From: "Thomas Abbott" debtcrusader@email.msn.com>
Date: Tue Sep 11, 2001 7:38 pm
Subject: RE: [Streams-Online] America Under Attack
Thank you for all your sympathy.
I am a retired intelligence officer (for a time, I used to work at the Pentagon) and I spent three years living and working in the Middle East, where concerns about terrorism are commonplace. I have long felt that because we in America felt so secure, that America was ripe for a massive terrorist attack. To paraphrase a famous quote, "That which I have feared has overtaken us."
It has been interesting in this forum to gain understanding of other
cultures - so perhaps I can do the service of explaining a bit of American culture for the forum so you can understand the significance of this event.
Regarding the reference to Pearl Harbor. Before World War II, America felt secure. We were surrounded by oceans of distance from any potential attacker, we were economically self-sufficient, and there was strong sentiments of isolationism. Frankly, there was probably a dash of arrogance added in as we thought we didn't need the rest of the world and no one could touch us. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor shook us from those attitudes. It united the population with a common goal, it convinced us that events around the world affected us as well as the citizens of those far countries, and it eliminated that feeling of security.
It was a watershed event, and it precipitated America's entry on the world stage. Japanese Admiral Yamamoto is quoted after the attack as saying, "I am afraid that we have awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with a terrible resolve." America went on to become a world leader after that event, and we never returned to being a nation of sleepy little villages. So, when you say "Pearl Harbor" to an American, he understands it to mean the event which revealed our vulnerabilities, which made us acknowledge our world responsibilities, and which motivated us to develop our power. It was an event which changed us forever.
Today's events may play a similar role in our history. While terrorist attacks have occurred elsewhere in the world, they have been very limited attacks on US soil. [Even the Oklahoma City bombing a few years ago was done by Americans - not someone from another nation. We somehow take comfort from that.] So, when it comes to world terrorism, we Americans have lived with a false sense of security. "It can't happen here," we thought.
Radical terrorist groups have said for years that they consider themselves to be in a war. We didn't take it seriously. "What war? They can't harm us," we thought.
So, like Pearl Harbor 60 years ago, the attacks today have revealed our vulnerability to terrorism. They have opened the eyes of the average American to the existence of a world wide "Terrorist War", and have demonstrated that in this area, we ARE part of the world community. We now see our responsibilities in a new light, and recognize our need to cooperate with others. I can assure you that anti-terrorist action will be on the new American agenda. As Pearl Harbor was a wake up call, so too is Sept. 11th.
Please pray for the USA. Pray that we would be motivated by a desire for justice, and not a desire for vengeance. Pray that I and my countrymen may be angry, yet not sin. Pray that as we become more active in anti-terrorist efforts, that we would align ourselves with the righteous, and not just the powerful. Pray that we will use our power in accordance with God's will, and not in accordance with man's anger. Pray for the tens of thousands who have died or been injured, for their families, and for those who's job will be to rescue survivors and to go into the remains of those unstable buildings to "clean up the mess."
God bless the USA!
In Christ's Sufficiency,
The Rev. Dcn. Tom Abbott debtcrusader@msn.com
(904) 646-3064
