Back on the night of September 11th, 2001, I wrote an essay. I didn’t have a blog back then, but I still felt I had to express my thoughts. Now that I have a blog, I might as well put out the essay exactly as I wrote it back then:
September 11, 2001. It won’t sink in for days. When things change this quickly, it will take a good amount of time for the mind to catch up. But, when the dust settles, our world will be forever changed.
Our first priority is to recover. There are thousands injured, and it is up to everyone to do their part, to donate blood, money, or whatever is needed. We need to restore as much normalcy as we can as quickly as possible. Our enemies are gloating at the disarray they caused, so we to show strength by simply getting back to our business unhindered. But, make no mistake; it will not be business usual. Not now.
Once shock subsides, anger is sure to replace it. It’s not a emotion well suited for decision making, but it is unavoidable at this time. Efforts to subside it will be futile, but it can be directed.
I’ve already heard plenty of people decrying the abilities of our intelligence community, how they should have seen this coming. Intelligence probably does need improving, but this should in no way be the main focus. No matter how good we make our intelligence, we can’t always prevent something like this. The only way is to remove any desire to commit acts of terror.
It’s seems hard to rationalize with people who would do something like this. They poke a tiger with a sharp stick and somehow expect some good to come of it. But our actions can put this in simple unmistakable terms. Our response to this must convince all those who witness it that acts of terror will do nothing but herald the perpetrators destruction. To simply apprehend and arrest those involved is not enough at this point. Those who hijacked the planes were not the only terrorists who committed suicide with today’s actions.
It’s a terrible thing to call for vengeance, but if our response falls even slightly short, we will only encourage more acts like this. We must take the terror to the terrorists, hunting down all we can find and punishing anyone who would harbor them to the point that a country would fear even the possibility of terrorists resting in their borders.
It will be easy to overdo our response, to add to the evil, but it is war. We will have to make decisions of life and death that lie beyond the wisdom of man. We just have to pray to God to lead us in our action to as good a solution as exists. It was a dark day today, and it will be dark for some time to come.
Well said, Frank…well said…
Well said Frank. Thanks.
Very well thought-out, and eeriely accurate.
Two thumbs up.
good job frank
That was as fine an essay as anything i’ve read at NRO today.
Excellent.
I’m sorry, but you reap what you sow. And even if it was planned and carried out by Islamic terrorists all the way (in case of which i don’t condone it, but of which I’m not at all sure), it should make the american people rethink their role in the world. Already you are facing a difficult situation in Iraq in terms of casualties and limited amount of troops available and therefore asking the help of basically the French pricks, communist China and corrupt Russia. Now, of course they love the present situation where the US has to clean up the mess they themselves created. And they are going to come along eventually, when they’ve squeezed enough concessions out of you.
And if you look closely, at present in Iraq, the only “allies” the US has are nations that stand to gain something from the campaign. The brits are pushing this “special relations” thing, Poland is basically sucking up tp you – hoping to shift the power epicenter of europe a little to the north-east, with your help and support of course and they are also a new NATO member so they need to show themselves. And Australia – I’m sorry to say but Australia with it’s 15 million people just DESPERATELY needs you against those 200 million rather unstable Indonesians right next to them. I myself am coming from a country that also has troops in Iraq and supports the government, but popular support for this is meek. As it is all over the world, including among other major allied nations. Fulfillment of Brzezinskis plan (of US domination in the long run) is looking mighty questionable right about now.
Hey Dinah Might, I hope that when you walk down the street sometime and nobody else is around, that an empty airplane drops out of the sky and kills you.
Dinah Might, Courage is not looking to ones left and right to see who is with them if they decide to make a stand. It is deciding to stand based on conviction inspite of who is with you or against you that makes courage. You say that those who are involved in Iraq are there because of self-interest. Well that may be the case, but it is also true for those who are not there. Russia is owed billion for the arms they sold Iraq, those Arms have killed more Muslims than anything the West has done. France blackmailed Iraq into giving them discount level oil Contracts and if Saddam fell, those contracts most likely would not be honored. Germany fears that the true nature of their involvement in Iraq’s development of WMD may be revealed. It kind of makes Our incentive, that being security, freedom, and a beachhead in the war on Terror, seem much less self-interested and more based on global security don’t you think? That also includes security for your backwater country.
