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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Post-9/11 vocabulary test
What have you
learned since the
Sept. 11 attacks five
years ago? The mass murder
of 2,996 innocent people on
American soil forced open
my eyes to the Islamic holy
war against the West, free
dom and modernity. The bat
tle has raged not for years or
decades, but for centuries
-- well before the Crusades
began.
The indelible sight of
workers plunging from the
Twin Towers -- head first,
feet first, solo, hand-in-hand
roused me from slumber.
The photos of children who
were incinerated on United
Airlines Flight 175 and
American Airlines Flight 77
compelled me to start pay
ing attention to the beliefs,
goals, language and lies of
those who would gladly kill
my children the same way.
The United Airlines Flight
93 hijackers’ final exclama
tion as they drove the plane
into the ground is a Muslim
warrior leitmotif I will
never again ignore: “Allahu
Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu
Akbar!”
So, how much do you
know? Take a post-9/11 pop
quiz. It’s never too late to
start pulling your head from
the sand:
Jihadis. These are our
enemies - from Mohammed
Atta and company to the
Butchers of Beslan, to the
throat-slitters in Karachi
and Baghdad and Mindanao,
to the bombers of Bali,
Madrid and London, to their
funders and imams and
enablers worldwide. They
are not “freedom fighters”
or “militants” or “rebels” or
“evildoers” of unknown geo
graphic and religious affili
ation.
Apologists claim “jihad”
means a peaceful Muslim
striving for spiritual perfec
tion. But the late Ayatollah
Khomeini rebuked Religion
of Peace propagandists back
in 1942: “Those who know
nothing of Islam pretend
that Islam counsels against
Five years after we were attacked by Al-Qaida
On Sept. 11, 2001,
al-Qaida’s terrorist
hijackers implement
ed a well-designed plan. Al-
Qaida’s planners and hijack
ers also counted on a little
luck.
The 9-11 commission dem
onstrated the U.S. intelli
gence and law enforcement
agencies had traces and hints
of the plan, but failed to see
the larger patterns. Still, an
insightful, imaginative ana
lyst might have made the
intuitive leap and guessed
al-Qaida intended to turn
commercial aircraft into sui
cide ICBMs. Al-Qaida took
the chance its evil design
was simply too outrageous
for imaginations pinned by
bureaucratic regimens.
Al-Qaida also relied on
American lassitude. Al-
Qaida had declared war
on America, but America
ignored it. Americans sim
ply didn’t want to be dis
tracted from their pursuit
of happiness. Al-Qaida’s 9-
11 hijackers would leverage
American complacency and
exploit America’s freedom of
movement to board aircraft.
Al-Qaida also relied, to
a degree, on cowardice.
Al-Qaida’s own agit-prop
interpretation of the U.S.
withdrawal from Somalia in
1993 gave it confidence in
American cowardice.
Al-Qaida’s May 24, 1994,
“Third Letter to Africa
Corps” said: “The Somali
experience confirmed the
spurious nature of American
power and that it has not
recovered from the Vietnam
complex. It fears getting
bogged down in a real war
that would reveal its psycho
logical collapse at the level
of personnel and leader.”
But 9-11 revealed a heroic
America, with the pinnacle
of heroism the self-sacrifice
of Flight 93. The passen
gers on Flight 93 confronted
the hijackers. Passengers
learned their jetliner had
become a terrorist ICBM,
and they counterattacked.
Flight 93 crashed, but it did
not strike its ground target.
Flight 93’s counterattack
war. Those (who say this)
are witless.”
Egyptian-born Nonie
Darwish, an ex-Muslim
whose father founded the ter
rorist Fedayeen in Gaza and
killed 400
Israelis,
had her
own
recent
rejoinder
for the
p.c. white
washers
who have
redefined
jihad as
a kinder,
a
Michelle Malkin
Columnist
gentler struggle: “In the Arab
world we were only taught
one meaning for Jihad, and
that is: A religious holy war
against infidels and armed
struggle against anyone who
is not a Moslem.”
Infidels I Kafirs. Anyone
who is not a Muslim.
Sharia. This is the set of
Islamic legal principles and
traditions that our enemies
seek to impose on us. It’s
a path that leads inexora
bly to the subjugation of
women, stoning of adulter
ers, “honor killings” of rape
victims, bans on beauty pag
eants, cinema and the view
ing of soccer matches, death
threats against authors,
filmmakers, cartoonists and
apostates who renounce
Islam, and calls for behead
ings of all who insult their
faith.
Caliphate. A Muslim
world government ruled
according to sharia. It is
what American al Qaeda
Adam Gadahn envisions in
his latest “Convert or die”
propaganda video when he
asserts, “Islam is the only
religion acceptable to God,”
and “God recognizes no sep
aration between religion and
state.” It is the dream not
just of Osama bin Laden,
but of Islamic imperialists
throughout history.
Taqiyya. Religious decep
tion. Jihadists are taught in
al Qaeda training manuals to
lie. To fabricate tales about
is the moment al-Qaida’s
luck began to sour. That’s
the moment America went
on the offensive, against al-
Qaida and the dysfunctional
political systems that helped
create it.
Al-Qaida’s “Afghanistan
trap” failed. Afghanistan
was designed to be the bat
tle that launched Osama bin
Laden’s “globalized war of
Islam against America.” A
U.S. military defeat in the
Himalayas would signal
“Divine Sanction” for al
Qaida’s
project,
and make
al-Qaida
a global
power
within
Islam.
American
victories
on Afghan
battle
fields
muted
mjjg|
Austin Bay
Military Affairs
Creators Syndicate
the notion God was on al-
Qaida’s side.
And America has contin
ued to have success.
