ON THE BRINK After 9/11

By Barbara Stanley

It was a beautiful, clear-severe, late summer morning. Autumn was in the air and the forest’s perfume surrounded me as it came in on the breeze off the deck through the open office door. I was working here at the keyboard, like so many other mornings. The phone rang; it was my daughter. She said, “Turn on the local (NYC) channel. Someone has flown a plane into the World Trade Center tower.” I switched channels on the little office telly and the world came to a halt as I watched smoke pouring from the Tower.

Suddenly I heard myself say to her: “What is that plane doing so close to…” as the next plane flew right into the second Tower. When the second plane hit, there was no doubt in our minds it was terror, the second incident at the WTC since the first in 1993 and this one was so much more devastating. I stayed on the phone as we were glued to the television screen, and we watched in horror as New York City’s famous skyline changed before our eyes. We never expected the towers to fall, but they did, as though demolitionists had expertly placed charges. I have nothing to indicate they weren’t set, as years passed after the first WTC bombing, which our then corrupt antiAmerican co-presidents did nothing to stop the planning and assaults on our home territory.

Soon the helicopter’s sky view showed the Island of Manhattan awash in a debris cloud of construction materials and vaporized human bodies that obscured that famous skyline. Even now, when I see any film of NYC taken before 9/11, with the Towers standing proud and tall, I get a major lump in my throat. Never could I have imagined how a skyline’s change could affect me so.

There is a fireman from this little upstate town who operated one of the cranes down at the WTC and I heard his first remarks to my cousin about the body parts he picked up in his bucket for the next months, until he could no longer and took a break from that macabre task. I wrote about that heart-breaking job, (http://bluestarbase.org/po091901.htm) as well as what I believe what was the next plane bombing (http://bluestarbase.org/wa111601.htm) and BlueStarBase published an article about the collateral death of a four-footed rescuer ((http://bluestarbase.org/sardog.htm)) along with other articles on BSB’s WARPAGE (http://bluestarbase.org/warpage.htm) in hopes that no one would ever forget or forgive what happened and would always rest in the faith that we would stop these terrorists from ever hitting us again. We knew then that we would seek retribution and had patience as we waited for this day to come. And now the day is here, the first of many days to follow as we destroy the enemies of all mankind, one by one, where they live, where they seek refuge and from where they train, plot and plan around the world.

The outrage of the citizens who love this sacred Republic never faltered or lessened in the months to follow. Anthrax attacks, power stations blown up or sabotaged, railroad disasters, that plane down in Queens, and all the other incidents of terror that followed only added to the anger inside us and now we stand on the brink of the war to liberate Iraq and still some want to know if we have given the United Nations enough time to be effective. George Steponallofus, on is Sunday morning talk show, again reiterated that idiotic question and asked Colin Powell “If we couldn’t give Saddam a bit more time?” Well, Mr. FOB Steffy, in a word: “No.”

Twelve years and eighteen (!) resolutions later, it is plain to those of us with brains, that Saddam is not cooperating and keeping the pact he made when he sued for peace after Desert Storm. The inspectors are not searchers and Saddam has not disarmed. Yet, when I listen to the daily press conferences with Ari Fleischer, still some morons in the audience ask the stupid questions only those who either hate America and Bush or have forgotten 9/11 can ask. But they have not deterred our President from keeping his word to the American people, to protect us from enemies both foreign and domestic. I thank God everyday that Al Gore is not leading this nation.

American, British, Australian forces are poised to take down Saddam in an operation that has been so aptly termed Shock and Awe, with thousands of satellite guided bombs to be surgically dropped on key positions of danger inside Iraq. If George Bush Sr. hadn’t been following the hamstringing mandate of the UN to only liberate Kuwait, we would have, perhaps, never had 9/11. If only Bill and Hillary co-presidents Clinton had done what George Bush now will do, we might not have had all the terrorist incidents in this country and around the world that followed 9/11. But that was then and this is now and there is no mistaking, the job must be done, the terrorists must be destroyed, Americans must stand strong as we face attack here at home and our troopers must and will be victorious in liberating the oppressed in that desert country we have all come to know in a most personal way.

God speed and grant swift victory over the oppressors and keep the men and women safe as they do the job that only they can to protect the world from the idiocy and danger that faces us all.

About The Author
Award-winning writer and Federal Observer contributor Barbara Stanley is a conservative writer of commentary on a broad range of subjects and a Sentry Editorial Excellence Award-winning journalist residing in the upstate forest of New York. In addition to political and social commentary, Barbara writes fictional short stories at her website.

Copyright (c) 2003 Barbara Stanley All Rights Reserved