September 11, 2001 - A Day of Infamy

by Richard Lowe

As I drove to work this morning I turned on the radio as usual, and heard the announcer talking about a major fire in one tower of the World Trade Center in New York. They were interviewing a fireman who was informing us as to how difficult it would be to put out this kind of fire. I soon found out that an airplane had crashed into the side of the building.

As the man talked he was interrupted by a horrified announcer - a second plane had crashed into the second tower of the World Trade Center. The world watched in horror as, on live television, a plane blew through one side of the building and flames jetted out hundreds of feet. By the time I arrived at work, the first tower had collapsed.

I rushed into the office to discover this was a major terrorist attack. Three targets had been hit - both towers of the World Trade Center and a substantial portion of the the Pentagon had ceased to exist. There were reports of a forth attack, a crash, a car bomb and dozens of other stories of incredible violence flying around the news. It was terrifying, horrible and without doubt one of the worst things that I have ever seen.

What has happened? A small army of terrorists, the forces of evil, have taken their war to the shores of the United States. They have struck a blow typical of all cowards - they have convinced simple-minded, easily manipulated people of the necessity to kill thousands or even tens of thousands of innocent human beings. They have caused mindless destruction in the name of their cause. These are the forces of chaos, and make absolutely no mistake about it - today we have seen the effects of pure, evil unmasked.

What is a terrorist? This is a special brand of scum. They are not fit to be called human beings, and I would not call them animals as that would be degrading those other beings that share our planet with us. Terrorists are the kind of scum that even drug dealers and hardened criminals would not want to be associated with. 

Why didn't the United States see this coming? The people of the United States are, for the most part, civilized, good human beings. It can be very difficult for a good being to recognize evil in the first place, and it can be virtually impossible for any of us to understand to what this kind of scum is capable of.

We in the United States have our shortcomings. We don't always do the right thing, and sometimes we do some pretty silly things, but overall, we are a good and caring people who genuinely want to see the rest of the planet do well.

What should the United States do now? First of all, we need to understand that this attack came from a small group of evil creatures. These creatures do not deserve mercy as they are not civilized in any definition of the word. 

It also needs to be understood that we MUST REMAIN CIVILIZED. We are not barbarians, we are good human beings. We do not need to needlessly strike out at innocents without cause. 

We must and we will strike back. However, we must be absolutely sure that we strike intelligently and with the precision of a surgeon who knows exactly what manner of cancerous tumor he is removing. It is our right to defend ourselves, and it is our right to demand and establish justice - it is our duty to ensure that justice is indeed served properly and in good time.

One critical goal of this attack was to destroy some of the symbols of American power. The biggest symbol is the World Trade Center.

We MUST rebuild the twin towers, grander and more beautiful than ever before. We must clean up the damage, plan a new set of towers, and get them reconstructed as fast as possible. The towers must be rebuilt to show these uncivilized sub-human beings that they cannot do permanent damage.

We MUST identify, with certainty, who is responsible for this attack, and we must do it quickly. The United States spends billions or even tens of billions of dollars every year on intelligence - every single piece must be turned towards finding the culprits.

Once we do identify, with certainty, the responsible parties, they must be destroyed, without mercy and without delay. It is imperative that evil not be tolerated when it has unmasked itself for all to see.

Most important of all, we must now understand that we are at war with these terrorists. We are at war and we must act as if we are at war. All of our military power must be channeled towards finding these creatures and taking them out. Fast.

Finally, we MUST NOT allow evil to corrupt our basic good. We must continue to hold out our hand to the rest of the world. We must continue to help establish order on the planet. And we must not harm innocents in our search for the guilty.