Sifting Through the Rubble: What can America find in the ruins of 11 September 2001? –
Speech by Patrick Calhoun to Pulaski County Republican Women, Wednesday, 3 October 2001
Sifting Through the Rubble
By Patrick Calhoun
Thank you —— it is always a pleasure to address such a distinguished group of women. A group that has an impressive record of building the Republican Party, not only in Pulaski County, but throughout the entire State of Arkansas. Your efforts here serve as a building block to strengthen the foundation of the National Republican Party.
Originally, I was going to deliver a talk entitled “The Truth About Taxes.” As we all agree, taxation is a very important issue, and I believe it is the most important weapon Republicans can use against the opposition party. However, after the events in New York, it is time to set Taxation and similar issues temporarily aside. America is one big family, and like most families we fuss and fight, we scream and holler, and on the whole partisan friction promotes a healthy system. Conflict actually makes democracy stronger. Our balance of powers, and the constant challenge that shared power brings, is one of the things that have made America the greatest experiment in government that the world has ever known. But in a time of crisis, we must set our differences aside and unite to defeat a common enemy. There will be plenty of time to renew the debate after freedom is once again secure.
In light of the attacks on New York and the nation’s capital, I feel compelled to reflect upon the events of the last few weeks. The title of my presentation today is, “Sifting Through the Rubble: What Can America Find in the Ruins of 11 September 2001?”
As a student of history and political philosophy, I have spent years sifting through old books, manuscripts, letters, and other documents relating to America’s founding and past wars. At times, I feel like an archeologist combing through the rubble of ancient disasters in order to find gems of truth about the American character. After many of these treasure hunts, I’ve uncovered some of America’s most precious principles. Principles such as, Individual Liberty, The Rule of Law, The Sanctity of Private Property, and yes, A Common American Identity.
I’ve spent years researching the American Revolution, and as any student of that period quickly learns, the Revolutionary War caused much destruction and bloodshed. It also cost thousand of American lives, on and off the battlefield. Churches were burned, homes were destroyed, and the British inflicted great suffering on anyone loyal to the American cause. If any of you have seen the Mel Gibson movie “The Patriot,” the movie is a fairly accurate account of the Revolution as it happened in South Carolina.
Yet the seeds of liberty were sown amongst the ashes of destruction. From the rubble of war rose a confederation of former colonies who then set about creating the United States of America. Many of the same patriots who drafted the Declaration of Independence also helped to frame the Constitution, and the Constitution set in motion a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. And here we are 225 years later, still humming right along.
The one thing that I have learned from studying America’s past wars, is that certain principles survive and certain things endure, but above all else I’ve learned that good emerges from every disaster, and good eventually triumphs over evil.
On Tuesday, 11 September, a late summer day with a clear blue sky, war again visited our land. Like all of you, I watched television in horror as New Yorkers ran through the streets to seek safety. It all seemed so very unreal. Our citizens looked like extras in an old horror movie that were running from some alien monster. That’s because they were in fact running from a monster; a monster whose beliefs are indeed alien to everything that America stands for.
Let’s not mince words here. This was an act of terrorism against the United States that was totally and completely despicable in every respect. It was an act of War! And, whether or not it was carried out by Islamic Fundamentalists or Rogue Nations, there was no justification for such an attack! The attack shook the foundations of our security and touched the life of every citizen.
The attack hit very close to home. Arkansas lost a flight attendant from Batesville, and a soldier from Pine Bluff. On that fatal Tuesday, 35 kids from Arkansas Baptist Academy were standing in front of the White House waiting for a tour to begin, when a jet zoomed overhead at an extremely low altitude and finally hit the Pentagon. It’s now believed that the primary target of the jet was the White House, and its secondary target the Pentagon.
On a personal note, my brother’s 23 year-old son, Steven Calhoun, was sitting in a production trailer located ten feet form the North Tower of the World Trade Center, when the first plane crashed into the building approximately 1,000 feet above his head. After fiery debris quit falling from the sky, my nephew and his crew ran toward the South Tower in order to look back and get a clear view of the damage. They then witnessed the second jet exploding into the South Tower, again directly overhead. The Twin Towers are only 250 feet apart and my nephew once again survived a 15-minute shower of flaming steel, glass, and airplane parts.
My family is one of the lucky ones, because Steven lived to see it all and escaped serious injury. Many families aren’t so lucky. Eventually, every citizen’s life will be touched by this disaster.
As the smoke clears, and our anger turns into resolve, I feel that it is very important for every American to understand the forces at work here and what’s truly at stake. To fully comprehend the larger picture, we must first examine the issues. We can start by asking ourselves three basic questions.
Why did this happen? What can we learn? and, Where do we go from here?
Let’s examine the first question. Why did this happen? It happened because there are those in the world who hate us and everything we stand for. These people see America as an oppressor, and they view our society as decadent and licentious. We are not an oppressor, however I’m ashamed to admit that in many ways our popular culture does convey an image of moral decline.
They attacked the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, because these towers were the very symbols or America’s prosperity and the power of free markets. In spite of over-regulation, free markets are a fundamental American institution. We are not prosperous because we oppress the world and force them to buy our products and services. Does Wal-Mart and McDonalds oppress their customers? Do they force their patrons to shop for high value at low costs? Of course not. They prosper because they deliver quality goods at an affordable price, and that’s why they enjoy popularity from their customer base. If they don’t, the markets punish, and they fail.
The United States government did not build the Twin Towers, free commerce did. The World Trade Center was a symbol of the magnificent contribution that commerce makes to civilization. The Twin Towers were once glorious, because they were constructed not to display the glory of the State but to exhibit the creative power of a capitalist economy. What occurred everyday inside the world trade center was important to the flowering of civilization: entrepreneurship, creativity, exchange, service, all of it peaceful, and all of it to the benefit of mankind. Traders, brokers, lenders, insurance agents, architects, and others, were our benefactors, because in a commercial society, the actions of entrepreneurs benefit everyone.
Think especially of the remarkable people in that place who facilitated international trade. They daily accomplished the seemingly impossible. Faced with a world of more than two hundred countries, and hundreds more languages, with as many currencies, and thousands of local cultural differences, and billions of consumers, they found ways to make peaceful exchange possible. They seized on every opportunity that presented itself to enable human cooperation. No government has ever been able to accomplish anything this remarkable. It is a miracle made possible by commerce. Consent and choice, not conflict and coercion, was at the core of everything.
Yes, they earned profits, but their actions benefited all. Even in this country, the impulse to hate the entrepreneurial class shows up in many ways. The left believes that the business class is out to get us, not serve us. Just take a look at the typical college bookstore where students are still required to read Marx and Engles, rather than Adam Smith and Thomas Jefferson. All of the enemies of capitalism act as if its elimination would create the perfect world. They believe that if we could only get ride of those who make a living at everyone else’s expense, we could then live in a Utopian World. (Sounds like the Democrat platform doesn’t it.)
Those who understand economics, and celebrate the creative power of commerce, understand a higher truth about the positive effects of commerce. That is why conservatives seek to eliminate the barriers that governments and anti-capitalists have erected against the businessmen’s freedom.
The rest of the globe has never been able to understand how we’ve accomplished so much. With only 4.5% of the world’s population, and only 6% of the world’s land mass, America is able to produce one-quarter of the world’s output and control one-half of the world’s wealth. We also consume one-half of the world’s production.
The people that destroyed the World Trade Towers have destroyed buildings, but what they have attacked is Western Civilization. Because free markets and Christian principles are the very foundation of Western Civilization. This is a war that has been going on for over 1400 years. It’s noble to remain tolerant of all religions, in fact that’s a very American concept. But reality demands that we explore fundamental differences in the beliefs that have spawned Western Civilization, and the beliefs that oppose it. I would recommend that each of you read Samuel Huntington’s book “Clash of Civilizations.” Then you can form your own opinions on the subject. As women, I don’t think you’ll like what you find. Western Civilization has given us the concept of chivalry and manners, where it’s the duty of a gentleman to protect both the safety and honour of a woman. It is time to take a hard look at our enemy, see that he is evil and limit his influence.
Our next question is, What can we learn?
