Subject: Is America at War?
Not very long,
and very informative. You have to read the catalogue of
events in this brief
piece. Then, ask yourself how anyone can take the
position that all we have
to do is bring our troops home from Iraq, sit
back, reset the snooze alarm,
go back to sleep, and no one will ever bother
us again. In case you missed
it, World War III began in November
1979... that alarm has been ringing for
years.
US Navy Captain Ouimette is the Executive Officer at Naval Air
Station,
Pensacola, Florida. Here is a copy of the speech he gave last month.
It is
an accurate account of why we are in so much trouble today and why
this
action is so necessary.
AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP!
That's
what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 (When more than
3,000
Americans were killed -AD) and maybe it was, but I think it should
have been
"Get Out of Bed!" In fact, I think the alarm clock has been
buzzing since
1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll
over for a few
more minutes of peaceful sleep since then.
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 23
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 explodes, it kills 63 people.
The alarm went off again and
America hit the Snooze Button once more.
Then just six short months later
a large truck heavily laden down with over
2500 pounds of TNT smashed through
the main gate of the US Marine Corps
headquarters in Beirut and 241 US
servicemen are killed. America mourns her
dead and hit the Snooze Button once
more.
Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with
explosives is
driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and America continues 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 spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a
restaurant
frequented by US soldiers in Madrid.
Then in August a Volkswagen loaded
with explosives is driven into the main
gate of the US Air Force Base at
Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the snooze
alarm is buzzing louder and louder
as US interests are continually attacked.
Fifty-nine days later 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 decide to bring the fight to America. In January 1993, two
CIA
agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in
Langley,
Virginia.
The following month, February 1993, a group of
terrorists are arrested after
a rented van packed with explosives is driven
into the underground parking
garage of the World Trade Center in New York
City. Six people are killed and
over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime
and not an act of war?
The Snooze alarm is depressed again.
Then
in November 1995 a car bomb explodes 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 explodes only 35
yards from the US military
compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroys
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 kill 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 along
side 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 23 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.