Instead, we wanted to believe that Yassir Arafat was the leader of a legitimate governing authority for a stateless people. We wanted to believe we could "negotiate" with him. He even received a Nobel Peace Prize. We could never negotiate with him. We will not be able to negotiate with the leaders of the Middle East whose hearts are set against us. We can, though, determine to eliminate them. The lives of the few who hold power can save the lives of the millions under their control from a total war.

On Tuesday, a commentary on Baghdad television said, "The American cowboy is reaping the fruits of his crimes against humanity." The commentatary by Sa'd Yusaf went on to say "It was no coincidence that the World Trade Center was destroyed in suicidal operations" Characterizing the event, he said, "The collapse of US centers of power is a collapse of the US policy, which deviates from human values and stands by world Zionism at all international forums to continue the slaughter of the Palestinian Arab people and implement US plans to dominate the world."

Americans have not taken care to pay attention to or understand the mindset of the Middle East and it is doubtful now that our huge intelligence apparatus has either. Daniel Pipes, writing in the September 12 Wall Street Journal, got it right. "The tactical blame falls on the US government, which has grievously failed in its topmost duty to protect American citizens from harm. Specialists in terrorism have been aware for years of this dereliction of duty; now the whole world knows it. Despite a steady beat of major, organized terrorists incidents over 18 years, Washington has not taken the issue seriously."

The United States is, for all intents and purposes, in a state of war. It has been, but it has chosen to ignore it. The World Trade Center and the Pentagon were chosen as targets for their great symbolic value, not just in the US, but for the whole world.

Islam is at war with America and with the West. There are 1.2 billion Moslems in the world and most, one assumes, would choose peace, but they are under the control of imams from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, and other nations where this most inflexible of religions dominates. Islam is at war with the modern era, with Capitalism, with Jews and Christians, with the most fundamental concepts of liberty and freedom embodied in the US Constitution.

Just as we were unprepared for that infamous attack on our Pacific fleet that brought us into World War Two, we have now witnessed the opening of a new world war, one that must be waged against the Islamic extremists who are in control of predominantly Moslem nations. This explains the Israeli response of selected assassinations of those who plan the terrorist attacks carried out by expendable youth and others who volunteer to die for a religion that is, itself, in its own death throes because it is literally unable to adapt to a new age. Its holy book, the Koran, does not permit such change.

The warning signs have been there for anyone to see. As early as 1983, the US embassy in Beirut was bombed. There was, of course, the Gulf War in the early 1990's that required US intervention. This was followed by the bombing of US embassies in two African nations. Barracks housing US military personnel were bombed in Saudi Arabia. There was the attack on the USS Cole in Aden, and now these horrendous attacks upon the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

In the week prior to the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, the farce of the United Nations was vividly revealed with the collapse of its Conference on Racism during which the representatives of Middle Eastern nations fought to hijack the conference and turn it into a forum of pure hatred for Israel and Jews around the world.

Does anyone any longer believe that the United Nations serves any purpose other than to shield and augment these and other rogue nations in their effort to destroy the greatest bastion of liberty the world has ever known? Its headquarters were evacuated following the destruction of the Twin Towers. It needs to be permanently shuttered. It is a useless relic of the years following the last World War and it has done nothing to insure against this new one. It has, if anything, been a participant.

Is there anyone who no longer believes this nation needs a missile shield? Does anyone any longer believe that our entire military structure, working with weaponry that is decades old, living in quarters that often look like slums, needs to receive a heavy infusion of funding to bring it to a point of full fighting power? And, while we are at it, the nation needs to bring back Selective Service and end our dependence on a volunteer military. We need to begin to train the young men of this nation to protect its interests anywhere in the world.

We need to regain control over the borders and sovereignty of this nation. Much of our sovereignty has been ceded to the United Nations through treaties. They must be rescinded. We need to close our borders until we can get control over who is allowed into this nation either temporarily or in a bid for citizenship. The notion of extending a blanket citizenship to three million or more illegal Mexicans is folly, but no less so than allowing anyone to get off an international flight and disappear into secret terrorist cells set up all over this nation.

We need to begin a massive effort to become as energy-independent as possible, opening up exploration and extraction of the huge reserves of oil, natural gas, and coal that exist, but which have been put off-limits by our own shortsighted yielding to so-called environmentalists, hardcore enemies of our capitalist economic system.

These are the priorities of the United States now and for the foreseeable future. The immediate need is to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden and his vast network of terrorists, no matter the concerns voiced by the nations giving him safe harborage. These nations are at war with the United States, even though no formal declaration has been made.

In the weeks ahead, the United States must make a new commitment to freedom, not just at home, but around the world. We are the only nation that can do this and our so-called allies in Europe and elsewhere had best rally around our flag.

Alan Caruba is founder of The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about scare campaigns to influence public opinion and policy. The Center maintains an Internet site at www.anxietycenter.com.

Copyright, Alan Caruba, 2001
Published by permission.