September 11th has now several times become an important date in the history of the West versus the Muslim world. On September 11-12 of 1683, the Ottoman Caliphate made its last bid to finally take Vienna and open up the heart of Europe for its ever expanding conquests into Christendom. Due to the fractious nature of European politics, there was little in the way of support for the beleaguered Viennese available from their scheming and forever bickering European neighbors.

The Ottomans counted on this, knowing they could not successfully invade a united Europe. But Poland, traditionally enemies of Austrians, managed to bring a force to their aid, and with the largest cavalry charge in history sent the Muslim army fleeing Vienna, never to return. They had just been on the cusp of breaching the city, but were dealt such a blow that over the following centuries the Muslim occupation of significant portions of Europe gradually receded into what is now modern day Turkey.

The West had won its “final” war with Islam and greatly surpassed the Islamic world technologically to the point where no united Caliphate army could ever seriously threaten invasion again. And so the West forgot about it.

But Islamists did not. They merely changed tactics using a combination of terrorism to undermine the morale and determination of their enemies, and the original jihad of immigration which has its roots in the immigration from Mecca to Medina by Mohammad himself and his followers. To Islam, immigration is conquest.

Various terrorist attacks occurred in the latter part of the 20th century, but none quite accomplished what the Islamists intended: to send the great western powers flailing about in wars they could not truly win, demoralizing their people and draining their resources.

On September 11, 2001, the key terrorist attack finally happened that would accomplish this Islamic goal. Due to the heroism of the patriots on Flight 93, their full plans were not realized; however it was enough to bring the USA and their allies into multiple wars, shaking up the power structure of the Middle East and ultimately unshackling many of the Islamist who had been suppressed by dictators for years.

On September 11, 2012, Islamists attacked a US consulate in the city of Benghazi, Libya leaving the US Ambassador to Libya and three American agents dead. In the following years, ISIS, a group whose roots began in 1999, took vast amounts of territory in the war torn countries of Iraq and Syria and for the first time since the Ottoman Empire was dissolved, declared itself a Caliphate. The primary goal of all the previous terrorism was now realized.

But that will not be the end of it. There will be more September 11s to add to the history books, unfortunately. It is an important date to Islamists, and they understand the psychological impact of attacking the West on that date.

You will read all over the internet today about American resolve and how no matter what the terrorists do, we will still “rise up” from it. While our resolve is great and our people are exceptional, I ask rise up to do what?

There still seems to be reluctance, in general, among our people and especially our government to identify who the enemy truly is and what it is they want. Without that, we will never defeat them. How many times can a people be attacked and then rise back up, only to simply go on with their lives while their leaders throw yet another trillion dollars into misguided military campaigns?

I think the best way that we as Americans can honor those who died in attacks such as 9/11 is to really come to grips with who and what the enemy is, what they intend to accomplish, and find a way to stop them with the clarity of understanding them. Toppling regimes in the Middle East obviously doesn’t work. Simply bombing things does not work. Trying to be “nice” to Muslims does not work.

It is not the Islamic world that is confused, it is us. They do not fit into our understanding of how the world works. The West in general seeks to apply its own set of principles to these people, when those principles do not apply in reality. Their culture is at odds with ours and it seeks to dominate the planet.

I don’t have a solution, but simply “destroying ISIS” is not enough. You can’t destroy an ideology with the military. But we had better come up with a solution quickly, or the 9/11s will continue. I ask everyone to pray for the families of the victims of all terrorist attacks and to honor those lost in the fight against Islamists, but to also understand that we are Vienna of 1683.

The enemy is at the gates and the cavalry isn’t coming.

15 years ago today. It was an attack on American soil like no one living had ever seen. I was one of the “warbloggers” who started a blog soon after, feeling the need to get involved. So I made political posts with Aquaman references. Everyone can do something.

Times have changed. I’ve changed. But there’s still the belief that this is a great nation. There is something special about it. And the hope is there is a way for us to remember that without a huge tragedy.

Everyone seems so gloomy and depressed now, even though we continue to be a country with opportunity and ability like no one has ever had before. If we want to honor the dead and show our enemies, we need to reclaim the spirit we had after the attack on 9/11. The one where we knew that we are a nation who can take on any problem and any foe — people who are not going to get overthrown by their own angst and navel-gazing.

So whatever it is you do, put on a smile. Because you are in the greatest nation this world has ever seen. And kick some ass. Because that’s your duty.