Everything changed on 9/11. Still, nearly a quarter of a century later, we don’t understand our enemy.
How does a virus work and why is it not considered a living being? Viruses cannot reproduce and propagate on their own. One of the conditions for life is the ability to reproduce. Viruses famously commandeer the molecular equipment of a host, make all of their necessary proteins and accessories and, when the time comes, explode the host to release numerous new viral particles to infect and destroy other cells.
When we look at the events surrounding the murderous attacks of 9/11, the terrorists took advantage of features of American society that allowed them to plot, prepare, and execute their plan. For example:
*Some of the terrorists overstayed their visas but were not given the Tom Homan treatment.
*They took flying lessons and were in no way restricted more than a typical American.
*They knew that they could get the box cutters onto the plane due to lax airport security.
*They took advantage of open cockpits or single-door arrangements that allowed them to commandeer the four airplanes on that fateful day.
America went on 9/11 from a high trust country to a land of distrust and security over personal freedom. I still remember the day when one could wait at the gate for a friend or loved one to exit the plane. The process of getting to your plane is one of multiple security stops that may require you to remove clothing, be patted down and in some cases taken aside for further scrutiny. What we had before 9/11 is not coming back. Our new baseline is one of security barriers, armed police everywhere and terror not being something only “over there” but a feature of modern life also in the U.S. The 9/11 attacks were preceded by the earlier World Trade Center parking lot bombing as well as the embassy bombings in Africa. It was not as if they did not know about al Qaeda and its destructive behavior. Years earlier, Hezbollah used the relatively new “truck bomb” to kill nearly 300 American servicemen in one go. Our failures are less related to the technical part about where to put a security barrier as much as our failure to understand our enemy.
If one thinks back to Nazi Germany, Hitler and his cadre felt perfectly justified to mass murder Jews, Gypsies, communists, gays and others. Americans could not think in the same brain patterns as the Nazis and initially discounted the stories of concentration camps with mass murder. Remember, if you take 6 million Jews killed in say 5 years, that comes to a daily average of over 3,000 murdered per day. The Nazis perfected the art of industrial killings; the Americans could not even fathom the concept. And the same is true with Islam. We do not understand Islam which is not just a religion but a political/religious doctrine. Judaism has no interest in managing the lives of non-Jews and when one comes to convert, he or she is pushed away until they insist on joining the tribe. Islam brooks no alternatives. If one converts, then he’s okay. If he does not, then the options on his menu are quite limited and unpleasant: death, second-tier status, slavery, etc. We cannot understand Islam because we think as Westerners: each to his own, respect everyone, keep your head in your own boat with your affairs, and everyone is basically good. Even when groups like Hamas and ISIS not only tell you what they plan to do but actually go out and do it, Western leaders are lost as how to respond, because the bad guys have more options—burning, raping, beheading, torturing, kidnapping—than does the West. It’s like one team comes to play baseball, while its opponent is geared up to play football. The former can’t understand why they are bruised and beaten in what should have been a baseball game.
Israel, by virtue of its location and history, understands the Muslim mindset and realizes that there is no making peace with its enemies. Even groups like Hamas at best offer a few years ceasefire as they rearm and prepare for the next round of murder and mayhem. One can either destroy them or limit their reach so as to make them less dangerous. One cannot make peace with them or live in a manner in which they can arm and destroy you at their leisure. Nobody forced Hamas to enter Israel on Oct. 7. It was a decision that they made, in cahoots with Iran, and the results for Israel were horrific. Well, Gaza and the Gazans have gotten it pretty good, but remember they supposedly love death and they certainly don’t care about civilians and property that can be replaced by their rich Qatari sugardaddy. We should not be like them, but we must understand how their brains work in order to protect ourselves from their depravity and destructive ways.
On the morning of 9/11, a fellow I knew from Harvard was murdered prior to the plane impact with the Twin Towers. They killed several people in order to get the passengers and cabin crew to comply. Like Pearl Harbor, the attack was completely new and caught the U.S. off-guard. By the fourth plane, the U.S. had put all airborne planes on the ground, while the passengers of that ill-fated flight fought valiantly to stop the terrorists. One cannot know how many lives they saved by keeping the plane away from its planned destination.
If the West is to continue and thrive, it needs to raise levels of reproduction and keep large Muslim populations at a distance. Sharia is completely incompatible with Western freedoms and concepts of human rights. That one can take enemy women as sex slaves is an abomination to anyone in the West. That a husband has the right to beat his wife is also abhorrent. If the West wishes to continue, it must stop immigration from Muslim countries, eject any illegal Muslim immigrants, and monitor local Muslim communities for any activity that would be a threat to the state or the people. Europe is too far gone to save itself, as the politicians, courts, press, and “elite” would stop any program for mass-ejection of illegal Muslim immigrants. In the U.S. there still is hope, but we must understand that 9/11 was not an outlier but rather an expression of what Islam thinks of the Judeo-Christian world. Then and today.
9/11 is a strange topic. There are still many who blame Jews/Israel for the events. During the Fall before Rosh Hashanah, there are extra prayers added each morning, so yes some Jews got to the Towers late, but not because of some Mossad plot but rather due to an extra half hour of “Selichot” prayers. While many blame the Jews, the Muslims take great pride in having destroyed the buildings and killing so many Americans. There are plenty of videos of Muslims handing out candies over the attack. So which is it: the Jews in which they need to take their candy back or the Muslims? Bin Laden answered that when he took responsibility for the 20 hijackers he sent to the U.S. to commit the atrocity.
Islam hates the West no less today than on 9/11. The West is just as unprepared to understand its mortal enemy as it was then. As I have asked many times before, what if they make a war and only one side shows up? Israel’s attack—finally—in Qatar was a sign that it is playing for keeps. When will the U.S. and Europe understand that Islam wants to destroy Western culture and society? Only when it is too late?