It may not look that way,
for the “metrics” in the War
on Terror don’t conform to
World War 11-type shifts in
geographic frontlines and
casualty counts, but in the
midst of WWII the metrics of
battles and miles also lacked
certainty.
“Asymmetric” war has
“asymmetric” metrics. One
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how their captors treat them
(see Gitmo). To lie in claim
ing “There is no compulsion
in religion” while forcing
conversions at gunpoint (see
the “Holy Jihad Brigades”
conversion video starring
Fox News journalists Steve
Centanni and Olaf Wiig). To
conceal their true mission
(see hijackers’ visa applica
tions). Dissimulation for the
sake of Islam is sanctioned
by the Koran.
Dhimmitude. The offi
cial state of inferiority of
non-Muslims under Islam;
the bowing and scraping of
vanquished infidels to their
intellectual and military
conquerors. You saw it in the
immediate post-9/11 appease
ment of Muslims angered
by the name “Operation
Infinite Justice” (it was an
insult to Mohammed). You
saw it in the cowards of the
mainstream media unwill
ing to defend free speech
during the Mohammed
cartoon rage. You saw it in
the mau-mauing over the
faked Koran-flushings at
Camp Delta. You see it in
our government’s persis
tent pandering to grievance
mongering groups yelling
“Islamophobia” and filing
lawsuits at every turn.
You see it in the refusal to
profile at the airport, limit
immigration from terrorist
enabling countries and shut
down Saudi pilot training
programs even to this day
- for fear of hurting feelings.
You will see it throughout
the week-long commemora
tion of 9/11 as pundits and
scholars de-emphasize the
jihadi roots of the terror
ist attacks in favor of “dia
logue” and “tolerance” and
self-flagellation.
Submitting to ignorance is
submitting to defeat. Honor
the victims of 9/11 by mak
ing a pledge: “I will not sub
mit.”
Michelle Malkin is author
of the new book ‘‘Unhinged:
Exposing Liberals Gone
Wild. ” Her e-mail address is
malkin@comcast.net.
measure is the lack of a sec
ond 9-11 on U.S. soil. We’ve
indications al-Qaida and its
affiliates have tried. We’ve
experienced minor ter
ror attacks - for example,
the “sudden jihadi” who
smashed his car into pass
ersbys in North Carolina.
Islamo-fascist terrorists
have murdered en masse
from Bali to Madrid, but
there’s been no second 9-
11 in America. Perhaps
Rickey’s residue has played
a part, but we’ve also got
ten smarter. It’s not simply
the inspection regimen. The
passengers know the stakes,
and the passengers are at
war.
American-led offensive
action has also taken the war
to its source: the politically
dysfunctional Middle East.
That’s by design. A terrible
yin-yang of tyranny and ter
ror afflicts the Middle East.
Defeatist hotheads who nat
ter about “root causes of
terror” must understand the
taproot of terror is tyranny,
not poverty.
Iraq’s free elections and
its new democratic govern
ment - by design - offer an
alternative to the tyrants’
and the terrorists’ violent
dynamic. Sept. 11 was an
“asymmetric” terror attack
on a “conventional” America.
Iraq is “asymmetric” offen
sive political action led by
America, an offensive
See BAT,page 6B
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LOCAL
Remembering five years ago
As I write this, I have
just been watching
coverage of the fifth
anniversary of the 9-11
attacks. My mind is full of
the images and the stories
of that day.
Memories are a wonder
ful gift, and such an impor
tant part of healing and
recovery, even when the
memories hurt. I know that
through the toughest or
most important moments of
my life, it has helped me to
mentally relive those times.
The reliving is both thera
peutic and shaping, as it
helps give new perspecitve
based on what I have lived
through since then.
My memores of Sept. 11,
2001 involve children. I was
teaching a class of four year
olds.
After we found out at the
school about the attacks
on the World Trade Center
- with us teachers tak
ing turns going into an
empty classroom to catch
a glimpse of the coverage
on TV - it was surreal to
walk back into the class-
room and try to carry on
as normal. This wasn’t
something you could go in
and announce to a bunch
of kindergarteners: “Your
world has just changed
and you didn’t even real
ize it as you played and
colored.”
Eventually all we could
do in our numbed states
was let them go outside
and play. The bright blue
sky and the clinking of the
chains on the swing set
were in stark contrast to
the confusion felt by the
adults in charge. Parents
came earlier than normal
to wait in line to pick up
their children, and I left
as soon as I could load
up my students to go and
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wrap my arms around my
son, then just a little over a
year old.
One thing I do remember
from being in that class
room is thinking that I had
to help teach those children
to love and not to hate; it
was the only way I could
think at that time to com
bat such acts of atrocity.
I remember being glued to
the television, and the feel
ing of anxious anticipation
each morning in the weeks
4
Sherri Martin
The Front Porch
What had happened in the
world over the night? That
is a feeling that lingers.
I also remember that
day being my friend’s
30th birthday; she lived
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in Washington, D.C. at the
time, and said that from
then on she would just
share my birthday - the
next day.
It’s sometimes hard to
believe that five years have
passed. Of course, life goes
on.
We can’t constantly live
in the past because it’s not
healthy or constructive.
Still, I read accounts of
the experiences of those
who were there that day, or
who lost loved ones when
the towers fell. Their mem
ories add to mine and give
me a broader knowledge of
the whole experience.
What I write is nothing
new about the day, and noth
ing profound either. Yet my
memories are important to
me, just as others’ memo
ries of any tragic event are
important to them.
They make up the tap
estries of our lives, let us
know where we’ve been,
and give us an idea of where
we’re going. Even when the
world changes in the blink
of an eye.
that fol
lowed,
wonder
ing what
horror
would
greet me
when
I first
turned
on the
televi
sion.
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