Exclusive: FSM Reader Extra: FSM Contributing Editors Remember 9/11, Eight Years Later

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September 11, 2009

FSM National Security Team

ALEX ALEXIEV

To many, the 8th anniversary of 9/11 we mark today is much like the seven preceding ones; yet another year passed without a terrorist incident in the homeland and memories of the traumatic event yet another shade paler. While true enough at first glance, this fact hides a disturbing reality, for this is also the first anniversary of 9/11 that is characterized by a nearly total retreat by the United States from the war against the murderous ideology that caused 9/11.

Washington under President Obama believes that terrorism is but a “man-caused disaster” and refuses to call terrorists what they are. It also uses any opportunity present to appease and pander to the Islamists and blame America for all real or imagined ills inflicted on the Muslim world. The results of this Alice-in-Wonderland fantasy will not be long in coming and our looming defeat in Afghanistan is just the first payment due in Obama’s brave new world, in which his distinguished claqueur, Farid Zakaria, informs us we must learn to live with radical Islam.

Worse may be in store domestically. The While House appointment of 9/11 denier Van Jones would be a huge scandal if he weren’t but just one among the many administration lapdogs for whom the notion that Bush orchestrated 9/11 is an article of faith. From Rosie O’Donnell and Martin Sheen to MoveOn.org and the radical Islamists who invented this lunacy, this bunch is as dedicated to this administration’s collectivist agenda as they are to the idea that America is evil. And the threat they represent to this country is far from just theoretical. Prominent representatives of two American Islamist organizations have already been appointed to key positions in the Department of Homeland Security, while the ACLU is currently collecting pictures of CIA operatives to distribute to suspected terrorists.

It may be difficult for regular Americans to believe that eight years after 9/11 there will be people trying to convince their fellow citizens that, just like the Holocaust, it did not happen. Shocking as that is, nothing is more shocking that such people find support and understanding in the government of the United States.

- Alex Alexiev is a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C.

COL. KEN ALLARD (US ARMY, RET.)

For much of 2001, my job as one of MSNBC’s military analysts (remember them?) meant giving technical advice about a special planned for that fall. Its working title, “Attack on Manhattan,” was premised around the somewhat crazy idea of terrorists assaulting an American city. The usual questions: how could they and how dare they? But what really startled producers and anchors was my casual assumption that such an attack was not just feasible but inevitable, that all the signs pointed to it. Even so, nothing could prepare us for the enormity of the actual event, that sickening shock as nightmares become news bulletins. The eerily prescient special was postponed, eventually airing a year later not as prophecy but as slightly warmed-over history.

In Obama’s America of 2009, it is impossible to escape that same itch-between-the-shoulder blades feeling because, just as before, the currents are running the same way. Not a hundred miles from where I write these words, proud, brave and deeply religious Mexicans are seeing their beautiful country descend into the heartbreak of urban warfare. Not ten miles from where you probably sit, the drug cartels operate a highly networked support infrastructure with ruthless efficiency. “Want to use my drug tunnel to smuggle in your dirty bomb? For the right price, no problemo!” Do you seriously believe that the loopholes and stovepipes of our border defenses have somehow escaped the notice of the same people who brought you 9/11? I don’t either but am no longer sworn to defend those borders with my life. Yet it is hard to resist the thought that this was a spectacularly bad moment to declare war on the CIA.

Nasty surprises often have their deepest roots in what historian Barbara Tuchman called “un-wisdom” – bad choices, unwise decisions and shrugged-off consequences whose unfortunate outcomes were not too difficult to foresee. As the next security tsunami gathers to rush onshore, un-wisdom simply suggests going to the beach: after all, what could go wrong? There are many ways that un-wisdom does its work: But two of the deadliest are the twin assumptions that 9/11 is past rather than prologue; and that enemies don’t learn lessons.

-Col. Ken Allard is a widely known commentator on foreign policy and security issues.

WALTER ANDERSON

I am not sure that our country has really gotten the message from the tragedy of 9/11. There is no question we were ill prepared for the attack and, depending on who you read/listen to, it is the fault of any one or a number of people.

Placing the blame on one person or one governmental agency is convenient but limiting, and that is the main reason we are still in the dark.

I have read a fair number of books and articles about 9/11 that come from the conspiracy side, the government side, and the left pointing to the right side etc. What 99 percent of these writings have in common is they have an agenda, and that agenda is what they focus on instead of the real issue. The main problem is that our government, great as it is, sets limitations on agencies via direct order and, more importantly, through budgets. We should increase the intelligence budget of the necessary intelligence agencies and direct them to have a two-way street with information, possibly a common clearinghouse. The upgrade of computer systems and satellite/fly-over surveillanceequipment is a must and along with that the maintenance of that equipment to up-to-date standards. The use of electronic intelligence (ELINT) is great tool, but the most proven type of reliable intelligence is human intelligence (HUMINT) and instead of relying heavily on ELINT we should be promoting more HUMINT through the use of contacts and spies and back up that intelligence with that taken from electronic sources.

