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TEN YEARS AFTER |
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We Keep Learning How
Evil Thrives in the World
of TheColumnists.com
FOR NEARLY two weeks now
our nation has mourned the loss of more than 6,500 lives, victims
of what will surely be one of history's most barbaric and savage
attacks on a nation.
We have lit candles, prayed for the souls of the innocent victims
and stood aghast at the primitive and monstrous human beings
who cowardly twisted the teachings of Islam to justify their
attack.
Ministers, rabbis, priests and mullahs have all condemned the
attack while the United States government justifiably launched
preparations for an all-out war aimed at gaining control of terrorism.
The act of using passenger jetliners as missiles to crash into
the World Trade Center can only be described as a singular act,
so horrendous in its conception, that the mind or minds that
created it can only be described as Nazi-like. We thought that
after the horrors of the German concentration camps nothing or
anyone could ever equal such diabolical evil.
We were wrong.
When Timothy McVeigh bombed the federal building in Oklahoma
City killing over 168 men, women and children, we considered
him a twisted and despicable individual, a sadistic, egotistical
being filled with hatred. Eventually he was captured, brought
to justice, tried, found guilty and executed.
He was gone and we relaxed. Nobody, we thought could ever again
be as callous and cold-hearted as McVeigh.
We were wrong.
Now, we must forever accept the concept that pure evil, like
the very air we breathe, wafts everywhere. Of the billions of
human beings that inhabit our earth, we have learned through
the tragic attack of Sept. 11, there may be thousands of others
willing and capable of reenacting a similar attack.
Virtually the entire world has now united in a massive effort
to find those individuals and detain or eliminate them in the
most efficient manner possible. Whether they choose to disappear
forever into a prison cell or go down fighting does not matter.
What is important is that we all must be protected against such
diabolical types.
This is not just a task for the military; it is a task for civilian
minds also. In World War II, the best of our civilian world combined
with the best of the military to defeat Japan and Germany. We
must do the same for our civilization.
Across the world, police intelligence at the highest level is
now being coordinated with the terrible awesome and combined
military power of the United States, United Kingdom, France,
Germany, Russia and other nations. The goal is to avoid any further
loss of innocent civilian life and strike only at pinpointed
targets using powerful, but small strategic forces.
We have also realized that we cannot depend solely on electronic
machines or satellite telescopes to keep us abreast of the actions
of groups that we consider a threat to all the nations of the
world. The human element--the spy--cannot be left out of the
equation. It is a vital necessity in what will most likely be
a prolonged war.
This is a war unlike any other conflict. There will be no lumbering
tanks charging in a cloud of dust across endless sand, or bombers
dropping load after load of bombs on targets tens of thousands
of feet below them, instead, the silencer on a rapid fire weapon
may well be the most efficient weapon possible.
All of us must get used to this concept and our prayers must
include not only the victims who suffered so terribly in the
attack but also the women and men of the military. They are the
silent guardians at the forefront of this war. They are the ones
who will be directly responsible for eliminating the scourge
of terrorism that has spread across our planet.
We may never know their names or see their faces on parade with
bands playing and flags waving, but they will deserve all the
homage we can muster for them.
©2001 by Elias Castillo.