It is not an easy job being the beacon of light for the free world, but somebody’s gotta do it. While most countries understand and recognize America’s role as the king of the geographical jungle, some are actually resentful and misanthropically envious of our coveted position. On September 11th, our way of life was threatened. We must show the terrorists that we Americans will do anything to keep them from threatening our way of life and from tarnishing the message of the now omnipresent Old Glory. If this means infringing on our freedoms, limiting our liberties, and disrupting our Democracy, then so be it in the name of our way of life.
As long as they don’t take away my right to hang the American flag from my window, I am happy. Wiretapping and surveillance is a small price to pay for democracy. Our government will just be like a big brother looking out for us. If the government’s inspection of our computers, checking of our emails, and searching of our houses will help fight the war against terror, then far be it from me to stop them. Civil liberties are a petty concern during a crisis like this. If Arab-Americans feel inconvenienced and unlawfully targeted when they are pulled over and searched on the highway, maybe they should consider moving to Kabul. Even if I did disagree with some of the actions America has taken, would I not be aligning myself with these anti-American rogue nations by dissenting? One must never offer diverging opinions when the spirit of democracy is at stake.
With our recent retaliatory bombings of Afghanistan, we have continued on a beneficial path of counter-terrorism. In the past, we have bravely taken on the initiative of stopping terrorism before it occurs. This was our policy in 1986, when we stopped terrorism in Libya by bombing and killing approximately 20 people. We didn’t nail Qadaffi, but we did successfully take out his baby daughter. Though the United Nations may have frowned upon our “unlawful use of force,” we did an equally good job in our attacks against Nicaragua the same year. More recently, in 1998, Sudan’s largest pharmaceutical factory was the target of our counter-terrorism. True, it was medication for treatable diseases like malaria and tuberculosis that were being produced, not chemical weapons, and maybe the resulting death toll that reaches into the thousands, or even ten-thousands, depending on the source, is a little extreme, but now they will think twice about putting up any anthrax factories. Presently, we are doing a superb job of keeping down the terrorist element in Iraq. According to United Nations statistics, 1.6 million men, women, and children have died as a result of sanctions, causing an increase in both anti-American furor and pro-Hussein frenzy. This, however, is due punishment for the extreme human rights violations being committed in Iraq. Hussein is a madman who, in 1988, gassed and killed a Kurdish town. His own people. Strangely, it wasn’t until years later that we used this as justification for military action. In 1988, we strategically supported this monster against Iran, despite the horrors he committed.
Maybe more bombs dropped in Afghanistan will give these terrorists just what they want. Maybe these savages who were inspired by an evil masquerading as piety will love using the civilian deaths as further justification for “jihad.” Maybe we are simply causing more deaths, provoking more violence, and not making the world safer for anyone. Maybe racial profiling and unfair treatment of Arab-Americans and the stripping of civil liberties of all Americans is sacrificing something more sacred than certain security. For the first time, our way of life is threatened, which can be both a good and bad thing. Maybe it is time to realize that the bombs bursting in air just give proof to the fact that they will provoke more bombs and more death. Let us look at these events and see how some parts of our way of life need to be changed, but let us defend to the death the freedoms and rights that America, as a concept, has always stood for.