PHOTOS, PAGE 1

       Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in   Washington, DC, (details below)

AN HISTORIC DAY, A BETTER FUTURE

This is one of those days in American life when all other news is pushed to the side. Even the suffering of the people across the south from last week’s tornadoes is momentarily forgotten for those outside the region (the nation’s attention is likely to be back on them in a day or two). This is an historic day and those of us who were lucky enough to be up last night when the news broke have had twelve hours by now to absorb it. For those who had gone to bed earlier, it surely must have been a shock to get up this morning and learn of this enormous event.

We don’t celebrate someone’s death. What we celebrate is the removal of a man who had made it his life’s work to kill civilians here and around the world in the name of a fractured idea of his religion and because he misread history and the story of the Arab world. We celebrate the possibility that we can live with a greater sense of peace and, perhaps, reduce some of the many billions that are being wasted on defense and security measures. We celebrate life without someone who wanted to become a symbol of unending war against the west and who got his wish.

One of the biggest miscalculations of bin Laden and the terrorists who worked with him was not comprehending America and its history. He and they believed their own propaganda about our country and, in so doing, launched an attack that could not succeed in reaching his goals, but could mark the beginning of the end for his unfortunate jihadist movement.

What didn’t they understand? Bin Laden thought that the attacks of 9-11, 2001 would cause America to “withdraw from the world stage”. He thought we were nothing but a nation of suburban shopping malls, a weak people who would be unwilling to sustain military casualties to fight back. They drew the wrong conclusions from the American withdrawal from Somalia in the 1990s and Lebanon in the 1980s. Instead of realizing that those pull backs came from a recognition of policy mistakes, he believed they indicated weakness in the face of terrorism. He was wrong.

The other gigantic misunderstanding was about the power and capacity of the United States. Did he know nothing about world history? Did he not know that this country was responsible for winning the war against Germany and Japan and lost more killed in that war than the British, who were right there on the front line for years? The history of this country is one of great sacrifice when called on from the revolutionary period onward, even in the deeply misguided effort in Vietnam. Of course, if you start out wanting to believe something, you can find the evidence you need to back it up.

It will take some time to sort out where we stand on these matters and what our future response to terrorism and terrorism threats should be. I am highly suspicious of anyone who says, on this day or in the near future, that terrorism will remain a major threat for a long time in the future. No more scare tactics, please. No more trying to make terrorism into a long, never ending war, like the Cold War with the Soviet Union that preceded it. It is time to be adults about these matters and stop letting the so called “terrorism experts” try to keep us worried and spending billions on many things that don’t protect us at all. It is time to put the “terrorism industrial complex” back in its place.

Doug Terry, 5.2.11

CONTACT THE TERRYREPORT

       HOME PAGE

end