9/11 Why We Fight Analysis

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Why we fight By Mark Alexander · Friday, September 8, 2006 Five years ago, we Americans awoke to the horrifying reality that -- like it or not, accept it or not -- our nation was at war with a terrifying and mysterious enemy. Significantly, it was a group of ordinary Americans who launched the first counteroffensive in this new war. They, of course, were the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, and they were led in their charge by the battle cry of Todd Beamer: "Let's roll!" Having been made aware of the World Trade Center attacks via cell-phone communications with their loved ones, the men of Flight 93 acted swiftly and surely -- and they died as free men in defense of their beloved country. In the weeks preceding this five-year…show more content…
Indeed, the movement has grown to such an extent that it has produced the Journal of 9/11 Studies under a veneer of scholarly respectability. The picture abroad is little better. Only this week, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin ran up the white flag, rejecting any talk of a "war on terror," much less a war on Islamic fascism. "We will only end this curse," he said, "if we also fight against injustice, violence and these crises." Thanks to the likes of de Villepin and Reid, we now not only fight Muslim fascism abroad but also defeatism at home and throughout the West. As we've stated before, we should call political opportunists such as Reid, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi precisely what they are: Traitors. In stark contrast to the words of these scoundrels, the actions of Todd Beamer and his comrades on Flight 93 live on in our nation's commitment to defeat this jihadist scourge. Just this week, the administration released its revised National Strategy for Combating Terrorism, a document that details how our actions adapt as the war…show more content…
The distinction is more than merely rhetorical. For all our necessary emphasis on what we're fighting -- Islamic terrorists bent on the destruction of the West and the establishment of a new caliphate -- we cannot forget what we're fighting for. In March of 2003, the president and a bipartisan congress insisted we needed to invade Iraq in order to thwart Saddam's plans to develop WMD and outsource it to Jihadi surrogates. The nuclear WMD risk was, and remains, a perilous impending threat, though significantly reduced with the removal of Saddam's regime. But seasoned intelligence and national security analysts would argue that our ultimate objective -- to establish an Islamic democracy in the cradle of the Islamic world in order to protect our vital national interests -- is as critical, if not more so today, as it was in 2003. The United States of America is the last best hope of Western civilization, and we fight because we know our way of life is worth defending to the last man. As we reflect back upon the events of September 11, 2001, let us humbly remind ourselves why it is that we fight. Let us remember that no great civilization is defeated from without until it is first defeated from
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