9-11 Part 6

For nearly the past two weeks, America has stood united in it's grief and pain over the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC. For two weeks we have given supplies, blood, money and time to assist not only the victims of the attacks, but also those who have the task of sifting through the rubble of two 110 story buildings. Anyone here in Indianapolis who has seen the rubble pile left over from the implosion of Market Square Arena knows how big of a pile that was. And that was one 11-story structure mainly filled with empty space.

For two weeks, everyone in the world it seems has denounced the attacks and called for an end to terrorism worldwide. But at that point seems to be where we start to see divisions in the union.

The US has commenced sending warplanes and ships to locations near Afghanistan and it seems that some military action is forthcoming. Or is it? Personally, I do not feel a war from the air or missiles fires from ships against a largely American hating, yet innocent population will achieve anything other than more terrorist attacks here and abroad. Why? Simply because dropping bombs and firing missiles are not going to achieve the desired goal. In this case, the end of terrorism, or at least that's what the President says and frankly I believe him. To be successful in the fight against terrorism we must tighten our security systems here and wherever Americans are in the world. Then we must, through intelligence gathering and covert operations systematically start to catch those responsible for the terrorism and bring them to justice. It can be done and we have to do it. Killing innocent Afghani people will not endear the US to any other country in the world and it damn sure will not unite Americans. W has shown great patience in my view up to this point. Perhaps he felt that moving the military into position to strike at Afghanistan would persuade them to produce Osama bin Laden. It didn't work. I think we all need to pray for the President as he faces what is probably the biggest decision a President has had to make since Vietnam. We didn't win that war and many brave and heroic men who fought in that war came home pariahs. We have been a country very divided since that time. Haste in this crucial hour will destroy the unity the country has built the last couple of weeks. A unity we may never again see.