The new idea in our foreign policy seems to be “show other countries we want to be friends even when we know from experience and their own words or actions, they would like to see us dead.” This turn the other cheek mentality will only get us another disastrous attack or worse. We should be standing tall and not back away from verbal challenges or terrorist demands. We have to show those who would harm us that we mean business and are strong and we have to be ready to follow through with our statements. We must show the world that the United States of America not to be messed with or we will fight back. In order to do this, we have to get our house in order, at least in better order than it is now.

- Walter Anderson has an extensive background in business, served in the Marine Corps, and is experienced in grassroots political activism.

JOHN ARMOR

Do you remember the sight of live human beings, covered in ash like ghosts, running for their lives as the Towers fell on 9/11? Many of them saw and heard people jumping to their deaths, preferring that to burning to death. I know that not because I saw it on TV – I know it because my wife was one of those ghosts in the streets of New York.

The man who currently occupies the White House wants to memorialize 9/11 with a "celebration" of green jobs, government-run health care, and other aspects of destroying the American economy and constitutional government. He wants to distract us from the truth of what happened that day. I prefer to keep my eyes focused on the truth, because a true future can only be based on the truth of the past.

Truth can be a horror, as it was on 9/11. But it is always a sound guide for future decisions.

- John Armor practiced in the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years. He is counsel to the American Civil Rights Union.

JAMES JAY CARAFANO

Americans believe national security and homeland security are important – period. It doesn’t matter who they are – rich, poor, white, black, Latino, democrat, republican, liberal, conservative or libertarian, they all believe in the promise of the preamble of the Constitution…the promise of “providing for the common defense.” Americans also assume that taking care of security is Washington’s job and their leaders are looking after them. They “outsource” their safety to Washington and expect that the generals and diplomats and politicians will keep them safe. That only changes in times of “crisis,” when Americans feel the danger to their homes is upon them…then they join the debate and get involved. But as the crisis fades Americans go back to outsourcing to Washington.

As 9/11 drifts back into the past, Americans adopt the old habits. That’s a problem. First, because the nature of the threats we face today are different. They can bypass the frontier or the ocean or the border and appear in a community without notice…and many cases it is in the community that the challenge has to be met, whether it is preventing a malicious actor from acting or recovering from tragedy. Communities have to learn how to take care of themselves. Nor should Americans assume that Washington is doing all the right things. We have seen, for example, this White House push through a 15 percent cut in the missile defense program almost without debate. That cut seriously jeopardizes the ability of our military to stop an incoming missile...and as terrible as the strikes on New York and Washington were, if they had been missiles rather than planes, the damage and loss of life would have been infinitely greater. In truth today, many security policies spun out of Washington play Russian Roulette with the future safety and security of America’s families…and unless America speaks out they will continue to substitute glib talk and serious sounding bumper stickers for real, substantive security. FamilySecurityMatters.org is one of the few resources offering the up-to-date, relevant information informed citizens need. Being informed, however, is not enough. Americans must act and they must make difference…and that starts in their communities where they organize groups to discuss serious issues; get their message out; find candidates who believe what they believe; and organize their communities to get results. We can all sit by and lament that the lessons of 9/11, the responsibility to be vigilant, and prepared, and proactive, are being lost…or we can give this anniversary meaning by taking back responsibility for our communities.

- James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., is a leading expert in defense affaires, intelligence, military operations and strategy, and homeland security at the Heritage Foundation.

SANDRA CARNEY

Had you have asked me on 9/12/2001 if in 2008 we would elect a man with “Hussein” as his middle name, I would have given you odds on a bet of a million to one that it would not happen.

Well it did!

Typically, 20 percent of the populace – the Progressives – say that they love America, but they want to change it. This minority want to impose their elitist views on the 42 percent majority – Conservatives.

The clarion call of this President’s agenda manifest daily as we watch his chief advisors hatch up more and more schemes to reshape traditional America.

It was as clear as a crystal ball before the election from the company he kept, his speeches and voting record as a Senator, how far to the left Barack Obama was, yet America still voted for him.

Surely it is plain for any thinking person to see that as we march fast and furiously towards a non-violent form of Fabian Socialism, that our country has become vulnerable to a violent invasion by our sworn enemies who have taken an oath to crush us.

With internal help this external force may very well succeed far beyond the expectations it had when we were attacked on 9/11/2001.

- Sandra Carney is keenly interested in world events and fiercely protective of her adopted country, the U.S.A.

