Americans must never forget how mad we got as a nation that Tuesday morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
We got mad when cowards killed 3,000 innocent men, women and children in New York City, the Pentagon, and in a Pennsylvania field. We got mad when we learned that our assailants were the product of a radical, ultra-conservative mixture of religious and political ideology that hates democracy, hates a free economy, hates tolerance, and hates every freedom America represents. And we got mad when we learned that this enemy-an enemy that wears no uniform, flies no flag, owns no territory, and swears allegiance to no country-had the audacity, cunning and resources to attack the United States of America.
America got mad as hell five years ago. The problem today is that some of us forgot that we're still supposed to be mad.
As the national commander of the largest organization of combat veterans in the country, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. will never forget 9/11 and we will never waiver in our support of the 2.2 million brave American servicemen and women and their families who are in a Global War on Terrorism that the rest of the country is seemingly oblivious to in their daily lives.
We have thousands of personnel fighting in Afghanistan in a war that has been largely forgotten by the American public, unless of course you have been there, are there, or have a loved one there. And although we now know that Iraq was not a terrorist haven when we entered it in March 2003, it is now, and the country of Iraq and the stability of the entire region will be in great jeopardy if U.S. forces pull out prematurely.
Those of us who have worn the uniform of our country in combat do not care if the person standing guard next to us is a republican, democrat or independent. We don't care if that person is Christian or Jewish or Muslim or agnostic or atheist, or has some other label pinned on them back in the so called "Real World." The only thing that matters in a war zone is the fundamental law of mutual support: "You watch my back and I'll watch yours."
America's military is honoring their part of that agreement right now by virtue of their service and their sacrifice to protect and defend every freedom that our great country enjoys, and to help those who need our help.
The American public, as a collective conscience, needs to uphold their end by remembering that we are a nation at war, and our sons and daughters who are in the fight want victory, peace and stability in that region. They also want to destroy this new enemy-permanently.
History has proven that when America gets mad, America wins. We got mad when we learned that a tiny band of militia held off but ultimately succumbed to a vastly superior Mexican army in 1836 at a small Spanish mission in Texas named "The Alamo." We got mad when the battleship USS Maine hit an underwater mine and sank in Havana Harbor in 1898, and we got mad when the Japanese launched a sneak attack against U.S. military facilities in Hawaii in 1941.
America needs to get mad again-and stay mad-because the only reason 3,000 innocent people died that September morning five years ago is because the enemy didn't have the means to kill 30,000 or 300,000 or 3 million people.
America needs to "Remember 9/11."
Gary Kurpius, a Vietnam veteran from Anchorage, Alaska, is the commander-in-chief of the 2.4 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and its Auxiliaries. Founded in 1899, the VFW is the oldest major veterans' organization in the country.
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Note to Editor: Do Not Publish after 1/31/2007.
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