For the peace of mind

As the anniversary to Patriot Day nears, I recall a quote from a name forgotten, "We in the safe and free world forget what is Liberty. In short, we are spoilt."

How true. In light of the continued efforts of the Members of the Coalition in liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq, most of the free world seem to have forgetten how it all began. The continued nonsense in the media about "Occupation, intrusion, etc." Remember 9/11. The day the world changed. The day our hearts sank. Resolve, a quality reminder to those who grieved. After 2001, terror attacks continued, however the successful attempts have occured elsewhere. Twarted attempts were never revealed until "disclassified" or never disclosed at all. When precautions were taken, rumblings of inconvenient schedules take centerstage. On the other hand when the underhanded succeed, blame splatter like bugs on a windscreen, "Why didn't you prevent it?"

Proximity to the Second World War via family taught me the atrocities of dictatorship and oppression. Grandma told of stories of personal suffer under oppression, torture, fear and starvation. Stories of sirens, signalling ducking into a bomb shelter. Feeding her newborn with a handkerchief dipped into honey. Fearing if a family will be dragged out in the middle of the night for torture for the delight of someone else. (Btw, a movie has not been written about it yet, Mr Spielberg.) Stories that still haunt me. A new chapter, terror attacks by a group of unrealists. 9/11 is the new chapter of tyranny, because now the free world is held hostage by precautions and alerts. Condemnation is insufficient. Relaxed attention is the loophole for their success. Sometimes, the judicial system may be the catalyst, someday we may ask, "if you knew it why didn't you stop it?" Simply, let the intelligence agencies do their jobs, throwing in laws and regulation is comparable to placing IEDs in the path of a Medic team trying to reach the injured.
Israel's attempt to clean out terror group Hezbollah should be applauded. Take no prisoners but warn the locals when the strikes are arriving. (Huh?)
Spoilt, yes we are.
Preamptive strike, to foil an attempt before it happens.
For the peace of mind and body, pre-amptive strikes sound victorious.
For 9/11, resolve still runs strong for some.
Hat-tip to those whose sacrifices allow me to be "spoilt".