I believed it too. I thought that almost any sin was pardonable as long as we were able to keep our sacred freedom under The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. I was told that before the Soviet Union we had to fight the bloodthirsty Nazi’s and the evil Japanese. I learned that out of World War II, by helping the Russians stave off the Nazi’s, we created a rival superpower that hated our freedoms and were dedicated to enslaving the world.
Then, in the intervening years, the Iranians threw out the Shah. Not because he had a secret police system that jailed any form of dissent. His removal wasn’t because he lacked any real right to declare himself Shah or because he was just a military officer with a broad following in the military. Certainly not because he had ties to the CIA and America…they threw him out because he wasn’t “religious” enough. The hostages they took weren’t released until Ronald Reagan became President. They had no reason to be angry with the United States just because we kept the Shah in power for decades against the wishes of the Iranian people. It was all about religion.
Suddenly, a new era dawned. The Russian people, subjugated for so many years by evil rulers, threw off their yokes and now desired democracy, that wondrous system that we Americans had been trying for decades to give to the world. They went from atheistic barbarians that thought more of the state than they did of their own families, and now wanted religious freedom and capitalism and democracy. They were tired of turning in their neighbors for impugning the state, and now wanted to be members of the global community. They tore down the wall at the urging of that great statesman, the sainted Ronald Reagan. Now we could have peace in the world and freedom and justice for all.
They worked constantly to undermine the United States of America. They killed our soldiers in Somalia, blew up barracks in Beirut and Saudi-Arabia. The organization known as al-Qaeda that we put together with the help of Saudi Arabia and the CIA, turned against us and tried to take down the WTC with a bomb in 1993. They blew up embassies in Africa and finally, they emerged from their caves in Afghanistan with their terrible box cutters and destroyed the economic symbol of America, The World Trade Center. If that wasn’t enough, this powerful and treacherous organization, numbering in the thousands flew a jet airliner, kamikaze style into the Pentagon, the symbol of our military strength. If we had known how powerful these box cutters could be, we might have stopped them. If we had only known how resourceful they were, working out of caves with only a few million dollars at their disposal, we could have thwarted them. It was a conspiracy I tell you. How could we have known?
Now we are at a most grievous period in our nation’s history. There are tens of thousands of these “Islamo-Fascists” that threaten the very core of our society. The Russians, with their ICBM and their multiple warhead tips, along with their nuclear submarines and their many million-man military were nothing compared to these people that “hate us for our freedom”. If we have to give up the writ of habeas corpus, and our right to a lawyer and a fair trial from a jury of our peers if we did something “terroristic”, well then that is a price we must pay. If we need to remove Posse Comitatus that forbade the US Military from acting as a law enforcement agency, well so be it. If we had to amend the Insurrection Act so that the President could have Federal control over the State’s National Guards, than that is the price we must pay. If we have to shred the Bill of Rights with that wonderful protective instrument “The Patriot Act”, we must do what we must do.
The people don’t mind turning their rights and freedoms over to the State so that in return we may have some security from these murderous Muslims. If the Clergy must act as lawgivers and go-betweens in the event of a major disaster and imposition of martial law under the Presidential Defense Directive 51, we all understand. The Christian ministry would do no wrong to their fellow citizens. If we must question these “Islamo-Facsists” and their supporters to the point of “organ failure” we must do what must be done.
Never in our history have we been so threatened. Sure, London was bombed to oblivion and the British selfishly held on to their liberties. That was then, this is now. We face attacks by “dirty-bombs”, anthrax, and Islamic “posses” like the one in Miami. Iran could launch an attack on us. Hezbollah could decide to attack America. We only spend $550 Billion Dollars on our Military. Homeland Security only has $41.6 Billion. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2007/dhs.html That is only a little less than $600 Billion Dollars to fight 10’s of thousands of Muslims!
Of course we should become a police state too. Everyone is suspect. The only people that are afraid of being searched and unlimited state power are the ones with something to hide! I could be a secret Muslim activist, or maybe you are! Benjamin Franklin didn’t know what he was talking about when he said: “Those that will give up their freedom for temporary security, will have neither freedom nor security”. Don’t worry about me Ben. I got Bush watching my back. I trust him.