ALAN CARUBA

Whether they are aware of it or not, September 11, 2001 left an indelible mark on Americans of this generation and those to come in a fashion similar to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. It was an event that marked a demarcation between an America that felt safe from attack and an America that, despite its status as a military superpower, felt vulnerable. Policies toward Islam, the Middle East, and the world have been shaped by that event ever since.

- Alan Caruba writes a weekly column posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center.

KAY DAY

Every time I walk by the herbs on my deck, I smell the rosemary and remember what my grandmother always said – “rosemary for remembrance.” It might be a good idea to send members of Congress and our president a rosemary sprig. As the anniversary of September 11th approached, we learned Yale University Press deleted cartoons from the forthcoming book, The Cartoons That Shook the World. Yale caved to fear—that innocents would be hurt if cartoons about Islam were included. What many missed was the potential for serious litigation. Reversing Bush 43 policy, President Barack Obama sought and won a seat for the U.S. on the UN Human Rights Council. That council passed Resolution 7/19 in March. Presented under the guise of promoting respect for religion, the resolution is nothing more than a pedestal for a single faith and a threat to any criticism. The words “Islam,” “Muslim” or “Arab” are specified 13 times in the document. How many times are the words “Christianity,” “Judaism” or any other faith mentioned? Exactly zero. As an American, I’d like to remind my country’s leaders September 11th should be framed in my grandmother’s descriptive of rosemary – for remembrance.

- Kay B. Day, author and editor of The US Report

DR. CANDACE DE RUSSY

For many of us, each 9/11 is an occasion to remember and reaffirm the common, extraordinarily steely determination that seethed within us after the terrorist attacks – the determination to fight and defeat the jihadists and any others who would destroy us. But on this, the eighth anniversary of the attacks, it has become abruptly and urgently necessary also to recognize our gaping need for steely political leaders, and the cultural institutions that produce them. For without these mainstays we cannot defend our homeland and, eventually, defeat our enemies.

So it has been for nations and entire civilizations, as “declinist” historians have so often observed, for example, Adrian Goldsworthy in his recent book How Rome Fell. The battle for survival must inevitably be lost, he reiterates, when peoples, faced with implacable adversaries and the evisceration of shared principles, elevate weak, incompetent and uncommitted leaders.

In just the few months since his inauguration, President Barack Obama has all too consistently signaled such leadership: He has shrunk from acknowledging or even naming the ideology, militant Islamism, that motivated the 9/11 massacre; groveled before the world in apology for our past; bowed with servility before the unelected, authoritarian king of Saudi Arabia; falsely celebrated Islam as contributing weightily to our history; pushed democratic Israel even more on the defensive than ever; allowed his administration to target for criminal prosecution intelligence officers for using interrogation methods that disrupted terrorist plots and resulted in the arrests of terrorist suspects; broadcast his intent to diminish our nuclear deterrent, missile defenses and navy, all the while proposing the most statist, costly, freedom-sapping social agenda ever witnessed in our country; marginalized Iraq’s leaders as well as our European allies while chatting up dictators in Iran, North Korea and Venezuela; and left doubts that he will provide the additional troops and resources needed to win what he himself calls a “war of necessity” in Afghanistan.

Our resolve, on this 9/11, should therefore be to turn the appeasement-addled Obama and his elected allies out of office. Never, never again – frivolously and recklessly disdaining readily available foreknowledge – should we entrust our security to such a leadership, steeped as it is in hard-left ideology and hell-bent on broadcasting accommodation to our foes and abandonment to our allies.

More broadly, our political institutions will not be reclaimed and will damn us all unless we recover our core values, which need to be confirmed to future generations in our families as well as in our seminal religious, educational and cultural institutions. Absent such affirmation, our national foreign and defense policies will inevitably rest on unstable ground and our civilization will be at great risk.

LEE ELLIS

American families, eight years ago, were shocked at their sudden loss of security as bombs in the form of hijacked American passenger planes, tore into both their economic and defense centers. On September 12th we all flew American flags and vowed to do what was necessary to defend our great Republic and its Constitution. Yet, we seemed to quickly forget as our enemies used our own media to propagandize us into believing that Iraq was a mistake, even though it was our first center for Middle Eastern intelligence that saved American lives and helped us win a presence in the heart of the Middle East. We fought against the Patriot Act, even though it was the only way we could discover the many Islamic sleeper cells that were being created here in our cities. Finally, we elected a government that told us there was no war against terrorism; that we no longer needed to build up our defense systems, even eliminating some of them.

Our enemies are no longer just the Islamic attackers. They have been joined by the Marxists and Socialists under the old Arabic proverb: “An enemy of my enemy is my friend.” The results are clear as American families see their government follow Europe into socialized health and banking trends and nationalization of private businesses. Families must return to the days of 09/12/2001, once again vowing to defend their Republic and preserving the American Constitution. Failure to do this will mean a return to what we were before the Spirit of 1776 had fought to free us.

