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Sept 27, 2003 The political dialogue in this country has reached new depths. Sure Republicans and Democrats, when the cameras and mics are off, say things about their opponents that are mean- spirited, offensive, and just downright dispicible. This kind of vindictive, anger- driven, "backroom" rhetoric has made its way onto the Senate floor and the everyday political discourse. At first most people were taken aback, to a degree, but since its been repeated ad nauseum, it is now generally accepted and rarely draws meaningful criticism. While the language is unacceptable, the apparent need for mass prescriptions of Zoloft for Democrats is somewhat understandable. The "status quo" has become unacceptable. We must take action in far away lands to protect our way of life. We can't just schmooze our way around the world, grease a few palms and be our happy, little selves anymore. We have real enemies. These enemies seek our destruction. Their fanaticism led 19 men to commit suicide AND indiscriminately kill over 3,000 innocent people...all in the name of God. The one thing we have to be thankful for is that those 19 men didn't have suitcases full of Anthrax, Sarin, or worse. The next 19 men probably will. Bush is a liar. The president sent men and women to war to get reelected. Rumsfeld is deadset on taking over the world. Wolfowitz sits at the right side of Satan himself. All of this can be expected to be heard on the news now. One thing that intrigues me is the look in some of the dissenter's eyes. It's a look of arrogance, hatred, and fear, all rolled into one, wild-eyed glare. The arrogance is expected, the hatred is uncalled for. The fear, however, is understandable. We can't just sit here in "Fortress America" and cut deals with everyone anymore. This scares Democrats, and many others for that matter, to death. We cannot negotiate our way out of the War on Terrorism. Everything changed on September 11th, 2001. The "status quo" became unacceptable. We have had the same enemy since 1982, international terrorism. The "status quo" was that every so often we would lose a few Americans to terrorist actions. Sometimes a few unlucky tourists, sometimes a few dozen airline passengers, once 17 sailors, and once 241 Marines. We would talk tough. Occasionally we would drop a few bombs or launch a few cruise missiles. This was acceptable to most people. Our losses occurred far, far away. The missile launches made for good T.V. We carried on with our lives, mostly unscathed. The effects of 9/11 could not be sustained every so often. If we are content to sit on our hands and launch a few missiles, we must be prepared for our cities to become battlefields, our children to become targets. Life, as we know it, would become a casualty of war. Despite the spectre of Big Brother(Ashcroft, the one on the left side of Satan) lurking around the corner, our lifestyle is still alive and kicking. 9/11 earned us a purple heart. You know, the medal that no one wants to receive, but we're still here. Explosions and fire can only wound us so bad. Weapons of Mass Destruction could strike a much more destructive blow. Perhaps the scariest thing in our new world is the combination of radical fundamentalists, killing in the name of God, and weapons capable of killing hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people. We know what these people can do, more importantly, what they WILL do. We know what VX nerve gas or smallpox or a nuclear bomb can do. If we do not take pro-active measures against this threat, we must expect that we will eventually have to deal with the aftermath of a WMD being employed in a U.S. city. This threat led us to Iraq. Links between Iraq and Al-Qaeda are numerous and very-well documented. The most recent article by Richard Miniter at www.techcentralstation.com lays out all of the information very well. Chief WMD hunter David Kay's report is said to show overwhelming evidence of weapons programs, but no actual weapons. Saddam knew that using gas against the United States would accomplish only one thing...end all doubt. Therefore, having thousands of tons of the stuff would be foolish. It would not have changed the outcome at all, he still would have been removed. We also wouldn't have Ted Kennedy calling the war a fraud on the Senate floor. American politics are far too predictable to think that intelligent people would not be able to exploit them for their own purposes. Functional weapons programs would allow small, terrorist-sized, amounts to be produced almost instantly. In reality their production would also be undetectable. This is what we cannot allow to happen. It will only take once. One slip and the entire Seattle metro area may have to be quarantined because a weaponized (uncurable, 100% mortality rate) strain of smallpox was released downtown. One slip and hundreds of thousands of Indianapolis residents may be incinerated and an area, miles in diameter, surrounding the spot of detonation will be uninhabitable. The local ecology would be destroyed for generations. The economy would go into cardiac arrest. Hundreds of thousands more citizens will be stricken with radiation sickness and die a horrible death. Take a minute to look up some of the pictures from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to drive this point home. Not the pictures of the destruction though, the pictures of the survivors. It will only take once. What then? Thank God for the foresight, determination, and dedication of our President George W. Bush. I do. "America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." -George W. Bush ------------ About the Author: Jonathan Robbins is a 29 year old father of 3, living in Indianapolis, IN. He works as a toolmaker and is currently pursuing a degree in Political Science and History. Jonathan was drawn into politics, current events, and history by the events of 9/11/01. Email Jonathan Robbins: jrob1111@sbcglobal.net Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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