We Love Our Country
"America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country."
American Humor At It's Best
This "speech" is actually a column by humorist Larry Miller which appeared in The Daily Standard on 14 January 2002:
People have been making New Year's resolutions for a long time.
Usually they're personal and last no longer than a smoke ring or one of
Tom Daschle's smiles. You know the drill: "I'm going to cut down on my
drinking, lose a few pounds, and read more books." Of course, by January
3rd, you get drunk, order a pizza, and buy a satellite dish.
This year, though, my resolutions won't be personal, and they won't look
forward. They'll look back. Four months back. As you know, since
September 11, our leaders and soldiers have done a fine job, frequently
a brilliant job. (I mean, please, how about that Rumsfeld? If he were a
woman, I'd—Wait. Come to think of it, I'd still do nothing.)
I don't even care that so many of our fellow Americans have been contrary and mealy-mouthed. What makes me want to scream like an actress and throw things is this: Since the attack, I have seen, heard, and read thoughts of such surpassing stupidity that they must be addressed. You've heard them too. Here they are:
Goodness, Evil and
Relativity:
There are some really good people in this world.
They volunteer to help those who need it, and
ask nothing in return. There are also some
really bad people in this world. They exploit
those who need help, or who have less wit or
"charisma", and motivate them to join in
committing unspeakable acts of cruelty against
people they don't even know.
Then there are the rest of us. Average people
who try each day to do no harm, to provide for
their families, to do an occasional act of
kindness. The evil that was perpetrated against
our land on 9/11 was the product of Mullahs who
see our prosperity and power as a threat to
their control over the uneducated Muslim masses
on whose shoulders they ride through life. And
so they preach hate. They are evil.
Violence begets violence
It's true. Violence does beget violence. But
sometimes there is no alternative but to
confront those who would perpetrate evil acts
against us. This is one of those times. We are
blessed to have courageous men and women willing
to put their lives on the line to track down and
annihilate those who have been so imbued with
evil as to be beyond
redemption. But violence is not a strategy. It
is a necessary and fully justified reaction to
an unimaginable threat. But it is not a
strategy. If we are to win this war, we must
defeat the Mullahs. And to defeat the Mullahs,
we must find ways to separate them from their
uneducated flocks. We
cannot kill all those who have been taught to
hate us, nor should we wish to. Far better to
change their minds than to change their state of
being.
The
intelligence community let us down
Well, maybe just a little. Lots of senior and
not so senior intelligence people became just as
enamored of high tech gadgets as their political
masters. The protests over our evisceration of
the human intelligence component of the agency
were not very loud or forceful. Keeping spies on
the ground is a high risk and often dirty
business, and it wasn't just liberal politicians
who didn't have much stomach for it.
Poverty is the breeding
ground for terrorists
No, it isn't; but religious extremism is. The
Mullahs fear our wealth and power because it
shows that a secular society with democratic
institutions and a free market economy can do a
better job of taking care of its peoples' needs,
both spiritual and physical, than the oppressive
Islamic regimes that they aspire to lead. The
Mullahs are the problem, not poverty, but
poverty does make it easier for the Mullahs to
spread their evil - as do governments that
tolerate and even reinforce their hateful
message.
Profiling
We are at war here! We are not talking about
traffic stops. If we were at war with Iceland, I
would expect those charged with our defense to
pay very close attention to any Icelander who
ventured near our shores. In this war I expect
them to pay very close attention to Muslims with
ties to the places that spew hatred against us.
Random checks when there are no
such obvious targets available are a good way to
keep the evil ones guessing, but let's not make
small children and grandmothers take their shoes
off while we watch far more likely candidates
walk aboard unchecked.
Resolutions
a. Never forget that what happened on September
the 11th of 2001 was an act of war.
b. Never sit silently by while someone tries to
justify what happened on
that day as an understandable reaction to U.S.
policies in the Middle East or elsewhere.
c. Fly our nation's flag proudly - it represents
this world's greatest hope to move beyond the
pain and suffering that inflict so many across
the globe.
So here's what I resolve for the new year: To never
forget our murdered brothers and sisters. To never let
the relativists get away with their immoral thinking.
After all, no matter what your daughter's political
science professor says, we didn't start this. Have you
seen that bumper sticker that says, "No More Hiroshimas"?
I wish I had one that says, "You First. No More Pearl
Harbors."
I resolve to be more vigilant and watchful. A good
warning sign that these mutts were nuts was when they
started dressing their women in heavy-duty, baby-blue
bubble wrap. Any man who doesn't want to glance at a
woman is, by definition, already very easy to talk into
killing himself. Then again, to be fair, we haven't seen
their women.
To scream, "Keep going!" when everyone else says,
"Stop."
I'll just cut down on my drinking next year. Hell, I
really wasn't planning to, anyway.