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humans have experience with leaders in their lives.
The first of those were our parents, and until recently that
role automatically fell to fathers. A few decades ago that
view was reinforced by a TV show called, Father Knows Best.
Therefore, in evaluating the spirit and character of
potential leaders, let us re-examine what we wanted and
valued in our parents, especially our fathers.
Wasn’t your father’s most important
duty to protect your life? The simple fact that you were
born, grew up, and are still alive, is your living testimony
to the successful labors of your parents, and your father.
Didn’t your father and mother play indispensable roles in
teaching you life saving skills from the day you took your
first steps? They taught you the meaning of Hot, to protect
you from fire and burns. Also Look both ways to learn safe
habits. Where did you learn to keep food clean to avoid
contamination and illness? Wasn’t it at home? Wasn’t it Mom
& Dad?
In just those three issues involving
personal safety, issues that we take for granted every day,
lie the acid test we can apply to the two candidates seeking
our vote.
Here is the full text of an e-mail that
has been circulating around the web, it originated from a
friend who’s family fled Europe ahead of Hitler’s blood bath
of Christians and Jews. You may have seen the e-mail before,
but even so, I feel it is worth another visit. The e-mail
message quotes a naval officer’s views of the war we are in,
which we did not start. He defines it as World War Three.
“You may have
seen this before and ignored the facts.
It did not start with 9/11.
It did not begin with the Bush Administration.
We did not start this chain of events.
Has nothing to do with faulty intelligence information
claims of various commissions.
WW III
Not very long, but very informative. You have to read the
catalogue of events in this brief piece. Then, ask yourself
how anyone can take the position that all we have to do is
bring our troops home from Iraq, sit back, reset the snooze
alarm, go back to sleep, and no one will ever bother us
again.
In case you missed it, World War III began in November
1979... that alarm has been ringing for years.
U.S. Navy Captain Ouimette is the Executive Officer at Naval
Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. Here is a copy of the
speech he gave last month. It is an accurate account of why
we are in so much trouble today and why this action is so
necessary.
AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP!
That's what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001
(When more than 3,000 Americans were killed) and maybe it
was, but I think it should have been "Get Out of Bed!" In
fact, I think the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979
and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll over
for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep since then.
It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going
through a religious and political upheaval when a group of
Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in
Tehran. This seizure was an outright attack on American
soil; it was an attack that held the world's most powerful
country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency. The attack on
this sovereign U. S. embassy set the stage for events to
follow for the next 23 years.
America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam
experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union
when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose
to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated
mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America's
inability to deal with terrorism.
America's military had been decimated and downsized/right
sized since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained,
poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on
to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.
Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be
kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America
could do little to protect her citizens living and working
abroad. The attacks against US soil continued. In April of
1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven
into the US Embassy compound in Beirut. When it explodes, it
kills 63 people.
The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button
once more.
Then just six short months later a large truck heavily laden
down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main
gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241
US servicemen are killed. America mourns her dead and hit
the Snooze Button once more.
Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with
explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and
America continues her slumber.
The following year, in September 1984, another van was
driven into the gate of the US Embassy in Beirut and America
slept. Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a
bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in
Madrid. Then in August a Volkswagen loaded with explosives
is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at
Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing
louder and louder as US interests are continually attacked.
Fifty-nine days later a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is
hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is
singled out of the passenger list and executed.
The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian
airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986
that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103
over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259. Clinton
treated these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still
trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of
war. The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder.
The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America. In
January 1993, two CIA agents are shot and killed as they
enter CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
The following
month, February 1993, a group of terrorists are arrested
after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the
underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New
York City. Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured.
Still this is a crime and not an act of war?
The Snooze alarm is depressed again.
Then in November
1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women.
A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb
explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroys the Khobar Towers, a US
Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500. The
terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that
America does not respond decisively.
They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous
attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. These
attacks were planned with precision.
They kill 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks
and goes back to sleep.
The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for
refueling on 12 October 2000, when a small craft pulled
along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors.
Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we (Read
President Clinton) sent the FBI to investigate the crime and
went back to sleep.
And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001. Most
Americans think this was the first attack against US soil or
in America. How wrong they are. America has been under a
constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze
alarm and roll over and go back to sleep.
In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from
every high officials in government over what they knew and
what they didn't know. But if you've read the papers and
paid a little attention I think you can see exactly what
they knew. You don't have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the
National Security Council to see the pattern that has been
developing since 1979.
The President is right on when he says we are engaged in a
war. I think we have been in a war for the past 23 years and
it will continue until we as a people decide enough is
enough. America needs to "Get out of Bed" and act decisively
now. America has been changed forever. We have to be ready
to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way of
life continues. We cannot afford to keep hitting the snooze
button again and again and roll over and go back to sleep.
After the attack
on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto said "...it seems all we
have done is awakened a sleeping giant." This is the message
we need to disseminate to terrorists around the world.
This is not a political thing to be hashed over in an
election year this is an AMERICAN thing.
This is about our Freedom and the Freedom of our children in
years to come.
End of quoted e-mail. My
comments follow:
During this 23 year history
of America being under attack, Senator Kerry voted against
every improvement in American military capability.
When the World Trade Center
went down, President Bush wisely saw the need to again
awaken the sleeping giant that rose up to destroy Germany,
Italy and Japan and lead the world to victory in WWII. Who
is the sleeping giant? We, the common men and women of
America. By our votes in November, we must shout a new
mantra.
We’re at War, stupid, fight, win! Those six words are My New ThinK for
August 2004.
Poppa Kelly, father of five,
grandfather of 13.
To learn more about Poppa Kelly
please review his
initial article
- Thank you!
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