September 11th, 2001 - ten years later

I'm frankly sickened by the maudlin, saccharine stupidity of so many of the written and spoken remembrances of the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

This isn't the time for sloppy sentimentality.

Ten years ago, the Twin Towers fell.




Ten years ago, the Pentagon burned.




Ten years ago, the heroes of United Airlines Flight 93 fell from the sky, taking terrorists with them to save the lives of others.




For a very brief moment, this nation united in sorrow at our loss, and in determination to punish the guilty. Sadly, that national unity rapidly disintegrated.

So, after ten years . . . how have we done?

From October 7th, 2001 until September 6th, 2011, our armed forces casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq have totalled 4,899 killed in action; a further 1,312 killed in accidents and other losses; and 45,889 injured, both in action and through other causes. Many of those injured will be partially or totally disabled for the rest of their lives. US contractors have suffered many thousands of casualties, killed and injured, as have the armed forces of our allies. The casualties among our enemies are not known with any certainty. 'Guesstimates' I've seen range from a low (almost certainly under-estimated) of 82,000 to a high (almost certainly over-estimated) of 1,120,000. I'd be prepared to accept 250,000 to 500,000 as the best estimate that can be made at this time.

Have these deaths stopped terrorism directed against the United States? No, they haven't. Not even close. Therefore, were they worthwhile? That's a tough question to answer. From one perspective, of course, they can be said to have borne at least some fruit, in that since 9/11/2001, there has been no major successful terror attack inside the United States. However, the number of terror attacks outside our borders, directed against our citizens and our allies, is uncountable. They've occurred on every continent, in dozens of countries, and continue to this day.

On the other hand, the cost to this country has been enormous in other ways. The War on Terror has brought wholesale disregard of previously established civil liberties and constitutionally-recognized rights. This has imperiled (and continues to imperil) the Republic in which we live. The power of the State has been expanded to a formerly undreamed-of extent. It's going to be difficult - perhaps impossible - to restore the Constitution to its former authority so long as terrorism continues to be a threat. Too many of our citizens have proven to be sheep, rather than responsible adults. They either ignore, or simply aren't interested in, the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin:

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Such people not only tolerate, but actually demand the curtailment of our freedom in return for the illusion of security. And make no mistake about it: our so-called 'security' is an illusion. Our borders are relatively porous, with hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants crossing them every single year. For terrorists to conceal themselves among this massive human traffic would be child's play. If they haven't already crossed into this country, you can bet they're planning to do so. Furthermore, they already have strongholds and sanctuaries in South and Central America from which to move against us.

I've predicted before, and continue to predict, that another incident of terrorism will cause mass casualties in the USA in due course. Whether it'll be a bomb explosion, or the disruption of critical infrastructure leading to widespread suffering and death, or an assault on a school such as that at Beslan or Columbine, or a suicide attack on multiple high-visibility targets such as that at Mumbai, I don't know - but I'll stake my life that it'll come, sooner or later. Our enemies are implacable, and their hatred is generations deep. They'll come. Count on it.

Therefore, let us stand firm. This is no time for introspective weeping and wailing. By all means, let us mourn our dead. However, even while doing so, let us gird our loins, and continue to prepare, and be vigilant as we continue the battle against terrorism. It will go on beyond our lifetimes, into the lives of our children and our children's children. Even while we fight that battle, let us also vow to safeguard the liberties, rights and privileges of our Republic, and fight back against those who have encroached upon them in the name of fear and tremulous timidity, masquerading as security. Their cowardice cannot be allowed to prevail.

Finally, in this battle, let us remember the words of the greatest Englishman of the 20th century, one of the greatest of all time.

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

- Winston Churchill, May 13th, 1940

Only in victory will we keep faith with the heroes of United Flight 93, and the victims of the New York and Washington attacks, and all those who have given their lives and their health to defend and protect us since then. Only in victory will we find peace, and (perhaps) a more lasting security. Victory will not come easily, or cheaply: but come it must, or else this republic will cease to exist as we know it, and those of us who love liberty and freedom will perish along with our ideals.

Nothing less than victory is acceptable.

Peter