As we remember the lives lost and sacrifices made on this tragic day, let us not forget the ongoing, persistent threat of Islamic terrorism against U.S. and Western interests around the world.
Our government, to their credit, has thwarted at least 21 large-scale terror attacks against Americans since 2001, including the most recent discovery by the FBI: planned attacks by a 39-year old North Carolina contractor and home-grown terrorist who converted to Islam and travelled to Pakistan to train for jihad.
We witnessed the violent bombings of a hotel complex in Mumbai, India last November, which resulted in the murder of 300 civilians including 5 Americans. This year, we witnessed the bombing of a hotel in Indonesia popular with westerners. And so the war on our values, our culture, our democracy, our entire way of life--continues.
With our faltering economy and the increasingly contentious debate about the government's takeover and intervention in healthcare and private industry, it is relatively easy to become disillusioned with our domestic problems and lose focus on the serious foreign policy threats we still face, from the emergence and mobilization of strengthened terror cells to the provocations of state supporters of terrorism like Iran. We live in a dangerous world that is increasingly destabilized and in the midst of major geopolitical power struggles among ever-changing nation states. We must therefore remain vigilant and always on the defensive.
9/11...We can and must never forget.
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