Has America Forgotten?

by David Beamer

9/11 Family Member

We now have the distance of time since that horrific day in September. What are people thinking across the nation? Many Americans doubt a catastrophic attack could happen again. Others believe that a more "sensitive" foreign policy will cause terrorists to retire. Some even believe the US government orchestrated 9/11.

It is one thing to forget the meaning of the past but it is worse when this attitude blinds us to the dangers of the future. What is the reality? It could be called World War III. This enemy differs from those of prior wars. They have no state. They do not wear uniforms. They place no value on human life. The enemy is Radical Islam. And Radical Islamists are on a unified mission is to force the Western world to live according to Sharia, strict Islamic law. They will give you three choices: conversion, submission, or death.

This is the one way this war is similiar to others -- our enemy wants to replace our way of life with their own. This jihad is not just about changing our foreign policy. Make no mistake about it. Radical Islamists do not believe in civil liberties, religious freedom, or other basic human rights. In the eyes of this enemy, a society with a rule of law based upon Western values must either be converted or eliminated.

Terrorism against civilians is their most sickening and overt strategy. However, we must recognize that Radical Islamists are also using hidden strategies. Propaganda, infiltration of American institutions, and using our own legal protections against us are just a few of the covert efforts underway. Investigators have recently uncovered Radical Islamist manifestos describing how to destroy the West from within using this type of "cultural jihad." This is not just a theory.

The goal of all this is to cause us to lose our collective will to fight, to diminish our resolve over time, to embrace apathy, to consider the cost too high. Will the patience of our enemy pay off? Aren't we forgetting the meaning of 9/11 more and more with each passing day? If this continues, our enemy will care more about destroying our way of life than we will care about defending it.

David Beamer is the father of Todd Beamer, the United Airlines 93 passenger who heroically fought the terrorists in the cockpit. The plane crashed during the battle. Its intended target was believed to be the White House or US Capitol Building.