George Rebane
9/11 was a horrific day in American history, when we were attacked by Islamic religious zealots who willingly sacrificed themselves in the service of their jihad against western civilization and its “Great Satan”, the United States.
A similar surprise attack occurred on 7 December 1941 when Imperial Japan decided to disable America so that it could proceed with the establishment of its ‘Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere’ then in progress. But Japan had no intent to destroy or conquer the United States.
Could you imagine someone in 1942 calling for 7 December to be “a day of charitable service and doing good deeds” in remembrance of “a day that will live in infamy”? Well the moral and functional equivalent of such an enterprise, called the 9/11 Day Movement, was launched in 2002. I ran into their half-page ad in today’s WSJ asking “What Will You Do This 9/11?”.
There is no end to the responses they have received from people. Responses wholly in the vein of “I will let my family know I love them”, “I will volunteer at a child’s school”, “I will plant a tree”, “I will donate my winter coat to help the homeless”, … . These are not the responses of people who understand what is going on in the world. These also are not the responses of people who are willing to stand up for anything they believe in – and perhaps it’s that they believe in nothing that is worth defending.
On their website the 9/11 Day Movement invites us to join and leave our own message of what we will do. My own response is –
I will remind everyone I can that there are hundreds of millions of Muslims in the world who believe that the main impediment to a better life for themselves and their loved ones is the existence of the United States as the exemplar of western civilization. Also that there are thousands of them who have already sacrificed themselves in service of their faith, and untold thousands more who stand ready to sacrifice themselves in the destruction of America, its values, and its way of life. And that their demonstrated weapons are terror and colonization. 9/11 is a day of remembrance that evil exists, that it can be identified, and that it is active against each one of us individually.
[12sep12 update] Our Old Glory is flying at half staff for a second day in honor and memory of the murder of Christopher Stevens, our ambassador to Lybia, and three other Americans on his staff. This latest of anti-American and anti-western atrocities, committed on sovereign US territory, is a continuing display of Islam's tolerance for our way of life. For sure we can expect the usual effete and apologetic voices among us to blame the recent filmakers for insulting their prophet. But exercising the First Amendment is our prerogative, no matter how egregious it may appear to others. In America we don't respond with fire and brimstone, and raze a local mosque every time an insult is delivered against Christianity or Judaism by Muslims. If we did, there would be little left of America's Islamic community.
But their ragheads can gratuitously machinegun an entire busload of Christian tourists, and our response here is to 'regret' the incident, hold a memorial service, and plant a tree. These primitives do not respect anything other than our strength and its ready use. When they see it withheld, even in circumstances that violate and insult our own sense of justice, they know we are a weak and declining civilization, one that does not respect itself, is worthy of humiliation, and invites more forceful attack.
I reprise further thoughts on this first expressed in 'Of Ragheads and Racism' as most appropriate at this time.
[12sep12 more update] A correspondent sent this link to RadicalIslam.org to a piece entitled 'Bay Area Imam Nabbed With Hezbollah Cell in Mexico'. As reported here for years, taqiyah is in full swing and most likely operational at a mosque near you. Its success depends on the density of kafir progressives that serve as Islam's apologist shield in America. I am still waiting for reciprocal peaceful demonstrations against the Libya killings announced by our 'moderate Muslims' to mirror those of the Egyptian Coptic Christians protesting the anti-Islam film. Perhaps they have asked the crickets to put out the word.
And to abet my point about the hundreds of millions of anti-American Muslims, Stratfor reports today on the level of widespread hatred of America that "New Islamist governments in North Africa must balance religious credentials with unpopular relationships with the West." A more naive person at this point would wonder why the lamestream has not picked up on these two 9/11 reports.
Hey Ryan, Keachie Talks, Romney Listens: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/14/us-usa-campaign-romney-idUSBRE88C17C20120914
Posted by: TomKenworth | 14 September 2012 at 12:19 PM
Doug-
Obama has been launching drone strikes at suspected terrorists installations at a rate much greater than any previous President. it's been mostly effective at stirring up Anti-American sentiment as well we dismembering, maiming and killing large numbers of innocents.
My sarcastic commentary was directed at Tweedledee(Obama) and Tweedledum (Romney) running for President.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/map_of_the_week/2012/06/obama_drone_strikes_the_president_ordered_more_than_george_w_bush.html
Posted by: Ryan Mount | 14 September 2012 at 12:23 PM
That's called the "Better Them Than Us" School of Foreign Policy. How many Americans have been killed by drone attacks? How much better have we gotten with the experience gained over the last ten years?
