The Path to 9/11
Last night, I didn’t turn to the Colts game immediately. Instead, my son and I watched The Path to 9/11 on ABC. Given the recent controversy of the film, I know that the producers had hit a cord with many government officials. Unfortunately, that usually means that there is some truth to the story. I would encourage everyone to watch this series, even if it does have flaws… it provides the long history of our government’s blunders in handling the war on terror – throughout multiple administrations.
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. – George Santayana
I believe the real story behind 9/11 is the failure of politics and bureaucracy to fight wars. Regardless of the administration involved, America’s history is full of examples where politics and bureaucracy failed them in a time of war. Yet, we continue to allow politics to affect our decisions and bureaucracy to slow our defense. And the media continues to promote the ‘body count’ of Americans lost.
Every life is precious, especially those brave men and women who choose to defend freedom. However, the body counts that continue to be promoted by the media are tiny in comparison to the 43,200 highway deaths in the country.
I’m not trying to compare the two… I realize that, statistically, the chance of dying in war is much greater than dying on a highway. I’m simply trying to bring some reality to the ‘numbers’ that make the news every day. For every death of one of America’s finest, we can not predict the hundreds or thousands of American lives that may have been saved through their sacrifice. I truly do not feel that their death is in vain. They died at the hands of people who want to kill us, regardless of age, gender, or whether or not we wear a uniform.
In the end, isn’t all war simply killing them before they kill us? Isn’t that what the war on terror is? Doesn’t it simply come down to managing risks for all Americans by sacrificing the few for the many? I suppose the reality is that we can not predict the future, so we’ll never really know how many lives have been saved. War is truly evil, but I’m not sure of any alternative in this era where we have people so bent on killing innocents that they happily give their own lives. How do you defend yourself from people that want us dead, our children dead, and our country cringing in fear?
What The Path does provide is an inspiring story that it’s citizens like you and me that tend to make the biggest impact. Whether it’s a customs agent in Washington state, or an Egyptian taxicab driver in New York who is spying on terror cells, or brave passengers fighting back on United 93… the reality is that it is our citizens who make our country great to live in, and our young men and women in uniform who defend our citizens outside our borders. It’s power, greed, arrogance, and bureaucracy that really puts all of us at risk.
The latest news story is that there is no connection between Iraq and terrorism. The reality is quite different, isn’t it? Given the body count of innocent Iraqis that have been the victims of suicide bombings, it’s very clear that the country has had a huge influx of terrorism. I thank God that our troops have taken the war to them instead of allowing them to bring the war to us… again.
God Bless the United States of America. God Bless those families, all over the world, who have lost loved ones to terror. And God Bless those folks who have decided to stand up and fight for all of us, regardless of our opposition or support of this terrible war. Please allow yourself a moment of silence today to pray for those who have paid the ultimate price. And pray that somehow, the insanity of terrorism will end so that our children can live in peace.
