9/11: Lessons Yet to be Learned

Americans are still in the dark about the true nature of the enemy.

by: barrett kalellis | published: 09 13, 2011

Now that the mainstream media and cable networks have all fired their artillery for the 9/11 tenth anniversary memorials – programs replaying 9/11 timelines, introspective interviews with victims’ families and survivors, and reminiscences with political figures, air traffic controllers and other participants – an oft-repeated question has been, “What have we learned from this tragic day?”

The answer is: very little. Oh, sure, there are now ways that make it harder for terrorists or explosives to find their way onto commercial aircraft. And perhaps federal intelligence agencies have better methods of spying on those who wish to do us harm, given that they have foiled some genuine terror plots in the past few years, failing only to prevent Major Nidal Hasan’s November 2009 killing of 14 people in Ft. Hood, Texas.

President Bush’s primary response to 9/11 was to begin war operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The rationale(s) at the time were a) to destroy Al-Qaeda and its training camps; and b) remove the dictator Saddam Hussein, who seemed to threaten the region by expanding his hegemony and arsenal.

Although the Saddam threat was eliminated, U.S. forces have been bogged down in both countries for a decade, with thousands of American lives lost and no clear recipe for success in either theater. In fact, leaders in both countries resent us and want us out, although they continue to make claims on our financial largesse.

The root of the problem has been the seemingly interminable ignorance about the aims of Islam on the part of U.S. political leaders, media bigwigs and consequently by the American public. Driving this ignorance is the stifling fog of political correctness that has shrouded this threat, and has led to ostensibly well-meaning but disastrous policies both foreign and domestic.

Stealth jihad sympathizers from organizations like the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America and the Muslim Students Association have shamefully infiltrated the highest levels of governments and universities as advisors, counselors, teachers and military personnel.

These “double agents” have whispered half-truths and outright falsehoods into the ears of policy makers such that they have been deceived into believing plausible but untrue ideas about Islamic ideas and motivations. When coupled with PC notions about the right to “practice their religion,” it has led to calls for criminalizing any criticism about Islam as Islamophobia or “hate speech;” an eagerness to appease Muslims by making special accommodations in public and private spaces for their religious practices, not granted to anyone else; and perpetuating the myth that Muslims are greatly discriminated against in the U.S.

Since 9/11, the lesson that has been obfuscated and not learned, is the true nature of Islam, a political ideology masquerading as a religion, and one that is inextricably interwoven into religious practices that serve as a cover for the concealed intentions of the believers, using freedom of religion as a way to gain more of a foothold in America.

The conundrum that presents itself – in a land that was founded on religious freedom, with a government that holds no authority on religious practices – is what can the country do to protect itself from a sizable portion of the population whose core beliefs are antithetical to democracy, that reject equal treatment of other established religions, and separates the world into believers and infidels?

Of more concern is the gradual spread of Islam in the U.S. over time, an unassimilable minority that gathers more power as their numbers increase demographically, as in Western Europe and Eastern Africa. When their numbers reach a certain size, significant conflicts with the native culture invariably arise. When more mosques and Islamic academies are built in American cities – funded by foreign donors – and Muslim populations grow, seeds are being planted that guarantee future strife.

Up to this point, our political leaders and opinion-makers have tried to sweep this latent problem under the rug, with few exceptions. When enlightened people try to raise the truth about these issues, they are most likely marginalized as kooks, or “haters.”

The Obama administration has taken this posture to an extreme by banning any discussions about Islam throughout governmental agencies, preferring to use semantic euphemisms for the enemy and the conflicts we face at home and abroad. Thus, young men and women are sent to risk their lives in foreign wars with really knowing what motivates the enemy they face.

Politicians prattle about the “spread of liberal democracy,” and the “Arab spring,” and any number of empty clichés about how freedom will gain a foothold in Islamist countries. Well-known scholars and spokespeople like Zuhdi Jasser and Fouad Adjami – who have few followers – optimistically wax eloquent about how Islam is going to be softened by new generations of young people in these countries, using Facebook and Twitter and SmartPhones.

Yet Turkey is repudiating Ataturk’s secularism and is becoming more Islamic; Egyptian hooligans have trashed the Israeli embassy and sent the ambassador packing; Syria’s Assad regime continues to kill its own people; the U.N. is being pressured to call for a vote on Palestinian statehood; and Iran moves inexorably closer to having its finger on a WMD.

Americans are being ill-served by their present leadership, and dangerously so.

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