It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going through a religious
and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students
attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran. This seizure was an outright
attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the
world's most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency. The attack
on this sovereign U. S. embassy set the stage for events
to follow for the next 25 years.
America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam experience and
had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then
President Carter had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid
in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin,
but stood as a symbol of America's inability to deal with terrorism. America's
military had been decimated and down sized/right sized
since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly
organized military was called on to execute a complex
mission that was doomed from the start.
Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed
throughout the Middle East. America could do little to
protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil
continued.
In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into
the US Embassy compound in Beirut. When it exploded, it
killed 63 people. The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button
once more.
Then just six short months later in 1983 a large truck heavily laden with over
2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US
Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241 US servicemen were killed. America
mourned her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more.
Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives was driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and America continued her slumber.
The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gate of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.
Soon the terrorism spread to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb exploded in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid.
Then in August 1985 a Volkswagen loaded with explosives was driven into the
main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main,
22 were killed and the snooze alarm was buzzing louder and louder as US interests
were continually attacked.
Fifty-nine days later in 1985, a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is >hijacked
and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled
out of the passenger list and executed.
The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when
they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed
4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in
1988, killing 259.
Clinton treated these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of war.
The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder. The terrorists decided to bring
the fight to America. In January 1993, two CIA agents
were shot and killed as they entered CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
The following month, February 1993, a group of terrorists was arrested after
a rented van packed with explosives was driven into the underground
parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. Six people were killed
and over 1000 injured. Still this is a crime and not an act of war?
Then in November 1995 a car bomb exploded at a US military complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women.
A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb exploded only 35 yards
from the US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
It destroyed the Khobar Towers, a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring
over 500. The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that
America does not respond decisively.
They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies
in Kenya and Tanzania. These attacks were planned
with precision. They killed 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks
and goes back to sleep.
The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12 October
2000, when a small craft pulled alongside the ship
and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an >act
of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and
went back to sleep.
And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001. Most >Americans think
this was the first attack against US soil or in America.
How wrong they are. America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and
we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep.
In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from every high officials
in government over what they knew and what they didn't know.
But if you've read the papers and paid a little attention, I think you can see
exactly what they knew. You don't have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the
National Security Council to see the pattern that has been developing since
1979.
The President is right on when he says we are engaged in a war. I think we
have been in a war for the past 25 years and it will continue until
we as a people decide enough is enough. America needs to "Get out of Bed" and
act decisively now. America has been changed forever. We have to
be ready to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way of life continues.
We cannot afford to keep hitting the snooze button again and again
and roll over and go back to sleep.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto said "... it seems all we
have done is awakened a sleeping giant." This is the message we need to
disseminate to terrorists around the world.
Support Our Troops and support President Bush for having the courage, political
or militarily, to address what so many who preceded him didn't have the
backbone to do, both Democrat and Republican. This is not a political thing
to be hashed over in an election year; this is an AMERICAN thing.
This is about our Freedom and the Freedom of our children in years to come.