The Moments For Silence Are Past

The points in time have passed. Now it's been over five years since the one heroic and three fateful impacts that signaled for most of us the start of the war against radical Islam.

The points in time have been marked with moments of silence, fitting moments when the only words that will do are the words that pass between the created and the Creator. As the partisan babble that preceded today's anniversary makes so clear, public words by public people are not fitting markers for the losses and sacrifices of that day.

Now that the silent moments have passed, people are going on with their day.

A few, the soldiers and intelligence officers, go on with the right kind of day, hunting down and killing the enemy. Others, the widows, orphans and others who lost loved ones, also go on with the right kind of day, still feeling the hollowness and brutality of what happened that day.

Many just go on. And far to many do the wrong thing: They defend terrorists, they appease, they attack the president instead of the enemy, they divide in the hope of conquering.

So let the moment of silence be behind us now. Let the moment of defiantly shouting "FREEDOM!" begin. Let's not forget what we're fighting for. Let's not forget that the enemy is strong-willed and intent on destroying us.

Let's not let those who would rewrite history or jeopardize the future of democracy deflect us from the cause that became so real five years ago.

We have struck back hard, and the al Qaeda that attacked us five years ago is a shell of what it was. But Shi'ite terrorism has taken the lead from Sunni terrorism, and Iran is strong and as yet unbowed.

We fear attacks from within, from our own Muslim populations, and wait for more brave American Muslims to shout out to the terrorists, " I am an American too. Count me as the one of those you have asked your supporters to kill!" as one Assam Abdullah recently did.

In five years, it will be 10 years since 9/11. By then, with God's help, we will have advanced the cause of freedom and the gift of Democracy to the point of victory.

Never forget. (And to make sure you don't forget, look at these photos. You've probably never seen them before; they were taken on Sept. 13 at the WTC site.)

Related Tags: 9/11, September 11, Sept. 11, Terrorism, War on terror