American Shining Moment

Get Liberty

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Last night, when the news of Osama Bin Laden's death was all the buzz, I remembered that bin Laden has been proclaimed dead eight times before. I wondered if this could possibly be a rumor, or a ruse by the Obama administration to fix his collapsing presidency. Then, today, while listening to the Angels' game against the Red Sox begin, the talk about the 9/11 day remembrances, a moment of silence, and the National Anthem by a high school band got to me.

The most notorious terrorist, and the guy behind the 9/11 attacks, has been caught and is dead. Obama decided to maintain Bush's policies, and because of that, the al-Qaeda leader is dead.

I remember when I visited Ground Zero in New York City a year after the terror attack. I stood looking through a rip in the green covering on the fence down at the big hole that once was where the twin towers stood. Down below, the subway tracks were twisted, and construction equipment sat silent.

A man approached me, noticed the tear in my eye. We got to talking. This day in October of 2002 was the first time he had returned to the site. On 9/11, he was running late to work. His job was in one of the World Trade Center towers. He watched the planes fly into those buildings from his car, realizing that among the thousands dead, had he not been running late that morning, he would also be among the slain.

I remember that on September 11, 2001 I was not in my normal vehicle. My truck had been in an accident at the hands of one of my crew, as I drove the big rig to the job site. So, I was driving a rental. The rental had a CD player, so instead of listening to the radio that morning as was normal fare, we listened to CDs. When we got to the construction job site, we were none the wiser about the events unfolding in New York City.

The work day progressed in its normal fashion. I swung my sledge hammer to pound the steel into the ground, snapped line, and operated the trencher. The heat of the day was nearly unbearable. A few hours into the day the machine experienced a breakdown, so we continued to lay out houses by pounding rebar into the ground, as the mechanic traveled to the job. When he got there, he asked, "Have you heard what happened?"

He explained what he knew. Something about planes flying into buildings in New York City. Nobody, at the time, knew what the deal was, but it seemed strange that two planes did it back to back.

I listened to the radio all the way home. Speculation pointed in all directions. When I walked up to my front door, the door was open and the television was on. The first image of the attack I saw was of the second plane flying into the second tower. The scene ripped at me. I shuddered. A tightness reached through my chest. I didn't know why I was responding so emotionally. "This was on purpose," I muttered. America was under attack.

Osama bin Laden's name suddenly became well known. I remembered hearing that name before, but before 9/11 the name was no more different than the others. Just another crazy person that used terrorism to make a statement. But after September 11, 2001, bin Laden's name became something more. His name became synonymous with what the worst terrorism had to offer. The war on terror was more than that. The war on terror was the war on Osama.

So, here we are, the day after finding out that Osama bin Laden is dead at the hands of American efforts. Of course Obama took credit. His speech said "I" and "my" more often than usual. Never mind that it was continuing George W. Bush's policies that led to this. Never mind the heroic efforts of our blessed military. As far as Obama is concerned, it was him that made it happen.

And the Democrats will use this all the way to election day.

The American voter is smarter than that. I am not worried.

But, what becomes of the war on terror? Does it continue?

Of course it does. Contrary to Obama's reiteration of Bush's claim about who we are at war with, the truth is that we are at war with the ideology of Islam. I don't hate the Muslims. They are simply deceived people who have fallen for a violent ideology that must be either destroyed, or reformed. We didn't hate the Germans, we were in it to stop Nazism. We didn't hate the Russians, we were in it to stop Communism. Now, it is time to stop Islamism. The war is not over. Osama bin Laden was just one of many madmen. Every Imam that spews the violence of Islamic teachings is another bin Laden.

The war is not over, and I have a feeling that the war will be brought back to us sometime soon. Retaliation is imminent.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary