None of us will ever forget where we were or what we were doing on 9-11-01. We were brutally and mercilessly attacked by a radical extremist group that has the sole purpose of destroying the United States and our freedoms to replace them with theirs.

Time completely stopped with us for awhile. We were numbed beyond belief. How could it happen? How could it be? The most powerful nation in the world brought to its knees by a terrorist attack.

All of our national political leaders postured themselves into a retaliatory mood that in effect said - - "this we will not tolerate. . we will find out who did this and bring them to justice".

We sent out our best intelligence people to find out how this happened. They centered in on Saddam Hussein and his repressive regime. They thought that they had hard evidence of biological and nuclear weapons.

The current administration decided that we would strike there and root out the Hussein regime and let the people elect their own leaders.

I believe that given the same scenario and intelligence reports that whoever the Commander in Chief was would have made the same decision. The American people and the Congress would have insisted on an attack.

We now know that while winning the war might be possible, that winning the peoples hearts might be much more of a problem.

I am convinced that the whole world is better off, not necessarily safer, with Saddam Hussein out of power and Iraq given the possibility of a democratic government.

We now know, however, that our real enemy is Osama bin Laden and his organization. Until we settle the Israel / Palestine situation we will not make any progress on this front. The Palestinians see us as pro-Israel and that is not acceptable to them. Al Qaeda sees us as a mortal enemy because of how we have "allowed" their people to be treated.

20/20 hindsight always reveals flaws and mistakes in our endeavors. Ole Satchel Page said once, "never look back - - something might be gaining on you!"

Now we are engaged in a presidential campaign to elect a new Commander in Chief.

I do not know of a more important time in our history for everyone to vote on Nov 2, 2004.

The very nature and future of freedom, as we know it, is at stake.



A Jim Lane Commentary
September 22, 2004