Letter to the Editor: September 11, 2001

By NED SCARLET Cleveland

Editor,
When we were attacked five years ago on September 11, 2001, I hoped our President would strike back at our attackers with the force and violence they warranted. I did not wish for war. I just know war is the only thing this enemy will understand. They do not heed bluster and threats.
I was greatly relieved when the bombs began dropping on Afghanistan and we followed up with boots on the ground. I believe we have succeeded in Afghanistan and one of our greatest successes has been to kill many of the enemy. This they understand.
Jonah Goldberg once wrote that our run-up to war with Iraq was slower than a glacier on Ritalin. During this drawn out time I feared that our President would, lose his resolve, or go wobbly, as Mrs. Thatcher would say. He didn’t and I was relieved. I strongly believe every life lost, every soldier wounded, every heartache felt, every penny spent, in Iraq has not been in vain. I believe we have succeeded in Iraq and one of our greatest successes has been to kill many of the enemy. This they understand.
The present war between Israel and Lebanon’s terrorist infestation Hezbollah illustrates the failed policies of the U.N. which enforces its resolutions with bluster and threats. Israel has chosen another course, killing the enemy. I wish Israel continued success.
Victor Davis Hanson in a recent column published in National Review Magazine compared President George Bush to the lone cowboy who saves the sod-busters or townsfolk from bad guys.
Hanson says these cowboy characters accept the paradox that there is no future for the brutal defender of society once he has vanquished the savagery that threatened it. The cowboy always has to ride away in the end.
Hanson writes, “If the now-brooding Bush really is a cowboy, he may deal with a few rogues yet, caring not at all for our present approval, but only for his own code of honor and the safety we will enjoy once he’s gone.”
I hope the President has a few more bullets in his six-shooter and he will make another trip to the street or saloon to finish off a few more bad guys before he rides away. I hope, for our sake, he gives them the only thing they understand. And it ain’t bluster, and it ain’t threats.