Posted by: TomKenworth | 14 September 2012 at 12:27 PM
The governments in these countries are very weak, and that's being generous. The military runs Egypt. So I suppose we could take that money away (something I was never fond of to begin with), and then create an incentive for the military elites to, um, "moderate" dissent among the populations. It's hard to convey sarcasm in a blog comment, but suffice to say, such "moderation" would be in the form of massive clamp downs and oppression...all for a few billion.
Posted by: Ryan Mount | 14 September 2012 at 12:58 PM
The world would be a much better place if religions were private affairs between the people involved and their various SkyKings. Instead they seem to be a wondrous excuse for many, to tell others, how they should live and what is wrong with them, and much worse, to take hostile actions, with SkyGod(s) on their side.
Posted by: TomKenworth | 14 September 2012 at 01:03 PM
50% of everyone you'll meet on Planet Earth is going to be below average.
You have masses of poor and uneducated people who are willing to be useful tools for religious zealots and demagogues. It's hard not to be sympathetic to someone like Ann Coulter who suggested years ago that we should just invade their countries and convert them to Christianity. That actually might be cheaper. My suggestion has always been to give them drive thrus.
I suppose everyone saw this bit from the Onion yesterday? Please DO NOT click on the below link if you are at work or you are easily offended or have trouble understanding satire (even vulgar versions of it):
http://www.theonion.com/articles/no-one-murdered-because-of-this-image,29553/
(you clicked on it anyway, didn't you?)
Posted by: Ryan Mount | 14 September 2012 at 01:27 PM
"Greg, the usual etiquette is to at least read the recent posts within a thread, before jumping to the moon."
-Keachie/Kenworth/Betterman and a number of other sockpuppets
Doug, the usual etiquette is to not make up scores of pen names in order to hide, nor to invent motivations or hoops to jump for others to try to gin up bogus ad hominem arguments.
Posted by: Gregory | 14 September 2012 at 01:36 PM
"50% of everyone you'll meet on Planet Earth is going to be below average."
This is a concept that is foreign to many. :)
Posted by: Gregory | 14 September 2012 at 01:45 PM
Greg, Would you like me to make that macro longer? I have nothing to hide, too old to give a damn about self, but have others I am concerned for, thus then, the pen name, a very America Federalist Papers Tradition. Enjoy!
""50% of everyone you'll meet on Planet Earth is going to be below average.""
and close to 90% believe the 50% below average all belong to the "other" political party, or religion.
Posted by: TomKenworth | 14 September 2012 at 02:49 PM
In response to 13 September 2012 at 01:12 PM by Greg, read: http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/13487-focus-valerie-plame-wilson-us-government-is-bullying-an-american-hero
Posted by: TomKenworth | 15 September 2012 at 09:32 AM
Small air tanks, easily carry-able, might have saved the lives of those lost in Libya. Smoke goes away. Or even the $150 3M facemask with full face coverage, about $150. We have a pair to be able to drive away through a fire, having watched what happened in Oakland Hills.
Romney's dude is claiming Romney would have done a better job. Romney never would have appointed Stevens.
Posted by: TomKenworth | 15 September 2012 at 09:39 AM
For someone who claims to have nothing to hide, Doug Keachie/TomKenworth spends a lot of time hiding.
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay kept a measure of anonymity in order to remain alive while establishing a new and Free State, and they shared one nom de plume, Publius. The Doug Keachies of the world are serial sockpuppeteers in order to defame others with a minimum of backsplash and while supporting an illusion of support of others, at least until they're found out.
Posted by: Gregory | 15 September 2012 at 11:50 AM
Greg, you do realize that the Federalist Papers were largely written more than 4 years after the Treaty of Paris don't you?
Posted by: Steven Frisch | 15 September 2012 at 12:11 PM
"The Doug Keachies of the world are serial sockpuppeteers" Greg has found us out. We are Legion.
Posted by: TomKenworth | 15 September 2012 at 04:24 PM
David Burge @iowahawkblog "When you stop and think about it, that guy couldn't have made his crappy anti-Islam video without government roads and bridges."
Posted by: THEMIKEYMCD | 16 September 2012 at 11:52 AM