- Lee Ellis is a retired journalist, narrator, and formerly a Vice President with both CBS and Gannett (USA Weekend). He can be contacted at indiolee@dc.rr.com.

LAINA FARHAT-HOLZMAN

We haven’t had another al Qaeda attack since 9/11/01, but not because they haven’t tried. We and the Europeans have apprehended wannabe terrorists with regularity – despite protests from some clueless sympathizers.

The FBI is better than we give them credit for – and the wannabes are stupider than they think they are. However, there are some new wrinkles that should make us all uneasy. The most recent arrests of a cell in North Carolina are a case in point.

There appears to be a rise in dangerous converts to Jihadi Islam: some recruited in prisons, some just the usual fringe of wild-west misfits. These are most dangerous because they cannot be easily profiled. The uptick of Somali immigrant recruited for overseas terror training has been noted and now is being tracked.

Because there have been no overt attacks in the U.S., the Obama Administration keeps this issue off the radar. However, there is no reason to think that President Obama would not rise to the occasion to do what would be needed should there be an attack. For now, they are keeping a keen eye out, and prevention, while not as exciting as reaction, is what we need.

- Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author. You may contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or http://www.globalthink.net/. She also writes for the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

PAUL HOLLRAH

Prior to September 11, 2001, few Americans saw any real danger of Islamic jihad coming to our shores. While barbaric practices such as honor killings, the stoning to death of rape victims, and suicide bombing were horrors of a strange alien culture… subjects for National Geographic magazine… we were told not to worry; Islam was a religion of peace. We were assured that, while all terrorists are Muslims, no all Muslims are terrorists.

Fortunately, George W. Bush was president on that day… not Barack Hussein Obama… and he kept us safe from attack for the next seven years and four months. But with Ted Kennedy’s Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 on the books, he was powerless to prevent a silent invasion by the men, women, and children of Islam.

Now, as we remember the 3,000 who died that fateful day, we are forced to admit that we have lost significant ground to Islamic jihad. Until recently, sitting in the White House at the right hand of Barack Obama, was Van Jones… a self-admitted communist who believes that the Bush administration actually arranged and participated in the 9/11 attacks to provide an excuse for war against Islam. What have we come to?

- Paul Hollrah is a Senior Fellow at the Lincoln Heritage Institute.

GABRIEL GARNICA, ESQ.

Three days after fiendish cowards drove those airplanes into our national psyche, President Bush stood at Ground Zero and proclaimed that “the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” As we stand here eight years from that national nightmare, we may rightly ask, “What are our enemies hearing now?”

Where they should hear righteous indignation, they now hear apologetic drivel. Where they should hear patriotic unity behind a cohesive mission, they now hear counterproductive division fueled by a cowardly betrayal of our national interest. Where they should hear the roar of a nation once respected and hailed as the beacon of freedom and democracy, they now hear the whimper of a people retreating behind a twisted and betraying leadership which is more an abomination than an administration. Worst of all, where they should hear the voices of a nation’s past brimming with courage, conviction and love of flag, they now hear the laughter of that nation’s enemies gleefully celebrating the masterpiece of freedom turned caricature of indecision.

Eight years ago we heard what our enemies thought of us. Sadly, today they too often hear what we think of ourselves.

- Gabriel Garnica, Esq., is a college professor and licensed attorney whose regular commentary also appears on NewMediaJournal.us, Michnews and various Internet journals.

M. ZUHDI JASSER

As an American Muslim, the terror inflicted on America on September 11, 2001 struck me on many levels. The terrorists hijacked planes and my religion to attack my country and killed over 3,000 of my fellow Americans in the process. For me, it quickly matured my life-long mission to preserve the principles that founded the United States, and it made far more urgent the need to demonstrate to my fellow Muslims that the tenets of genuine liberty and freedom as they exist in America are integral to our faith.

Now, eight years after the attacks we, as a nation, continue to ignore the writing on the wall only to fall further and further behind in the contest of ideas. There seems to be a spreading denial over the threat and yet, it is obviously not going away. Just in the past few months, we have seen homegrown terror cells arrested in North Carolina and New York. And, over 30 attacks have been prevented since 9/11 – all of which have only one thing in common- the ideology of militant Islamism which fuels the radical Muslims who plotted them.

