Statement to the POTUS and 9/11/01, 9/11/12 Remembrances

Today marks 12 years since 9/11/01, and one year since 9/11/12.  I will try to put into words how angry I feel when thinking about these two days, but for very different reasons.

9/11/01:  I was working at the C.I.D. (Criminal Investigative Division, Fort Belvoir, VA) when the first plane hit the first tower.  My coworkers and myself all looked at each other and wondered how a plane could hit that big towering building.  We thought maybe someone had a medical emergency, and we said a quick prayer that since it was still early in the morning that maybe there wouldn't be too much death or damage.  As we heard screams from the adjoining office when the second plane hit the second tower, I looked at my boss who was a 23 year Army vet, and told him we were under attack.  Except for three of us who were veterans, everyone else in our offices were civilians and thought we were overreacting. I told them they were fools if they thought that it was an accident, and started getting my things together to head home. As I was calling my daycare provider, the third plane hit the Pentagon.  I turned to my boss, told him I was leaving before the highways were shut down, and ran as fast as I could to my car.  As I thought of how many people that I possibly knew who might be at the Pentagon, a horrifying realization hit me. I was supposed to be in the Pentagon working on Donald Rumsfeld's staff.  The contract that I was trying to be added to fell through, and I was assigned to C.I.D. instead.

As I raced up Route 1 and crossed the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, I looked to my left across the Potomac River, and could see the Pentagon on fire.  Tall billowing columns of smoke rose above the horizon, and I felt sheer terror as I passed Andrews Air Force Base, and saw the jets and helicopters overhead.  The signs northbound on I-95 read: "Stay out of New York" "Imminent Danger!"  I don't know what the southbound signs read, but I can guess they were saying to stay out of D.C.  The rest of my drive was a blur until I pulled into my daycare provider's driveway where she met me with my baby girl, who was only 4 at the time.  I stayed at the daycare for a couple of hours, just holding my child, and leaning on my daycare provider and crying.  I then went to my dad's house, where I anxiously awaited to hear from anyone.  Since my dad is a 21 years Army vet, he had many friends that work within the government esp. in D.C., and I knew many of my Army pals were in the area, so later that night I tried finding where everyone was.  It was an agonizing week while waiting for identification of the bodies that were being taken from the buildings that were attacked that horrible morning.

I felt a sense of rage that I found difficult to get rid of, especially when driving past the Pentagon.  I know that if I hadn't been medically discharged, I would've went right back to active duty.  President Bush was strong in the face of our enemies.  He and our troops kicked ass and took names.

Since that history altering day, I have made a point to have my children watch the documentaries each year, so they will never forget how we got to where we are today.  I know my painful memories don't come close to what those that lost loved ones feel every year, every month, every day.

9/11/12:  I went to bed that night hearing about an attack on our embassy in Libya, and prayed as I went to sleep that everyone would be ok.  When I awoke the next morning, I was mortified to find out that our Ambassador and some of his staff had be killed.  Our Ambassador!  I thought, "How did that happen?!?"  As the days went on I began to feel like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, as it seemed more and more people within the administration were hiding what happened that night, leading all the way up to the President.  The people in charge all claimed that they needed time to figure out what happened, when anyone with a basic knowledge of how the military works knows that their initial statements saying that they didn't have the knowledge on the ground to scramble jets was a bunch of B.S. Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty died on a rooftop lazing a target, fighting for their lives.  Why would they do that if they didn't think that someone was nearby?  We know that Charlene Lamb and others were watching real time. We know that there were drones in the area.

We train our SEALS to think independently, and to imply that they wouldn't be able to relay what was going on down below, to guide where to bring forces in to help defend the annex, makes my blood pressure rise to dangerous levels.  If these idiots in D.C. are saying that they can't rely on information on the ground, then they need to bring all of our troops home until this inept administration is out of office!  They are a deadly threat to our troops, our civilians, and our government employees and their families, and they have no business being in charge.  They don't give a damn about us, and I am ticked that so many people ignored Benghazi, or didn't even know what it was even after the elections.

Where was former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who admitted she didn't talk to anyone from the DoD that night?  Where was Vice President Biden, who was supposed to be this international genius, after having the initial meeting with the President?  Where was the President of the United States, as our men died waiting for help that never came?!?  WHO GAVE THE STAND DOWN ORDER??? THEY HAD A CHANCE TO LIVE!!! Was Obama even in the White House? Or was he too busy getting ready to go to Las Vegas, because you know, campaigning must be more important than our Ambassador being under attack?

I am furious that this administration just wants to sweep Benghazi under the rug, and then hope that we will forget what happened over there.  Or at least don't make such a big deal about it.  WELL TOO DAMN BAD!!!  We will never forget the betrayal of them not helping them after three requests were sent to the State Department.  Hillary Clinton sucks as a friend to Christopher Stevens, if that is how she treats her "friends".  She can scream her perceived righteous indignation about "What difference does it make?!?", all she wants.  She has blood on her hands, and she is finding it quite hard to wash it off.

And now we are looking down the rabbit hole once again, but this time into Syria.  The Nobel Peace Prize recipient of 2009 is about to inflict a "pinprick" to the Assad regime using rockets. Really.  A pinprick?  The President talks of the deaths of all of those children when he addressed the nation tonight, while thousands are ripped from their mother's wombs every day here in this country.  So apparently I am only supposed to be outraged over Syria, but ignore the government sanctioned death of millions here on our shores?  No thank you.  Both make me outraged.  Only one is celebrated and touted by our own government, abortion.  Sorry Mr. President, but good luck trying to convince people to be moved by images of children killed in a civil war, when those same people aren't moved by images of unborn babies that were ripped from their mother's womb.

