Eighth Anniversary of 9-11: Still Waiting

Eight years ago this week, I was on the Glenn Miller Golf Course, when someone came by in a golf cart telling people that some airplanes had flown into the twin towers in New York and (at that time) one of the towers had come down.  I was doubtful.  I believed I was hearing an exaggeration.  Surely, the towers of the World Trade Center could not fall.  We all know what happened.  They did fall, and I watched President Bush, a few days later, standing on the wreckage of one of the buildings, say to America “…the people who did this will soon hear from us.”  While I was never a great fan of George Bush, at that moment, he was our President, and with a grim heart, I cheered his statement.  I wanted America to hit those Bastards and hit them hard. 

Eight years later I’m still waiting for it to happen.  The man who ordered the killing of almost 3,000 Americans, in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington DC, is still in his hole, probably laughing.  The worst thing that has happened to him since he ordered that attack is Jay, Dave, and Conen make jokes about him on late-night television.  Is bin Laden still laughing as he did on that video tape, when he explained to his colleagues how the buildings had come down and the infidels had been sent to Hades.  I’d bet he is.   

Some people are talking now about pulling out of Afghanistan.  In my view, that would be a wrong thing to do.  Those of us who survived those vicious attacks (that means any American who was not in the towers or was fortunate enough to escape from the towers) owe it to those who died there to avenge that fiendish act.   That was the very reason we went into Afghanistan in the first place and we must stay there and do what is necessary to accomplish that goal. 

Some think that we are obligated to leave Afghanistan with a Western style democracy.  That is a foolish goal which almost surely cannot be accomplished.  No American lives should be lost trying to bring democracy to a people of whom a substantial number probably don’t want or trust democracy.  We owe Afghanistan a stable government (of a form they choose) and an army strong enough to defend itself, nothing more.  But we owe the American people an end to bin Laden and an end to Afghanistan as a safe haven for al Qaeda.