What has been lost in the public debate since the attacks is that terrorism is just the symptom of a much larger ideological struggle. American families need to realize that on every front from government, to media, to education, and business, today we face a national and global conflict between individual liberty and political Islam. Make no mistake: Islamists are at odds with Western civilizations and will use all the tools available to them to dominate. The militant Islamists will hijack planes and detonate bombs while the lawful Islamists will institute Sharia courts in Great Britain or exaggerate the victimization of American Muslims. Ultimately, Americans are then taken off course of our advocacy for liberty and against Islamism while the Islamists’ advance their own agenda seeking to erode public confidence in our institutions and our way of life. Their dreams of an Islamic state stand in stark contrast to the American dream which we should be teaching our families. It may sound farfetched to some, but read the writings of the Muslim Brotherhood. Islamists are patient and take a long view of history. They know that while death by a thousand cuts is not quick, it still is death.

Islamism is growing in America. In 2009, we saw Hizb ut-Tahrir go public with their convention in Chicago and actively and openly recruit followers to bring an end to our way of life. Yet our government is still quibbling over the language we will use to describe our efforts against their ideology which fuels terrorism.

The Obama Administration has naively called for a “Day of Service” this 9/11. At AIFD, we are calling for a “Day of Remembrance and Vigilance.” Americans must remember the horror of 9/11 and must be vigilant in not allowing Political Islam to wear down the principles that built our country. American Muslims in particular must be vigilant in protecting our faith from Islamists and act upon our responsibility to lead the national effort against Islamism while providing our own families an alternative to political Islam.

-M. Zuhdi Jasser is the founder and Chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix, Arizona.

CLIFF KINCAID

When a Communist who blames 9/11 on the U.S. Government gets a White House job, you know the country is in trouble. We are in extreme peril. A terrorist attack at this time, on top of our economic troubles, could literally destroy the United States as a functioning Democratic Republic. In terms of Van Jones, who comes from the same milieu as the president, it must be asked of Obama: What did he know and when did he know it? If a New Zealand blogger named Trevor Loudon could uncover Jones’ communist past with a few keystrokes, the White House had to know, too, and thought they could get away with it. We know that Obama and Jones were photographed together. Indeed, it must be assumed that Jones and Obama had mutual friends and knew one another well. Who is the “we” that Obama “brain” Valerie Jarrett talked about when she said that “we” had recruited Jones? This “energy in the White House,” as she called it, is a cancer eating away at our nation. Obama could destroy America before he inflicts a communist government on Honduras.

- Cliff Kincaid, editor, Accuracy in Media; President, America’s Survival, Inc.

SUSAN KONIG

I just got my four kids out the door to three different schools. Many of us are able to enjoy the newness of back-to-school days as we did until September 10, 2001.

On September 11, 2001, I had a second grader, a kindergartner, and a toddler. One of my neighbors had kids exactly the same ages but she was also expecting her fourth. Her husband was killed that day.

Now our teenage daughters (the former second graders) ride the train from the suburbs every day into New York City to attend Catholic high school. Eight years ago, I couldn’t have imagined we would feel secure enough to let them go.

As the years pass, we may not spend as much time looking over our shoulders, but we are not the same as we were.

You don’t forget getting your teeth kicked in. That’s what the New York City skyline looks like to me. A face with a gaping hole in it – the result of a violent act during which the only compassion shown was by brave Americans of all ages and their fellow victims from almost every other nation in the world. They helped each other, calmed each other, prayed, phoned their families, fought back when they could.

There are still kids without moms or dads. There are young Americans in harm’s way. There is a daily threat to our national security.

The gap in the skyline of our city will, sooner or later, be filled by a new, unfamiliar silhouette. And we will get used to that.

- Susan Konig is a nationally read columnist and author of Why Animals Sleep So Close to the Road and Other Lies I Tell My Children.

JIM KOURI, CPP

I will always remember the police officers from the NYPD's Bomb Squad who died when they responded to the World Trade Center on 9/11. Some of them trained me on the subjects of investigating bomb and incendiary device incidents, bomb threat response, terrorism and other related topics. When they died on 9/11, New York City – in fact the entire United States – lost an elite group of patriots. They and their families will always remain in my thoughts and prayers.

- Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media Alliance.

TOM MCLAUGHLIN

I’d just written “jihad” on the blackboard when the principal opened my classroom door and beckoned me with his finger. In the hall he told me about the attack on the World Trade Center. Coincidentally, I’d been teaching my class about why Muslim suicide bombers were willing to blow themselves up to kill Israelis in Jerusalem. Now they were killing Americans.

Each subsequent September, I started my course – 20th century U.S. History and current events – with a lesson on why Radical Muslims attacked us. The media were bombarding us with reminiscences annually and I capitalized on their saturation coverage. Lately however, coverage has diminished and my incoming students have little or no knowledge of that happened that day or why. Unfortunately for our country, the same is becoming true for Americans at large. I’ll teach my 100 students this year as usual, but there are 300 million Americans for whom the significance of September 11th will continue to fade. Because of that, we’re more vulnerable to another attack. Those of us still aware of its meaning know the next attack will be far worse.