We cannot afford to go into Syria, just to hand over more weapons to the terrorists. I don't trust who is the the White House, or any of the higher ups in government today. They have been shown to be incompetent, so while our enemies laugh at us, our allies cringe at our weakness. You cannot appeal to a society to feel mercy towards children killed by chemical weapons or any weapons for that matter, and then turn around and show no regard for the weakest among us.

Mr. President, you cannot appease evil.  You cannot possibly think that if you're nice that everyone will all of a sudden get along, and the terrorists won't want to kill us.  To think that is dangerous and deadly; just ask those that survived the 9/11/01 attack, and the Benghazi attack...

R.I.P. to all of those that lost their lives at the hands of terrorism...

9/11/01 Part Deux

*Caution!  Graphic picture below


So I woke up the morning of 9/12/2012, to the sad news that one of our ambassadors to the Middle East, Christopher Stevens and his staff had been killed, and our embassy in Cairo had been breached. My first thought was, "What is the administration going to do about this?"  My second thought was, "This should be an act of war (in Libya)!"  I was sadly disappointed with their tepid response.  Secretary of State Clinton had somewhat of an emotional response, but the President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, had the most weak-kneed, please forgive us, don't kill anymore of our people, reply to the terrorists.  He strongly condemned their actions, and said we will bring them to justice.  Really?  Does he really think that they give a rat's ass about his scolding them?  This administration learned nothing from George W. Bush.  What we need to do is find them and kill them, and let their god sort them out.  We don't have time to play nice, and try to appease them.  We need to immediately pull all aid out of those two countries, and tell them good luck.  We are not going to support you while you kill our citizens, and overrun our embassies.

There is a reason that these attacks happened on 9/11/12... the terrorists will find smaller avenues to hit us from now on, and I see them doing it every year from now on, on 9/11 because they believe we have fallen asleep again.  They believe our leadership is a bunch of pushovers.  How is it that the president has only attended an  anemic 38% of recent presidential daily briefings (in the last 18 months), and during the beginning of his administration only attended 43.8% of these meetings?  Maybe we should blame Obama for not paying attention to security, and being too busy getting back to his next game of golf.  And since he never left the campaign trail, we all know where his priorities lie.  You know, since everything was Bush's fault, can we now lay blame at the feet of Obama for the mess that Romney is going to have to deal with come November?

By the way, the Libyan Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif said, "They are to blame simply for not withdrawing their personnel from the premises, despite the fact that there was a similar incident when Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed," he said, referring to the death of the deputy chief of al-Qaeda in a U.S. drone strike in June. "It was necessary that they take precautions. It was their fault that they did not take the necessary precautions."  

Unbelievable!!!  This was the real reason for those attacks, not that stupid video by Sam Bacile.

We don't need to be, "Clear-eyed and even in our grief" per Hillary Clinton.  We need to be like a bull enraged, lace up our combat boots, and go kick some ass!!!  And for those of you that continue to believe that if we are nice to them, they will respect us, here's your proof that they don't give a damn about you...

May Chris Stevens and his embassy staff rest in peace...

Bin Laden is dead...now what?

Now that Bin Laden is dead, what should we do? I've spoken to my friend Chris Plante many times about this. Chris would ask me what is our mission over there? Here's how I saw it: Our main mission when we first went in there was to rout out the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden. Period. Not to build schools and roads, or hospitals or the Afghani military. Kill the bad guys and leave. Now we can leave. The rebuilding of that country is up to the Afghani people.

There was much criticism about the wisdom of fighting in the mountains of Afghanistan. After the beating that the Russians took in the 80's, people thought it would be unwise. There were others however, just a few weeks after 9/11/01, who quietly worked behind the scenes in Afghanistan. Those who said, "We will make those that attacked us pay."

Tonight America can celebrate a victory that was a long time coming. I'm watching people dancing and cheering in the streets. It's now almost 0100 on the morning of May 2, and there are still people pouring into Times Square, and gathering outside of the White House. We deserve this. I hope those overseas that were dancing in the streets while our buildings burned, and people jumped to their deaths out of the windows of the World Trade Center, are now watching us dance. This monster had attacked us time and time again, and I hope he felt a cold chill when he realized he was going to die.

Housed in Pakistan, in a military area about 60 miles north of Islamabad, Bin Laden and one of his sons, were living in a specially built compound. So now I'm wondering who gave up his location? Whoever they are, they are very rich indeed. Our military command with the help of Islamic Affairs is handling his body, and they are treating him with more respect than his own people have done with our troops.

I remember seeing the Pentagon on fire that horrible day on 9/11/01. As I raced into Maryland across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, I was filled with a rage that rose within me like a volcano. I knew we would strike at those that hit us, and we would hit them with the full might of our military. Although many of my family and friends have been to either Iraq or Afghanistan, thankfully they all came back alive.

I am forever indebted to those that gave their all. I am grateful to those who have served, are still serving, and those that have yet to serve. And to our Special Forces...you are the reason America will sleep better tonight! May God bless you and this great country!


MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!