I’m certain every one of us knows
of the current attack on America. The
entire nation has been glued to this drastic change in the way we view the
world. I first would like to mention,
that I, as well as millions of others, do not condone the acts of terrorism
committed. But honestly, I must say
this is something our country so desperately needed. I am not saying we deserve this, because we don’t deserve this,
but this incident can only make us as a nation stronger. The first topic I must address is the
ignorance of the American people. As I
sat and watched the news, I heard testimonies of people. They said they couldn’t believe someone
would do this to our country. These
people are obviously not in tune to our standing internationally. The United States is not the most popular
country in the world, contrary to what we all like to think. Many countries do not see us as a country
that lends a helping hand, but as an imperialist giant who intervenes and
attempts to belittle their sovereignty.
This is indeed an eye-opener to the entire nation and we know have
clear-cut proof that we are not loved by all.
On a much brighter note, though,
for the first time in our life I have heard the term “We”. This small word holds amazing power in the
government. For once this is not a
bi-partisan squabble. As Americans, we
are all affected, regardless of political belief, age, race, color, sex, or
nationality. The only way for us to succeed
as a nation is to be united as a nation.
The only unfortunate thing is the fact that it takes ten of thousands of
deaths to make us realize it.
War, unfortunately in this case, is
inevitable. I for one do not, however,
condone war. But in this case, we are
dealing with terrorists, who are strongly in favor of their beliefs, and, as we
saw, more than willing to die for them.
Negotiations will not succeed with these people. They are not afraid to die for their
beliefs, because due to their beliefs they are considered holy to have died
fighting for them. All of our
government leaders have made it clear that we will retaliate. Hopefully, this retaliation will be calm and
not by the US solely. If by chance, the
terrorist are those lead by Bin Laden, we may be in for more than we know. Bin Laden is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. The same country that held off the USSR in
its prime, as many like to consider it, “The USSR’s Vietnam. We will need support from other countries,
primarily the Russian Federation, who it self is in turmoil. The one mistake we can’t make is by
comparing this to The Gulf War, and saying, “We’ll be out of there within the
matter of weeks”. This is much
different. In Kuwait we were fighting
on an open desert, where it is quite easy to see the enemy. Afghanistan is full of hills and woods,
which will make ambush attacks a big part of the fight. We must recall the Vietnam Conflict and
officials must learn from the mistakes we made there. Of course this is all under the assumption that Bin Laden’s group
are the terrorist.
I imagine we are all getting
somewhat tired of hearing philosophies and commentaries. So, I just want everyone to remember the
facts. We did lose thousands of
innocent American citizens on the eleventh of September and our country is now
threatened unlike any other situation we have faced. It is a time to unite and in order to pull through this we must
put our differences behind us and become the United Stated of America.
By Nathan
Purdue
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