September 11, 2001
The Awakening
by Joseph C. Hinson

What can I say about this day that hasn't already been said? It was a tragic, horrendous day to be an American, to be a freedom loving person anywhere. The event we never really thought would happen, one we could never have fathomed, has indeed happened. We were struck by terrorists. It's been more than six weeks since the planes were hijacked. I've been wanting to write about it while at the same time not wanting to write about it. As I said, what can I say about this day that hasn't already been said? Do you really care where I was when the first plane hit? Do you really care if I didn't think at that time that it was anything other than a terrible accident?

No, you don't care. In fact, I don't feel like wasting your time with that bullshit. I also don't want to glamourize or trivilialize everything that happened by ranting about it on some web site that no one really reads anyway. But at the same time I do feel compelled to address some issues that these events have raised and to also address some things that I have written about in the past on this site.

Our President

You don't have to look far back through my rants to realize I did not vote for George W. Bush. (Just a point of clarification: I did not vote for Al Gore either.) I did not think Bush was worthy of being the leader of the free world. I thought all he had going for him was a nice smile, a famous last name and the governorship of Texas. Not to mention an assload of money propping him up.

With that said, the man is doing a hell of a job. He has instilled a great deal of confidence in the American people about going on with their lives. He seems to be on the job 24/7. Who will soon forget the Friday after the attacks when he visited the World Trade Center devistation? He was talking through a loud speaker when one of the workers on the ground yelled out that he could not hear him. The president stopped and said, "I hear you, the American people hear you and one day the people who knocked down these buildings will hear from all of us."

I thought it was a defining time for our country and our president. It was a time to cheer amongst the chaos and destruction of the moment.

As I write this, we are still bombing Afghanistan. The war effort is still popular. But I feel at some point the American people are going to get antsy. Civilian deaths in Afghanistan and of our own military will be inevitable. We don't want them, but it will happen. It's a fact of war. Will we as a country be able to stomach that? I hope so. This is a good fight. It's one that needs to be fought.

"This Ain't No Vietnam"

In the days and weeks after 9/11, I would listen to Rush Limbaugh rail about the anti-war crowd. Apparently, a small group of people in Berkley, California protested any military action America may have been considering at the time. I couldn't understand why Limbaugh was bringing this up. First of all, the percentage of people against military action is such a miniscule number, it is almost non-existent. It also seems to be confined, in our country anyway, to California. The fact that Limbaugh was going on and on about the protests seemed to be nothing more than to divide us, something he has always done. In fact, it could be said to be his sole reason for going on the air everyday. He doesn't want a united America because it's not good for his ratings. He then used the analogy of Vietnam, which in his revisionist history, was a good and just war in spite of the far reaching critical dissent of many people of that time period.

But then I watched the John Lennon Tribute on TV. Apparently, this event was planned before the attacks of September. It was meant to be some kind of anti-gun rally. After 9/11, it became an all encompassing event paying homeage to the life and words of the former Beatle, a tribute to New York City and it's people and a chance for Kevin Spacey to prove -- or disprove -- his thought that he could sing.

Parts of it were just plain repugnant. The presenters (as Rush would say, the Hollywood Elite) couldn't come right out and say they were against military action, but that was the general feel of the night. Images from the show included Lennon giving the peace sign, of the John & Yoko "War Is Over If You Want It" billboards and, most sickening of all perhaps, the final chorus of the presenters and performers singing "All we are saying/is give peace a chance."

My point is that if Limbaugh shouldn't bring up the Vietnam era protesters, then the other side shouldn't either. There is no similarity between Vietnam and the War Against Terrorism. A lot of thinking people could not fathom why our boys were dying in alarming numbers fighting an immoral war halfway across the world. Sure, we were told it was about communism, but what had they done to us personally? Why did what was happening over there have any consequence in America? If you consider the fact that Cuba was and is a Communist country, one might conclude that Vietnam had nothing to do with America other than give the Military-Industrial Complex another war to rage.

In World War II we were attacked. That's the war we should compare this to. Not Vietnam. And I personally can not stand when either side makes this comparison. To anyone who still doesn't understand this, we gave peace a chance. It didn't work. Now we're going to kick some fucking ass.

Placing Blame

Of course, we all know that this is Bill Clinton's fault. Clinton practically flew one of those planes. I'm guessing he flew the one into the Pentagon since he was obviously anti military. In fact, had he not reduced our military as much as he did...

It would be great if we could point our finger at one person that allowed this to happen. We know who did it. Now if we could just pin-point the ONE PERSON who allowed it to happen. Unfortunately, that's too easy. Jerry Falwell tried to blame his enemies, the gays, the abortionists, the ACLU, basically anyone who doesn't agree with his doctrine. (He later apologized if anyone was offended, not for saying what he had said. Which is what all weak people do when they say something so repulsive as this. They apologize in such a way that the people they offended seem to come out looking like they were wrong for being offended.)

Robin Hayes, a Republican Congressman from Concord, North Carolina said on WBT (1110 AM and 99.3 out of Charlotte) that this would not have happened if Clinton had not restricted the intelligence communities ability to deal with shady characters in obtaining their information. He said this the afternoon of the attacks. I was appalled, not so much for what he said, but WHEN he said it. Apparently life gets back to normal quickly for our finest in Washington.

Now I could sit here and mention that George Bush's Secretary of Defense (that is the current president's father) is the one that started the reduction of the military forces. And who was George Bush's Secretary of Defense? Well, it was Dick Cheney, the current vice-president. I could also mention that during the Gulf War, it was Colin Powell who did want to go into Iraq and take out Saddam Hussein. Or that it was the current president's father who listened to that advice.

But what good does this do? It doesn't take away what happened. It doesn't alleviate any of the pain that the country feels. There will be a time when this has come to it's natural conclusion when we will have to take a good hard look at everything that happened. That point is not now. Not unless you are the clueless host of a talk radio show or one of his idiot dittoheads.

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