

A Webjournal edited by Michael Spencer

This is What Happens...

by Michael Spencer

This is what happens.

Events are not uncaused. Neither are they easily understood. The massive loss of life on September 11, 2001 cannot be easily understood or explained. No pundit, no expert, no commentator could possibly claim to explain these events in a way that makes any of us feel anything less than sickening outrage.

Still, there are some things that must be said, not in arrogance, but in quiet outrage at the loss of life we have witnessed. Things that must be said again and again if we are going to rise up as a nation and respond with justice.

This is what happens when you value diplomatic photo-ops to the point you are blinded to the true nature of terrorism. For most of the last quarter century, American leaders have kissed, coddled and grinned with people who have said again and again that we are the enemy. Listening to Madeleine Albright express outrage today, I was absolutely ill. Hopefully, we are through having tea with Hitler.

This is what happens when you take Yassar Arafat seriously. Arafat is the Jesse Jackson of Middle East misery, yet we have treated him like a statesman, knowing that he has winked at terrorism time and time again. Are we cured now?

This is what happens when we allow liberals to dismantle the intelligence capability of this country, relying on technology rather than human beings. Its great we have satellites that can see my dandruff. And it's great that we have listening technology that can hear my beard grow. Now tell me why every journalist in the world can sit down for interviews with Bin Laden and his gang and the U.S. can't seem to find him? The neutering of human intelligence has been a huge mistake, and now we see the result.

This is what happens when you say you will hunt down terrorists and say you will not stand for terror and say you will punish the evil cowards and then you don't do what you say. American leaders have made the appropriate speeches and then gone back to business as usual. We have run our mouth about terrorism and then treated it as a minor nuisance. Today  thousands of Americans are dead because we never gave any terrorist organization a reason to truly fear American might and resolve.

This is what happens when you act as if America is impregnable, invulnerable and untouchable. This country has not been attacked by a foreign enemy in more than half a century. In the process, we have elected leaders who turned our military into the peace corps and slowly abandoned the primary mission of our country's defense structure: to protect our citizens. I have an idea. Let's put Pat Buchanon and Oliver North in charge of getting the military to do the job we need them to do. I'm not sure anyone else really gets it.

This is what happens when you are afraid of the reaction of the U.N. and other world liberal audiences when you crush- and I mean crush- the evil forces that threaten us. I noted Mr. Gaddafi gave a nice speech today saying that all Muslims should condemn this action and offer to help. I note that his improved attitude may be related to the fact that one Ronald Reagan but a few missiles up his posterior when he got a bit too frisky in threatening our interests. And we had a good thing going in Iraq a few years ago, crushing the army of Saddam Hussein. But then we decided to be civilized and let the bad boy stay in power. Anyone regret that now? America, find your nerve and insist on nothing less than crushing those who attack us until they are no longer part of the picture.

This is what happens when we talk about airport security and actually just play at it because HEY- It will never happen here. Somewhere in a few airports are security personnel who dropped the ball and the results are more causalities than most wars. Four hijackings in one day in a country that hasn't had a hijacking in ten years. And every one of them preventable if we just realize what can happen.

This is what happens when we elect leaders who say "It's the economy, stupid" and then lead us to be less than what we are destined to be: the sword of good in an evil world. It's not the economy, it's leadership in a world that can explode any day, any time.

This has happened, but it need not happen again. But that, dear readers, is up to every one of us. We need to get angry enough to insist that it will never, ever happen again.

Michael@internetmonk.com                                                                             Post a Comment