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There have been defining moments in American history. These always occur when the country unites as a whole. Two of these such events seem related. Both occurred at a time when America’s isolationist foreign policy left it alone in the world. During both periods, the economy was in recession and political change was in the air. I am referring to December 7th 1941 and September 11th 2001: Pearl Harbor and the attack on the World Trade Center. Both events claimed nearly 3,000 American lives and both events awakened the nation to the reality of enemies abroad.

Prior to Pearl Harbor, most Americans (with the exception of high ranking diplomatic and military officials) were neither aware of, nor concerned with the growing economic and military threat of Japan. Before September 11th, Americans were too busy trying to save their money from the dot-com bubble to care about a man living in a cave half a world away. With both events, America’s ignorance and isolationism, and maybe even its innocence, was shattered in a matter of hours.

There is one key difference between the declaration of war against America by Japan and the declaration of war by radical Islam. America responded in full force to Japan’s Pearl Harbor surprise, while the response to the deadliest attack ever on America soil was followed with limited action.

You think I am crazy? A limited response, you ask, but what about Afghanistan, and the invasion of Iraq? I say, it was little more than a modern day Doolittle raid, designed to make America feel good, rather than our enemies fear for their lives. Within weeks of Pearl Harbor, over 10 million men and women voluntarily enlisted in the armed forces. Many brave Americans did the same after September 11th, but where was that sense of patriotism in the rest of us?

It was there! America was ready, America was angry. America wanted full retaliation (many wanted it too include more than a few megatons of plutonium), but the government did not ask anything of Americans.

Unused Tomahawk missiles from the Gulf War were sent into Afghanistan, and ill-equipped Northern Alliance fighters took the place of US soldiers. But what if, on September 12th, 2001, President Bush went on national TV and asked Americans to avenge the sacrifice of those we have lost, and to safeguard our liberty and our security? His speech also could have included a plea for Americans to join the armed forces, volunteer at their firehouses , or enter the world of clandestine esrvice. To preserve our freedom we must make sacrifices. The President’s words would motivate millions of Americans countrywide. No such request ever came from the White House.

In World War II, American companies pulled for the war effort. Where was the request of US companies to invest in new technologies to safeguard our borders, ports, and skies? Where was the call for a Manhattan Project to end our reliance on foreign oil? When did the government plead for the smartest, strongest, and best of America to devote their services to a nation at war? The government never asked anything of America.

There was no call to conserve energy, no action to align the media with America. Where was the modern version of the American propaganda that kept the spirits of the Resistance in Europe alive during Nazi occupation?

None of it is there. Instead US soldiers are overburdened in Iraq and Afghanistan, the government cannot supply our troops with the proper equipment, Americans are facing high costs of living, and every day, terrorist propaganda makes its way onto news networks, such as Al-jazeera and the BBC.

Where is our nation’s response to this? Why is it, that when a US soldier shoots an injured Iraqi about to pull a grenade from his pocket, the international media cries foul? Yet if a motor round killed five American soldiers in a mess hall or an Israeli school bus is destroyed, the European and Middle Eastern media could care less! The reason is because America has allowed it to happen! If our government wants to win the War on Terror, then it must take more serious action!

We must end American reliance on the Middle East by exploiting massive oil reserves off the Gulf of Mexico, in Canada, Alaska, South America, and in friendlier parts of the world such as Scandinavia. Utilize the much safer, cleaner, and more efficient resource of natural gas that is available in abundance off the Gulf of Mexico, Canada, Indonesia, Australia, Russia, and even in the friendlier Middle Eastern nation of Qatar.

According to MarketWatch.com, BMW will introduce a production hydrogen powered automobile by 2008. If the Bush administration had asked such a breakthrough of US companies after September 11th, it could have been accomplished several years ago. Corporations such as Exxon have received massive US government tax breaks while the US government should have been encouraging and giving tax breaks and incentives to corporations that invest in utilizing new coal, nuclear, solar, and hydrogen technologies.

After World War Two, the GI Bill was passed to make military service more appealing to American citizens. It took months of legislation to raise the GI death compensation from a despicable $12,000, and the wages of our nations bravest are still pitifully low. American soldiers should be the best paid, best protected, strongest, most mobile, most effective, and most lethal warriors on the planet. The fact that a BlackWater private mercenary in Iraq makes more money and oftentimes has better equipment than a US soldier is a truth that the US government should be ashamed of.

Another cornerstone in the war on terror must be the advancement of pro-American propaganda. Instead of allowing the Qatari0-run Al-jazeera network to promote the killing of Americans, the US government should use economic leverage in purchasing oil and natural gas from the country to ensure that the most watched Arabic satellite TV network becomes much more pro-American. Such an action would benefit the US more than any amount of bombs or soldiers in Baghdad. At the same time, America should undergo operations with US companies to include US propaganda along with US products. Microsoft and Google have been willing to hand over the searches of users in China, many times signing the death warrants of Chinese citizens “googling” democracy and other anti-communist information. If those companies are so keen to help the Chinese government, then they should be just as willing to help America promote a new image all around the world. It is simple: help America defeat fascism, terrorism, and communism, or the IRS may find an accounting irregularity inyour corporation’s annual report.

When America is at war, it is not utilzing every asset it has to succeed. Every US corporation, every member of the US government, every agency, and every citizen should be actively involved in protecting this nation. If the deaths of 3,000 Americans were not enough to alert America to the great threat from the Middle East, then maybe it will wake up when a nuclear bomb decimates New York City. The terrorists hide and fight in the mountainsides of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, but have taken office in Iran and are related to the royal family of Saudi Arabia. The scary truth is that until every person holding a US passport is committed to containing and destroying our enemies, we will never be safe. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese commander who orchestrated the operation, Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto said, “I’m afraid we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled it with terrible resolve.” The terrorists on September 11th 2001 filled America with that resolve, but Bin Laden laughs every day that our nation fails to utilize it.

Sources- MarketWatch.com, Chicago Tribune, Blackwaterusa.com

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