July 19, 2006
9/11 was, for the families of all those lost, a tragedy few can fathom. For this country it was a wake up call, but for the world it was a slap in the face. The world had turned a blind eye to religious hatred — the use of religion as an excuse to kill, the use of some nation states to hide behind their religions as an excuse to wage war. 9/11 should have stripped those falsehoods away, but it did not. What we should have understood was that World War III had, in effect, begun. What we are seeing today in Israel and Lebanon is this war being fought on a different battlefield, but against the same Islamic fascists and terrorist killers who attacked us over four years ago.
The Israelis have never forgotten the face of terror, and the Lebanese never even tried. Hezbollah was allowed to not only stay in southern Lebanon, but also to gain strength, get valuable training and equipment from Iran, and plan and prepare for what we have been witnessing for the past week.
Hamas, an obvious terrorist organization, was somehow elected to run the Palestinian Authority. Hamas then kidnapped a soldier from Israel and killed two others. Hezbollah, the same Hezbollah that killed over 240 great Marines in 1983 in Lebanon, saw how "the worm turns," then kidnapped two other soldiers. Israel said enough — the rest, as they say, is being seen on FOX News for all to view.
Now we hear many suggesting that Israel is going too far. Hey people, wake up and smell the terrorists! There are very bad people trying to kill us all. Our friends in Israel need our help, our support, our love, not our condemnation. We need Israel as our friend, it is a country of fierce fighters and better friends. This friendship is painful at times, but we still need them.
In the next few weeks the United States is going to have to "crap or get off the pot" with Israel. We are still the leaders of the free world, and we are going to have to lead. Syria and Iran have to be made to understand that their support of terrorists will not stand. Israel must get its soldiers back; Hezbollah and Hamas must be destroyed or made to understand the price they will pay every time they harm Israel. However, their elimination should not destroy all of Lebanon at the same time.
The United States Of America must lead while fully supporting Israel. At the same time, we must get the rest of the world's attention to deal directly with what caused this: terrorism, and states that support the terrorists. We are in World War III, and this is, tragically, just another battle in a greater war. We're seeing the face of terror, and even if we do not like it, we must deal with it.
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