By the way, Great essay Frank!
What a despicably low notion it is, Dinah, to believe that thousands of innocent husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, friends and children deserved to be murdered in such a brutally heinous fashion simply because you don’t agree with the way we do things. How nice it must be to sit in your lofty tower and throw stones at those who protect your right to sit there. (That’s that “global security” thing lawman was talking about.)
Another great post, Frank.
edit Make that “lawguy”. Sorry.
Frank, you hit it right on the head, on the very first day of this war. It took me a few days longer. But now the rage and the resolve fuels my every waking moment.
Hope the wedding festivities are going fabulously. Don’t worry, Chomps has everything under control here.
Nuke the moon, but save a couple for Saudi Arabia and other… friends. Cuz “friends” or not, some countries just need kill’n.
Okay, I admit, I’m not really that angry, I just want to steal their oil.
Then I want their wimmin. Just don’t tell my wife.
This is what I wrote for this Sept.:
To those brought these events to pass,
we will bring to pass that which you least want –
We will bring freedom to every person,
in every nation, in every corner of this Earth.
Your daughters will have Barbie(r) Dolls and Levis(r).
Your sons will be educated and help free others.
From your seed, we will grow an olive branch.
Your actions have killed thousands, ours will free billions.
– HySpeed
Dinah Might, please give examples of how our role in the world gives someone permission to murder thousands of civilians. The only reason we are targets is because we support Israel. That’s it, period. All the other “reasons” are just an attempt to justify the actions of terrorists, and their supporters like yourself.
I’m a military man, having served over 20 years in the US Army. I understood fully that at some point in time, I may become a target. Hell, I WAS a target numerous times. In Germany from the Baader-Meinhof gang, Greece from the November 17 terrorist group, and the First Gulf War, where I was busy shooting down SCUDs in Riyadh. I knew the risks, and I accepted them. It’s part of the job description.
No one in the World Trade Center had any of the above in their job description. Of course, it’s only terrorism if innocents are killed at random anyway. God forbid they attack anyone who can fight back.
Thanks for the great essay Mr. J. Don’t get too drunk at the reception. If you do, remember to only hit on the women without rings. It’s safer that way.
Frank – Nice essay. Prescient, in fact.
Jon – Love that poem. I’m gonna post that on my blog. Is there an URL that I can point to?
Dinah – I don’t feed trolls
Dinah Might, you are either a gullible fool or a despicable liar. Your conditional disapproval is evidence of your utter moral vacuity. You do approve of the attacks; you simply cloak it in poisonous, hypocritical relativism. My only regret about the lives and treasure that we are expending (and I grieve daily for those lost courtesy of these unspeakable madmen), is that people of your ilk benefit from our efforts.
Frank, a moving essay. After two years, I see nothing in it needing change. Thank you, sir.
Dinah Might, I ask Jesus nightly to kill you.
commie felcher.
Dinah, don’t be so smug about the security of your country. Indonesia has the population, natural resources, and imperialistic mentality to pose a threat to Australia. The only thing missing is a tyrant who focuses on stirring up the people to deal with the American-loving infidels to the south instead of using his office to enrich himself (as did Suharto). And if that happens, we will probably rush to the defense of our Australian friends.
Frank, excellent job, as usual. Your commentary from the archives demonstrates that you had the touch even during the primeval pre-blog phase of your life.
Rustmeister – I totally disagree with you! …Frank should get f’ing blasted! ;->
My advice to Joe foo would be to enjoy your own wedding. I’ve seen too many people be too stressed at their reception – that’s such a waste of good booze!
Nice post Frank.
with the blinding clarity of hindsight…great post Frank!
Well done Frank.
Good essay. I do remember the anger. There were a good number of people talking about using nukes. One of my friends talked about it seriously, though that faded with the immediate anger.
Of course, the incident had so much to do with America’s place in the world, and how we respond to these things. Yes, the U.S. is at the top of the food chain for the moment. Yes, we certainly can be pushy. I don’t agree with all the things that have been done since 9/11.
