Another Attack on Freedom

This very morning, only one day after London was chosen as the site for 2012 Summer Olympics, a terror attack occurred in that fair city. Four explosions went off within an hour, all striking transit targets during their busy morning rush hour. At the present time, at least 50 people are known to be dead and some seven hundred more injured, making this essentially the worst attack on London since WWII. Already a branch of al-Qaida has claimed responsibility, the same branch of the terror network responsible for the bombings in Spain. There are those who would say that the England and the U.S. have brought this problem upon themselves by invading Iraq. However, the attacks on September 11th 2001 were the result of al-Qaida already having declared war on us prior to campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. There are those who claim that our invasion of Iraq had no link to al-Qaida and was, therefore, unjustified. The very fact that al-Qaida is now active in the violent Iraqi insurgency, while continuing to attack nations like Great Britain in response to their involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, is evidence that we are probably taking the war on terror to exactly the right place. If Iraq has become a haven for terrorists, then I say at least it’s better to fight an “away game” for this particular battle in the war on terror. We clearly are at war, not with a particular nation or religion, but against an ideology of violence and fanaticism worldwide. Great Britain and the United States do more to help people worldwide than anyone else. We provide more aid, we import more goods and we are the first to fight for the rights and freedoms of other nations and people … and yet they hate us. Yes, we are at war and that war has been brought to our own doorsteps, to our very backyards, by these crazy, suicidal fanatics. If that’s what they want, then I say “bring it!” We cannot back down because they are bent upon our destruction, which means we have no choice but to destroy them. There are those in our country who would protest against our military actions abroad. However, I have yet to see any of those people protest against al-Qaida, Hamas or the previous government of Iraq for their reigns of terror in this modern world. To those people, I implore them to take a second look at the forty families who lost their innocent loved ones in London this morning. When a murder occurs, the guilty party is the one who pulls the trigger.

My heart goes out this morning to those whose lives have been lost and torn apart in London and I offer the following poem, which I wrote on the morning of September 11th, while sitting in my office watching reruns of the Twin Towers collapsing. We must stand together against this injustice.

The Heart of Freedom
Beware, you foes of freedom
Who dare to maim and kill
Who, by force, would stand against us
You have galvanized our will
You have struck the heart of freedom
Spilled sacred blood upon our soil
Stung the bastions of democracy
Yet, though we may recoil
Be it known, we shall not falter
In the midst of travesty
A sleeping giant has awakened
Which will rise from the debris
With a resolve and with a fury
Such as you have rarely known
Freedom’s mettle has been tested
And now its true strength shall be shown
By Frank Carpenter ©