History vs the Present

On this most solemn of days in America's brief 250 year history, a short lesson.

In 1940, Adolph Hitler and his Luftwaffe perpetrated the Blitzkrieg on London and parts surrounding London. 51,509 civilians were killed. The United States - primarily because of very vocal opposition within our country to any involvement by us - did nothing.

On December 7th, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, killing 2,896 US Marines and US Navy sailors, 228 US Army, and 120 Civilians. Going against popular opinion - even in the face of these attacks - President Roosevelt entered us into WWII.

On September 11, 2001 we were attacked again, and we entered into another unpopular war, this time with an enemy far more sinister, divisive, and widespread than in WWII. There is no country called "Al-Quaeda", and our opposition is simply defined as extremist and determined.

Unlike WWII...where we buckled down, sucked it up, and kicked some ass both overseas and on the homefront, we have spent the last three years turning the blame away from those that flew the planes or orchestrated such, instead forming a commission who fairly much broke down and exposed two different President's and their administrations' failures to act properly. The commission in and of itself is a good thing. We need after-actions investigations and the subsequent questions that go with them in order to correct any future attacks by these determined suicidal/homicidal idiots. However, the people of this country seem to have misunderstood the true goal of the commission, and the perversions of the use of its findings are truly disconcerting.

The intent of the commission was never to ensure the victims of the tragedy became instant millionaires, but that indeed did happen to many. The intent of the commission was not to turn the American people away from the much needed focus on the fact that we're knee deep in a war that was declared on us decades ago by Islamic Extremists, but that seems to have happened. There are people out there who believe the unbelievable - all the conspiracy theorists with a desire to gain their own 15 minutes promised to them by Andy Warhol, their tool of choice being the internet.

Somehow in the last 3 years the country has lost sight of the fact that we have a big red bulls-eye on us, and the extremist retards are not going to give up until they get what they want - a world that goes backwards 10,000 years in the name of some guy named Muhammad. And the frightening part of it is, the majority of assistance they're getting in their quest comes from right here in this country. Dissent in the name of betterment is guaranteed by the constitution, but dissent in the name of dissent is fuel for the extremist fire. I'm sorry folks; it's the truth.

Italy never attacked anyone in WWII, but everyone in our country knew Mussolini was aligned (however fragile) to the Third Reicht, and so it was ok to go after them. They were declared (and rightly so) a legitimate target in 1941, as was the broken tyrannical government of Iraq in 2002, and the equally suspect and awful regime in Iran right now. In WWII, the American public seemed able to grasp the concept of global domination by Japan and Germany, along with our need to stop it. In 2006, we can't seem to grasp the EXACT SAME CONCEPT.

Scream and yell about the President and his administration all you want, it's neither going to change the past, influence the present, or redirect the hatred of Islamic Extremists away from us or Israel. Or Russia. Or China. Or India. Or Great Britain. Or... Or... Or...

You see, as you all mourn the historical significance of this day, I'll maintain that 9-11 is so not historical - it's the present still - and until we as a nation understand that, we're far from winning anything.