September 11, 2001. Some 2,973 innocent Americans were brutally murdered on that day by a group of fundamentalist, Muslim terrorists. Today, only five short years later, it appears that half of the citizens of our nation have forgotten the pain that those terrorists inflicted upon us.
President George W. Bush, after 9/11, swore that he would not stop until the terrorists were brought to justice. He is still holding to that promise today by keeping up the good fight against terror around the globe.
While President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and many other conservatives in the government are waging war against terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and other places worldwide, Democrats are only hindering the effort.
Left-wing Democrats in this country have abandoned our continuing struggle against terrorism altogether. They have decided to nestle back into their cozy lives and wait for another massive terrorist attack to occur.
As we say on our sports teams here at Bowdoin, a strong offense is the best defense. Currently, our offense is the best in the world. Yet if it were up to the Democrats, it would be significantly weakened.
Democrats have denounced our troops, tried prematurely to withdraw troops, sided with terrorists over one of our most faithful allies (Israel), exposed key terror fighting tools such as the NSA wiretapping program, and have, to put it bluntly, been detrimental to the well-being of our great country.
It disgusts me that so many of my fellow Americans, who stood so strong on and shortly after 9/11, now whimper and cry about government programs created with the sole intention of catching terrorists here and abroad. They defend terrorist prisoners when they are "mistreated." However, the American prisoners whom terrorists abduct in Iraq and Afghanistan get their heads chopped off with machetes. I believe the terrorist at Guantanamo Bay and other prisons are treated significantly better than they deserve.
Here at Bowdoin I would expect students to think rationally about what is going on in our country and who is trying to defend us. Yet many here support a party whose stance is retreating from the war on terror and opening our borders to anyone who wants to enter (and blow us up).
The current government has been steadfast on the issue of defeating terrorists. The next time you think about bashing President Bush, his allies, or his policies, think about who is currently fighting back for the actions of Al Qaeda on 9/11. Bush is. The Democrats gave up on this fight shortly after the biggest terrorist attack in our nation's history in order to strengthen their party politically. As long as Republicans are in power, they will continue to fight terrorists. Democrats in the government and the American population will not do the same.
Zach Linhart '07 is co-chairman of the Bowdoin College Republicans.