Americans must agree to stand as one

Guest Commentary by Bob Boswell
September 10, 2006

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Five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the recent London airliner bomb plot shows that our enemy may understand us better than we do them. They only needed to knock down 10 airliners with 300 passengers each to match the body count of 9/11. They planned to knock down 50 planes. Imagine the effect on international business and tourism, much less the expense to prove that Karl Rove actually did it.

Our highly technological society is delicately balanced. Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott of the Starship Enterprise said it best, "The more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is to plug it up." We cannot protect our infrastructure because we make our money by being open for business.

The bad guys won't even need to kill us. They know that electro-magnetic pulse (or EMP) is caused by a nuclear explosion. A high altitude atomic blast could black out half the country, yet not kill a soul directly. Cars, lights, air conditioning, heat, clean water, phones, computers and TV-- all gone. Anything with a microchip will be permanently dead, including our economy.

Imagine people starving in the streets in a hundred cities and years putting the wheels back on. Islamists would put us back to their 12th century level of existence. Yet I can hear Ted Kennedy already: We cannot kill their people for a nonlethal attack.

The fanatics look at how we fret about world opinion and think us weak. I believe that we could easily bumble along and end up in World War III unless we change our tactics quickly.

World War III:It's been in our consciousness for 60 years since the Soviets blockaded East Berlin. We know what kind of hell that would be. These fanatics weren't alive in 1945 to see even Hiroshima, much less the awesome power we now keep in check.

The reality is if they set off a nuke here (or, God forbid, several) and kill a few hundred thousand innocents, we will demand revenge. Whatever president is in office, he (or she) will be forced by the American people to wipe the Middle East off the map. We are formidable when our backs are against the wall.

Why then do we insist on letting this insanity play itself out? Let's grow up. The very phrase, "war on terror" is a cop-out. We are at war with Islamist cults. They are suicidal fanatics. They have infiltrated the West brilliantly and use the very freedoms they despise against us. We need to deal honestly and harshly with this reality.

Maybe we are to blame. We, who can see the problem and yet let politicians lie about this to get re-elected. We, who buy Middle East oil and inadvertently fund their terrorists. We, who allow our corporations every conceivable tax benefit here, then let them deny their allegiance to America when it's convenient. We, who keep our heads down and hope "someone" will fix this.

Well, we are "someone." We could ride our bikes. Park our SUVs a few days a week. Vote for candidates who will deal with the oil, economy and security mess, and vote out pretenders who won't. I wonder how long Islam would fund the the Islamists if they had to eat their oil?

We aren't just one guy who can't make a difference. We are an army of free men and women who are maybe just a little too scared to fight. None of this will be easy or quick, but until we Americans agree to stand as one, we will never win the real war.

In the end, I believe the fanatics will be unable to control their hatred and we will be forced to take the fight to them. The real question is how badly do you need to see us hurt before we take off the gloves?

Ultimately, it's up to us to make sure that five years from now, 9/11 is still the worst terrorist attack in history.

Bob Boswell is a Greeley resident and a small-business owner in Evans.