| On September 11, 2001, terrorists declared war on the United States of America. In return, America, and, in fact, most of the world will carry the war back to those terrorists and nations who back them.
The news media is calling this America's New War, a name that will hopefully fall by the wayside. For truly, this is a War of Atonement, and it is only fitting that its beginning fall just before the Days of Atonement. The war didn't start this week. The war has been fought across the past decades and across several continents, but we refused -- we, the civilized people of the world -- we refused to acknowledge the viper in our midst. Our apologists defended our enemies, claiming that it was a natural reaction to the cultural imperialism of the West.
We have known for years the names and faces of our enemies. Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, the Islamic Jihad, et al, have all declared themselves enemies of the US. They have attacked our military, and they have attacked civilians for the sake of attacking civilians. Not as incidental targets. German tourists gunned down outside the Cairo Museum on September 17, 1997. Yet we have let them hide behind the borders of other nations, because flexible response just couldn't be stretched far enough to invade.
So, as Noam Chomsky points out, we are at fault. But not, as he would like us to believe, because we instigated this. We are at fault because we tolerated the existence of those sworn to hurt us. Why did we think they wouldn't eventually succeed? Now we must atone for our sins. Over 5,000 people have paid the price for our hubris, and many more will give their lives in the struggle to come.
Never Again.
/me misses Danny | 