But. What if the USSR had won the cold war? You could just forget ANY concept of freedom of speech or religion. You wouldn’t hear news unless it suited their purpose, there wouldn’t be any argument about the proper religion — it would be practiced in secret at best. In a few decades it would be largely stamped out. If they had taken over — and make no mistake, if they won, they WOULD NOT HAVE STOPED until they had complete control of the world — there wouldn’t be anybody left on the outside to keep the old ideas alive. I would prefer that we generally took a more “hands off” approach to other countries — with the understanding that we expect that to be reciprocated — but things could have turned out a lot worse: A Nazi/Japanese Empire run world, a USSR/Communist China run world, or a radioactive wasteland world.
And, what if Russia or China had been attacked this way? I don’t think that was ever considered. Treatment of prisoners? What prisoners? Well, they would probably have been kept for a while, long enough for a bit of torture. We were attacked because they didn’t expect this kind of retribution from US. Hopefully they got the message this time. I doubt even we would be this nice next time around.
I remember in the weeks after September 11th arguing with people on message boards about what an appropriate response would be. I remember in particular one person saying, “When we are finished, Arabic will be spoken only in hell.” I remember feeling concerned that that would be America’s response, and that World War III would pit America against pretty much the whole Middle East except for Israel.
As it turns out, my concerns were wrong, and I’m very glad about that. I’m especially proud of how Bush managed to keep world opinion, and especially much of the Middle East, in our favor by repeatedly pointing out that this is a war on terrorism, not a war on Islam. I’m glad that we have destroyed (or at the very least seriously damaged) the power of Osama bin Laden as a terrorist organizer. Yes, many terrorists will still be loyal to him (if he is still alive) — but what government is going to publicly associate itself with him, after what we did in Afghanistan? And what dictator is going to feel secure, after seeing how we were willing to take out Saddam Hussein?
Now I look at North Korea, and I see how we’re trying to get China to agree with us that Kim is a dangerous lunatic and needs to be stopped. And I look at people I know who have told me they intend to vote against Bush in 2004 because they don’t like where his foreign policy will lead us, and I think, “Dang. I have got to get them to get their heads out of the sand.” We need Bush, or someone with the same foreign-policy ideas, in 2004.
I’m not a Republican per se. I’ll vote for whoever I think has the right ideas on how to run the country, whatever their party. Right now, though, it looks like I’m going to be voting Republican for a good long time…
BTW, the person who said “When we are finished, Arabic will be spoken only in hell” did not mean that comment. At the time, I was very worried about him, but as I’ve gotten to know his opinions better over time, I’ve realised that he was speaking in anger at the time. He does believe that a strong military response was very necessary, and it’s looking to me like he was absolutely right.
I’ll get the nitpicking out of the way first:
I think we’re pushing 20 million now. And yes, the region would be better off if we wiped out Indonesia. Maybe they have oil!
Frank: Great post. That’s all that can really be said without repeating what everyone else has already said.
Yes, you can use it as you wish.
No, I have no link for you.
But I bookmarked your site. 🙂
Good job there.
I wrote sth in blog as well…do u mind take a look at it?
Great job Frank
just thought i should point out that you can get an even more powerful feeling if you click on your link to read Isaac Asimov’s National Anthem page right after you read your essay.
great post!
“Damn you frank”
-Bill Whittle
A masterpiece if ever I have read one.
efc!
Jon – I posted your poem:
http://radio.weblogs.com/0126975/2003/09/13.html#a372
and offered some free advice.
The fallacy of moral relativism
Anybody with half a brain and the will to use it want to see something that will tick you off? It’s this comment posted on Frank’s 9-11 piece: I’m sorry, but you reap what you sow. And even if it was planned and carried out by Islamic terrorists all th…
Of all of the ‘vices’ in the world “ad-vice” is the worst. 🙂 Thanks. I’m moving in that direction.
Looking back
Probably one of the very few non-satirical posts you will ever see at IMAO: It’s a terrible thing to call for vengeance, but if our response falls even slightly short, we will only encourage more acts like this. We must…
Looking back
Probably one of the very few non-satirical posts you will ever see at IMAO: It’s a terrible thing to call for vengeance, but if our response falls even slightly short, we will only encourage more acts like this. We must…