Sowing the Seeds for Terrorism in America

If you were to ask any of our country's recognized experts in national security, either actively serving or recently retired, if the United States is likely to see another terrorist attack on its soil similar to 9-11, the vast majority would tell you that it is not a matter of "if" but "when" such an attack will happen.

A few such voices expressed that concern soon after the carnage at the World Trade Center and Pentagon. They said so just as the Bush Administration took Herculean efforts to create the Department of Homeland Security, establish a terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and launch the invasions of the second Iraq War and Afghanistan. They were fueled by the fear that Saddam Hussein might be developing crude weapons of mass destruction at the worst or be building terrorist training camps for future attacks at the least. Although WMD's were never found in Iraq, the point is still made that terrorists would absolutely seek to possess them and use them if it were possible. The current fear is that if the government of Pakistan falls because our efforts in Afghanistan fail then the likelihood of terrorists obtaining such weapons is almost certain. Since 9-11, our intelligence activities and defense organizations have intercepted several plots to perform terrorist activities and arrested some individuals attempting to again use commercial airplanes as instruments of destruction. But our ability to obtain such information and sustain such defenses has been seriously damaged.

Since the election of Barack Obama, we have de-classified the procedures used to detect terrorists before they can act and we are in the process of closing the only safe and secure location to isolate high value suspects outside of our borders. On top of this we have shown only weakness in dealing with terrorist states like North Korea and Iran by simply attempting to appease them or to substitute endless talks for their continued advances toward greater threatening capabilities.

At the time of the 9-11 attacks the nation was at a peak of economic strength which continued until mid 2006 when the current economic depression began that is now affecting so many Americans. But in April of 2003, only 19 months after the 9-11 attacks, a new young country-western singer rose to national
popularity with his song "Have You Forgotten?" Daryl Worley captured a key
ingredient to the long term success of any terrorist organization: the loss of a national will to defend itself. In 2003 Americans were already shifting their focus from the sacrifices necessary to ensure our future defenses. Once the current economic downturn took hold in 2008 the nation's rallying cry had changed to "It's the economy, stupid!" despite the threats posed by global terrorism.

Just as Lot's wife looked back with a longing for her former easy life while ignoring the impending destruction that soon awaited her, Americans have again forgotten the higher priorities that ensure the survival of our nation and prefer to look back toward the "good old days" while ignoring the warnings of 9-11.

All Americans bear a general level of responsibility for these misplaced priorities. At another time President Harry Truman asserted the responsibility of his office by saying that "the buck stops here." Unfortunately that only works for America's good when the office holder maintains an American perspective to issues and seeks an American solution. Barack Obama does neither. He does not have a traditional American world view, but interestingly as a liberal, he still thinks that countries and peoples of the world will respond positively to us because he comes across as "a nice guy" and wants others to assume that "we won't hurt them if they don't hurt us." This approach reveals a totally naive mentality and one that is completely out-of-place in foreign relations. There is nothing at all in this kind of performance that will restrict our enemies from inflicting harm upon us any way they can if given an opportunity.

Just as the terrorists of 9-11 exploited existing weaknesses in our intelligence and defense networks for several years prior while training for their attack, the conditions now are ripe for another terror scenario to eventually unfold. The
seeds of the next terror plot have been planted and they are growing now in
American soil.

We need to harvest these weeds and burn them before they multiply, but instead our current policies are watering and fertilizing them to grow larger.
Our founding fathers envisioned that the government's first priority was to defend itself against enemies foreign and domestic. They knew that a limited federal government was most likely to succeed in this task rather than one which was
bloated and scattered to dozens and dozens of countless priorities. Our citizens are distracted and inclined to short-term issues rather than having a sense of the whole as it applies to our country. We seek a personalized health plan than places most of its burden on others and we appear to support a system of wealth distribution based on socialist principles rather than wealth creation based on free-enterprise. And all this before we take care of job one which is to ensure the safety and survival of our citizens. We have lost our national vision and focus.

Knowing the television and entertainment industry as I do, perhaps now would be the time for Daryl Worley to come out with a sequel to his first album and
entitle it "Why Have You Forgotten?" Surely our memories will be reminded
when the seeds of terrorism grow to produce the next national disaster in America. It is only a matter of time, and sadly, it is also avoidable and preventable, but only with American leadership applying American values and principles to our problems. I don't see any of those characteristics in our current President and only in a minority of our Congress. I wish it were not so, but it appears that once again if we do not learn the tragic lessons of our history we will be condemned to re-experience them.