- Tom McLaughlin is a history teacher and a regular weekly columnist for newspapers in Maine and New Hampshire. He writes about political and social issues, history, family, education and Radical Islam. E-mail him at tommclaughlin@fairpoint.net

PAM MEISTER

Regarding 9/11, a quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt comes to mind: “A date which will live in infamy.” Roosevelt was responding to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which heralded the United States’ entrance into World War II, but the words could well apply to that fateful September day less than a decade ago. Yet eight years out, how “infamous” does 9/11 remain? While Americans focus on the domestic problems such as the economy and the health care “reform” issue that currently plague us – and rightfully so – we cannot allow these concerns to crowd out the one that should override everything else.

National security is the linchpin of American society – without it, there isn’t much point worrying about the other things. It’s akin to worrying about whether you should reupholster the living room furniture when the house is in danger of burning down. The biggest concern of our federal government should be protecting the American people – you know, “provide for the common defense” – not providing goodies and freebies to a certain segment of society at the expense of everyone else. Our Founders must be rolling in their graves.

It is disheartening – nay, frightening – to see the current administration continue to ignore the porous border/illegal alien problem, appease our enemies (and even green-eyed allies) by not only apologizing right and left for everything America has done since 2001, but by making friendly overtures to leaders of nations who have made their murderous intentions clear, and hamper the ability of our covert agents in the field to gather the information essential to securing our safety by dogging them with phony baloney investigations designed to appease their own radical supporters. The “It’s a Small World” globalist mentality may feel good, but ultimately will be our undoing.

Our enemies continue to plot and plan. Americans must continue to be vigilant. To ignore the threat is to not only dishonor the memories of the victims on that clear September day, but to put ourselves and our families in grave peril.

-Pam Meister is the editor of FamilySecurityMatters.org.

GEOFF METCALF

For an all too brief period following the epic tragedy of 9/11, Americans were united. Like a Charlie Daniels lyric we all came together “the cowboys, the hippies, the rebels and the Yanks...” Every car had a red-white-and-blue testament of patriotic righteous indignation...even far left bleeding hearts were screaming for Old Testament biblical retribution. Then the country reverted to partisan distractions and petty pop culture inanities.

Meanwhile, the enemy has remained rabidly consistent. Islamic terrorists cling to their unbridled antipathy and continue to pursue their Cervantes quest to destroy the essence of what America is and stands for. This enemy will not go away if ignored. They are (unlike most Americans) consistent, committed and focused on an objective.

There is a cultural disconnect that impedes Americans from accepting that this enemy cannot be reasoned with, will not embrace compromise, and refuses to accept any and all intellectual arguments that contradict the gospel according to them. Remember these enemies have nurtured and maintained real and perceived slights against tribal rivals for centuries.

The enemy of 9/11 remains the enemy of today. This enemy is not a geographic chunk of land and is not sovereign. America's apathy to the threat emboldens the enemy and eventually, inevitably, they will strike again.

- Geoff Metcalf, a former Green Beret and retired Army officer, is a nationally syndicated author and major market radio show host. E-mail Geoff at geoff@geoffmetcalf.com.

ADRIAN MORGAN

It hardly seems that eight years have passed since 9/11. America should never slip into complacency – 9/11 was a declaration of war against Western values, by a small section of the global Muslim community. No amount of conciliatory talk by Barack Obama will change that. Britain’s leaders seem to have forgiven the Libyan terrorist who murdered 270 people back in December 1988. America’s current indignation at Abdel Baset al-Megrahi’s release should not distract from the enormity of the event that took place on that sunny morning eight years ago today. Ramzi Yousef tried to blow up the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. He failed, but killed six people. The 2001 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people in a few hours, the most shocking episode in an unofficial war that has been going on since at least 1979 when Islamists kidnapped U.S. Embassy staff in Iran.

Obama’s attempts to make placatory overtures to Islam will not change the resolve of fanatics who wish to destroy America. Having a Democrat in the White House does not guarantee immunity from Islamist terrorism – the Iranian hostages were serving Jimmy Carter. Ramzi Yousef’s bombing, as well as the bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya on August 7, 1988, took place on Bill Clinton’s watch. Presidents change, but Islamists’ hatred for America does not. Never forget those who died on that fateful morning, eight years ago. To forget them is not just a betrayal of their lives, but a betrayal of all Americans. When people want to destroy you, you must always be vigilant and ready to fight back. And never give an inch to those who show contempt for your country and its values.

- Adrian Morgan is a British-based writer and artist who has written for Western Resistance since its inception. He also writes for Spero News.

DR. WALID PHARES

How would historians look at the eighth anniversary of 9/11?

