Reposted with permission from Matt Dickerson. Read the original here!
The following is a personal message to all of those who think we should just pull our troops out of the Middle East theater of operations because "We've been there too long, and nothing is happening."
On a warm Tuesday in September 2001 our worlds were turned upside down by a group of men who would rather kill thousands of innocent people through cowardice, than stand toe to toe with the men and women sworn to defend their home, family, and nation. These are the same types that would rather blow themselves up in the middle of a busy market place, or plant a car bomb in the middle of a residential area. These are not conventional enemies. They have no uniform, no unit, only a distorted message of hate told to them by even bigger cowards in a mosque somewhere.
To those who think we should be nicer to them, to those that think we are still the aggressors, to those who feel that we as a nation are still at fault, imagine this for a second, these people are the enemy. Since G.W. Bush was in office, we have maintained a detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. This is where high profile detainees were brought to be interrogated so that maybe one day we could eradicate the terrorists who want to see America burn alive. Random idiots walking the street do not get sent to Gitmo. These are people who have extensive knowledge of terrorist networks, people who are one with the enemy.
Everyone is up in arms about the "acts of torture" performed on these high profile detainees. Saying it is un-American, saying it's illegal, saying it's inhuman. Know this, keeping them awake for long periods of time, waterboarding them, possible small voltage electroctuion is far easier on them than anything they would do to us. They get three meals a day, a right to practice their religion, and a bed with a roof over their head. That is a vacation for them. If the shoe was on the other foot, they would torture us, behead us, disembowel us, tie us behind a truck, drag our corpse through the streets, and hang us from a bridge to rot for everyone to see. They would video tape the whole thing and give it to al-Jazeera, who would promptly put it on primetime news to feed the rest of the Middle East with a sense of pride.
These people do not deserve to be treated as equals. They should not be treated as we would treat each other, nor should they be treated like we would treat POW's from a legitimate enemy. They deserve to be tied to a chair and be forced to watch someone execute their entire family. They deserve to be tortured. They deserve to be terminated with EXTREME predjudice. These people are not human beings. Unfortunately, our nation has been burdened with the responsibility of babysitting the rest of the planet for some time now. So this equal treatment will never happen.
To those of you who don't have the inner fortitude and patience to help our country see it's way through this difficult time, to those sounding the alarm to bring our boys home, just remember: The enemy is still out there. They will not stop until one of us are gone. Until we become a nation without concern for anyone else but ourselves, they will continue to find ways to attack. We all may not want the responsibility of being the world's police, but it is a responsibility we are stuck with until we decide to no longer take the responsibility. If we pull out now, our troops would have died for nothing. Our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters who bled in the sand thousands of miles away will have died in vain. they will have died in vain because as a nation, we would have failed them because we cannot agree, and we cannot pull together.
We are at war with an enemy, whether we as people asked for it or not. It was thrust upon us by ignorant cowards and we cannot back down. We must press on and continue to attempt to rid the planet of this disease known as terrorism. This will not be a quick process, as the last decade has shown us. Show some unity for our nation and the troops still putting boots on the ground for our safety. September 11th should not be the only day we pull together as a nation and set aside differences. Memories of 9/11 should burn inside of us every day, like an eternal flame that will never be extinguished.
The following is a personal message to all of those who think we should just pull our troops out of the Middle East theater of operations because "We've been there too long, and nothing is happening."
On a warm Tuesday in September 2001 our worlds were turned upside down by a group of men who would rather kill thousands of innocent people through cowardice, than stand toe to toe with the men and women sworn to defend their home, family, and nation. These are the same types that would rather blow themselves up in the middle of a busy market place, or plant a car bomb in the middle of a residential area. These are not conventional enemies. They have no uniform, no unit, only a distorted message of hate told to them by even bigger cowards in a mosque somewhere.
To those who think we should be nicer to them, to those that think we are still the aggressors, to those who feel that we as a nation are still at fault, imagine this for a second, these people are the enemy. Since G.W. Bush was in office, we have maintained a detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. This is where high profile detainees were brought to be interrogated so that maybe one day we could eradicate the terrorists who want to see America burn alive. Random idiots walking the street do not get sent to Gitmo. These are people who have extensive knowledge of terrorist networks, people who are one with the enemy.
Everyone is up in arms about the "acts of torture" performed on these high profile detainees. Saying it is un-American, saying it's illegal, saying it's inhuman. Know this, keeping them awake for long periods of time, waterboarding them, possible small voltage electroctuion is far easier on them than anything they would do to us. They get three meals a day, a right to practice their religion, and a bed with a roof over their head. That is a vacation for them. If the shoe was on the other foot, they would torture us, behead us, disembowel us, tie us behind a truck, drag our corpse through the streets, and hang us from a bridge to rot for everyone to see. They would video tape the whole thing and give it to al-Jazeera, who would promptly put it on primetime news to feed the rest of the Middle East with a sense of pride.
These people do not deserve to be treated as equals. They should not be treated as we would treat each other, nor should they be treated like we would treat POW's from a legitimate enemy. They deserve to be tied to a chair and be forced to watch someone execute their entire family. They deserve to be tortured. They deserve to be terminated with EXTREME predjudice. These people are not human beings. Unfortunately, our nation has been burdened with the responsibility of babysitting the rest of the planet for some time now. So this equal treatment will never happen.
To those of you who don't have the inner fortitude and patience to help our country see it's way through this difficult time, to those sounding the alarm to bring our boys home, just remember: The enemy is still out there. They will not stop until one of us are gone. Until we become a nation without concern for anyone else but ourselves, they will continue to find ways to attack. We all may not want the responsibility of being the world's police, but it is a responsibility we are stuck with until we decide to no longer take the responsibility. If we pull out now, our troops would have died for nothing. Our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters who bled in the sand thousands of miles away will have died in vain. they will have died in vain because as a nation, we would have failed them because we cannot agree, and we cannot pull together.
We are at war with an enemy, whether we as people asked for it or not. It was thrust upon us by ignorant cowards and we cannot back down. We must press on and continue to attempt to rid the planet of this disease known as terrorism. This will not be a quick process, as the last decade has shown us. Show some unity for our nation and the troops still putting boots on the ground for our safety. September 11th should not be the only day we pull together as a nation and set aside differences. Memories of 9/11 should burn inside of us every day, like an eternal flame that will never be extinguished.