This is lengthy, but it's definitely well worth
reading.  It clearly shows why the United States of
America's war on terrorism is truly justified.

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America Wake Up
Dan Ouimette
Pensacola Civitan
February 19, 2003

"America, wake up!" That's what we think we heard on
the 11th of September 2001, and maybe it was, but I
think it should have been, "Get out of bed!" In fact,
I think the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979,
and we have continued to hit the snooze button and
roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep
since then.

It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country
going through a religious and political upheaval when
a group of Iranian students attacked and seized the
American Embassy in Tehran. This seizure was an
outright attack on American soil; it was an attack
that held the world's most powerful country hostage
and paralyzed a presidency. The attack on this
sovereign U.S. embassy set the stage for the events to
follow for the next 23 years.

America was still reeling from the aftermath of the
Vietnam experience and had a serious threat from the
Soviet Union when then-President Carter had to do
something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in
the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin but
stood as a symbol of America's inability to deal with
terrorism. America's military had been decimated and
downsized since the end of the Vietnam War. A
poorly-trained, poorly-equipped, and poorly-organized
military was called on to execute a complex mission
that was doomed from the start.

Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began
to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East.
America could do little to protect her citizens living
and working abroad. The attacks against U.S. soil
continued.

In April 1983, a large vehicle packed with high
explosives was driven into the U.S. Embassy compound
in Beirut. When it exploded, it killed 63 people. The
alarm went off again and America hit the snooze button
once more.

Then just six short months later, a large truck
heavily laden with over 2,500 pounds of TNT smashed
through the main gate of the U.S. Marine Corps
headquarters in Beirut. Two-hundred forty-one U.S.
servicemen were killed. America mourned her dead and
hit the snooze button once more.

Two months later, in December 1983, another truck
loaded with explosives was driven into the U.S.
Embassy in Kuwait, and America continued her slumber.

The following year, in September 1984, a van was
driven into the gates of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut,
and America slept.

Soon, the terrorism spread to Europe. In April 1985, a
bomb exploded in a restaurant frequented by U.S.
soldiers in Madrid.

Then in August, a Volkswagen loaded with explosives
was driven into the main gate of the U.S. Air Force
Base at Rhein-Main.  Twenty-two were killed, and the
alarm was buzzing louder and louder as U.S. soil was
continually attacked.

Fifty-nine days later, a cruise ship, the Achille
Lauro, was hijacked, and we watched as an American in
a wheelchair was singled out of the passenger list and
executed.

The terrorists then shifted their tactics to bombing
civilian airliners when they bombed TWA Flight 840 in
April 1986, killing four.  The most tragic bombing,
that of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in
1988, killed 259.

America wants to treat these terrorist acts as crimes;
in fact, we are still trying to bring these people to
trial.  These are acts of war. The wake-up alarm is
louder and louder.

The terrorists decided to bring the fight to America.
In January 1993, two CIA agents were shot and killed
as they entered CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

The following month, February 1993, a group of
terrorists were arrested after a rented van packed
with explosives was driven into the underground
parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York
City. Six people were killed and over 1,000 were
injured. Still, this is a crime and not an act of war?
The snooze button is pressed again.

Then in November 1995, a car bomb exploded at a U.S.
military complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing
seven servicemen and women.

A few months later, in June 1996, another truck bomb
exploded only 35 yards from the U.S. military compound
in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroyed the Khobar
Towers, a U.S. Air Force barracks, killing 19 and
injuring over 500.

The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they
see that America does not respond decisively.

They moved to coordinate their attacks in a
simultaneous attack on two U.S. embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania. These attacks were planned with precision.
They killed 224. America responds with cruise missile
attacks and goes back to sleep.

The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for
refueling on October 12, 2000 when a small craft
pulled alongside the ship and exploded, killing 17
U.S. Navy sailors. Attacking a U.S. war ship is an act
of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime
and went back to sleep.

Of course, you know the events of September 11, 2001.
Most Americans think this was the first attack against
U.S. soil or in America. How wrong they are. America
has been under constant attack since 1979, and we
chose to hit the snooze button and roll over and go
back to sleep.

In the news lately, we have seen lots of
finger-pointing from every high official in government
over what they knew and what they didn't know. But if
you've read the papers and paid a little attention, I
think you can see exactly what they knew. You don't
have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the National
Security Council to see the pattern that has been
developing since 1979.

President Bush is right when he says we are engaged in
a war. I think we have been in a war for the past 23
years, and it will continue until we, as a people,
decide enough is enough.

America has to get out of bed and act decisively now.
America has changed forever. We have to be ready to
pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way
of life continues. We cannot afford to hit the snooze
button again and roll over and go back to sleep. We
have to make the terrorists know that, in the words of
Admiral Yamamoto after the attack on Pearl Harbor in
1941, "all they have done is awakened a sleeping giant."