In the eighth year after al Qaeda’s terror attacks against New York and Washington, what is the strategic outcome of the American response against Jihadi terror at home and worldwide? Historians will see that in the first two years of the conflict, U.S. efforts crumbled two totalitarian regimes, the Taliban and the Iraq Baath. The Afghanistan campaign was of necessity and its first target was fulfilled: the Jihadists were removed from power. The Iraq campaign was a strategic choice and it first target was achieved: Saddam was brought down. But since 2003, the U.S. entered a stalemate: to move forward, we needed to win a war of ideas. We should have identified the enemy’s ideology but haven’t. Oil lobbies blocked, and U.S. bureaucracy failed such efforts: Hence five years of “trenches war.” Inside the homeland the academic and intellectual elite crumbled mobilization efforts. By 2008 the global war wasn’t won yet. The new Administration made another choice: strategic retreat. Iran, Syria, Sudan and Libya will be “engaged.” Attempts to talk to the Taliban and other Jihadists will be made. The official War on Terror has ended, but the Jihadi War on America and Democracies continues.

- Dr Walid Phares is the author of The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad. He is the Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a visiting scholar at the European Foundation for Democracy.

ROS PRYNN

September 11, 2001. I awoke that day in a different time zone – hours after the attacks that shocked us all. The magnitude of the devastation was overwhelming. As I watched from a distance throughout that day, what also overwhelmed me were the phenomenal acts of individual heroism. In the midst of the horrors, I was awestruck by the courage of my American '”family” as America showed the world - friend and foe alike - just what she is made of.

As I sat here, helpless, I saw Americans come together, refusing to be helpless, in support of each other. From the frantic parent looking for their child; the office worker helping a colleague; strangers reaching out to one another; EMTs, paramedics, fire departments and the police, who raced into the furnace, right on up to the President of the United States, there was a groundswell of pride and determination as America again gave notice that she would never bow on bended knee to any terrorist. Within the maelstrom of destruction, quiet moments of grace and dignity. I was a privileged witness that day.

Today? I am humbled on a daily basis by the unbreakable spirit that is at the core of America.

The eagle still soars, strong and proud.

God bless the USA.

-Ros Prynn is a journalist/writer/editor with an international readership.

BEN SHAPIRO

On the eighth anniversary of the horrific attacks on our homeland, we must remember that even though the press and the Obama Administration have declared an end to the war on Islamofascism, our enemies have not. They are waiting, biding their time, and planning for strikes that will make 9/11 look like a picnic. Armed with weapons of mass destruction made available to them through the Obama Administration's malfeasance, granted access to our most vulnerable points through the Obama Administration's kowtowing to radical civil libertarians, allowed time to breath by the Obama Administration's burgeoning surrender strategies in Iraq and Afghanistan, our enemies are eager and willing to hit us again. Only through the grace of God and constant vigilance will we be able to save lives.

- Ben Shapiro is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School. He is also the author of the recently published Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House.

LT. COL. W. THOMAS SMITH, JR.

Several days ago, I attended the emotionally moving ceremony of a friend-of-a-friend who was promoted to brigadier general in the Marine Corps.

The newly promoted one-star, Gen. Frans Coetzee, reminded us that we are a nation at war, and that we have been so for eight years: A reality that hits every general – stateside and deployed – every morning, as all generals worldwide receive the daily casualty lists (among other information) on their Blackberries.

Fact is, we are a nation at war against Jihad. The Islamists have been at war with us (the West) for centuries. They've just not had the means to begin waging effective war against us until the 1980s. And it took until September 11, 2001 to convince those of us who are willing to defend America to the death that they are coming after us with every weapon and every type of combatant they can muster against us. They aim to destroy or enslave us. And they will lie and deceive (justified to them under al-taqqiya), murder innocents (deliberately targeting women and children), and capitalize on our technologies and free societies to do so.

Fortunately, we’ve had some operational successes over the past eight years: Far more successes than that of the enemy – thanks to committed soldiers and sailors, superb actionable intelligence (though most Americans are clueless as to the depth of that intelligence), and a unique military tradition that perhaps began on Lexington Green in April 1775.

But we must never forget that any man who is as committed to killing us as those men were on 9/11, will never lose that commitment. We must never lose ours.

- Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at uswriter.com.

CINNAMON STILLWELL

Eight years after the Islamic terrorist attacks of 9/11, it appears that America has largely drifted back into complacency. Certainly, many Americans still understand that the threat of repeated attacks remains real, but the sense of urgency has faded with time.

Meanwhile, the country's current leadership and its supporters are inhabiting the willful blindness of a pre-9/11 mindset, if not acting as apologists for and, in some cases, active supporters of America's enemies.

Misconceptions that began with the Bush administration continue unabated. There is an inability to grasp that, to quote Robert Spencer, the "stealth jihad," being visited by Islamists upon our educational, cultural, and governmental institutions is the greatest threat to Western civilization. The self-censorship of political correctness, the moral vacuity of multiculturalism, the surrender of creeping dhimmitude, and the corruption of Arab dollars and influence continue to ensure that we are not actively engaged in the ideological battlefield.

As someone who was galvanized into a political awakening and eventual transformation by 9/11, it has been disheartening to see the country slide back into somnolence. Indeed, I have wondered at times whether we have entered a post-post-9/11 age. I believe the memory still lingers in our collective consciousness, but it has retreated to the farther reaches.

When one looks at history, this depressing pattern emerges time and time again. One has to wonder if human beings generally don't learn from history, but rather, are doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again. Jolted out of slumber every so often by horrific events, we then sink back into oblivion once the threat no longer seems urgent. A few will always stand on the sidelines trying to bring attention to the looming threat of the day, but by and large, we only listen when forced.

Nonetheless, the fight must go on, for the alternative is far too frightening. That's something for all of us to remember on 9/11/09.

- Cinnamon Stillwell is the West Coast Representative for Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.

JOAN SWIRSKY

On September 11, 2001, the country I love was attacked. In the greatest crime ever committed against our nation, I could see the plumes of skyline-obliterating smoke from my window. I watched on TV as planes crashed into the Twin Towers, barreled into the Pentagon, and spiraled to the ground in a field in Pennsylvania.

The only solace was New York City’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani and U.S. President George W. Bush, who conveyed to the entire world empathy for the victims, love for America, and fury at our country’s savage attackers.

For seven years after that fateful day, the lives of every American stopped to remember and honor the dead, feel grateful for another year without being attacked, and renew allegiance to the greatest country in the world. For millions of Americans, that will always be the case, until the day they die.

But for Washington’s new regime, September 11th appears to be an irritant – so much so that the new chief executive wants to replace our national day of mourning with a national day of service, as if September 10th or 12th would not do.

Obama wants the rest of us to share his reverence for Ramadan while pretending not to notice his failure to appear at a Christian prayer breakfast; to appreciate his at-the-waist bow to a Saudi potentate; to have amnesia about his failure to support the brave Iranians protesting Ahmadinejad’s recently rigged election; to forget his obsequious overtures to the terrorist state of Syria; and to sanction the billions he has sent to the career terrorists of Hezbollah, Hamas, and Fatah.

While millions are now questioning Obama’s competence and his legitimacy to be president vis-à-vis Constitutional requirements, I am questioning not if Obama loves America, but if he even likes it!

- Joan Swirsky is a New York-based journalist and author who can be contacted at joansharon@aol.com.

ARTHUR WALDRON, PH.D.

On this anniversary, I wonder whether we have learned the biggest lesson of 9/11, which is the critical importance of accurate and timely intelligence. That is the foundation upon which all other policies are built. Yet I fear that our capabilities today to gather such information and to use it in the formulation of sound policy have advanced little, if any, over what we had then. I also worry that our still unguarded borders will be the route by which the next terrorists enter our country.

- Dr. Arthur Waldron oversees Inernational Assessment and Strategy Center's Asia and Strategy Programs. He trained as an Asian specialist at Harvard (A.B. 1971, Ph.D. 1981) and is the Lauder Professor of International Relations at the University of Pennsylvania.

TIM WILSON

How could we forget? It was only a few short years ago, years filled with messages and threats from Osama bin Laden and his many copycat haters of America, with North Korean nuclear tests, with Syrian attempts to build a plutonium production facility (with North Korean help) and with ongoing Iranian support of Hamas and Hezbollah as well as with their ongoing defiance of United Nations sanctions and world concern at their determination to achieve nuclear status.

President Bush managed to keep us safe for the remainder of his term following 9/11. His successor made various promises not to destroy those protections. But now we see that President Obama’s “outstretched hand” has failed to dissuade any of the above mentioned countries from continuing their dangerous quests for nuclear weapons. Furthermore we have seen him promise to close Guantanamo, apparently regardless of the danger posed by its inmates (or their ongoing potential intelligence value). And most recently we have seen his Attorney General announce a special investigation into the interrogations of terrorists conducted by our own CIA.

President Obama undoubtedly remembers 9/11 as well as any of us. However when it comes to national security it seems we are seeing the triumph of hope over practical, proven techniques. Hope is well and good - one can hope for the best, but prudence always plans for the worst: hope and rhetoric alone are not enough. In terms of our security, this is change for the worse.

- Tim Wilson is a retired British Army officer who now works as an independent consultant.

Brought to you by the editors and research staff of FamilySecurityMatters.org.

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