We must learn that there are great risks associated with a foreign policy that relies on interventionism. American foreign policy has been inconsistent at best, and wrong at worst. We must learn from thirty years of mistakes that have produced only limited success. The first rule of foreign policy is that American influence and US military power should only be used to protect direct US interests.
As much as we would like the world to be just like us, it’s not possible. In the area of foreign policy, we can look to our Founding Fathers for some guidance. In 1797, George Washington warned future generations in his “Farewell Address:” “The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible.”
In 1801, Thomas Jefferson sounded a similar warning in his first Inaugural Address: “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none.”
There is much I admire about Pat Buchanan, but as a Republican, there is much I’ll never be able to forgive him for. However, in his book, A Republic, Not an Empire, he warned that the United States could not be the world’s policeman. “If we run around the globe beating others over the head with a night stick, sooner or later we’ll become involved in a bloody brawl and the end of a dark alley.”
Again our only obligation is to protect vital American interest. This may include protecting our friends, but it should never include provoking our enemies. Have we made mistakes? Yes! And, there are those in other countries who say we brought it on ourselves. I reject this misguided assumption entirely. American is not perfect, but committing such a crime against humanity and trying to say it’s justified, is like murdering your neighbor and all of his children, because his dog tore up your yard. We have made foreign policy mistakes, but acts such as this can never be tolerated.
With regards to U.S. foreign policy, here are more questions that beg to be examined:
- Did the US arm and fund Ben Laden’s forces against the Russians?
- Is the United States presently supporting Islamic fundamentalists in Kosovo and other groups that could turn on us?
- Should we have provided more support to the Shah of Iran in 1978? (Remember the Shah? According to the Carter administration, he’s the bad guy that was imprisoning these very murderers before his pro-western government was overthrown.)
- Should we have taken out Saddam Hussein when he was within our grasp?
And by definition, what are America’s vital interests?
What else can we learn? It should be obvious to all concerned that our immigration policy has been a total failure that has produced horrible results. Any time anyone challenges U.S. immigration policy, they’re immediately labeled a “racists” or “xenophobe.” In the interest of national security, it’s time to put all of this nonsense and political correctness aside and deal with the real issue.
America has always been the home of the free and the land of the brave, and we have always welcomed the world’s oppressed. We should continue to welcome with open arms all those who want to become American citizens regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin. However, it should be achieved only in limited numbers, properly controlled, and under circumstances that can assure rapid assimilation.
Can you imagine what would happen if you threw a dinner party, invited 20 people, and 500 showed up? Your party would soon be out of control!
Yes, at one time we were all immigrants! We have within our own community here in Little Rock, first, second, and third generations with names like Paladino and Slackovich; not to mention Martinous and Hadidi. I love these people, because they are one of us. The fabric of American culture is strong because it is woven with threads of many colors and nationalities. But we are Americans first, because we embrace a common set of values, and we share a common identity.
How can we fix this problem? First, we should dramatically reduce the number of legal immigrants entering this country to a manageable level. (That’s probably somewhere between 250 and 500 thousand immigrants per year.) Second, we should actively hunt down all illegal aliens and send them home. Third, we must re-evaluate who we’re letting into the country and why. Would you want thieves, not to mention suicide bombers coming to your dinner party?
At least 16 of the 19 terrorist hijackers reportedly entered the country with legal visas, and they could have even been motor-voters! President Bush should purge the State Department of Clinton-era bureaucrats responsible for allowing so many murderous plotters to live and work among us.
Congress can also take three immediate and overdue steps:
No.1) Eliminate the J-1 and M-1 visa programs for suicide pilots. Seven of the hijack bombers had pilot’s licenses, and they studied at various flight-training institutes in Florida and community colleges in San Diego. At lease two of the suicide pilots reportedly entered the country with special M-1 training visas. Flight school operators say the State Department rubber-stamps student paperwork, and enforcement against students who overstay their visas is non-existent. No wonder suicide pilot leader Mohammed Atta, who appeared on the State Department terrorist watch list, slipped through the cracks. What’s sad is that virtually anyone, from anywhere, with unknown reasons, can obtain a student visa.
No. 2) Congress should reintroduce legislation to track all foreign nationals. Many of the hijackers apparently overstayed short-term B-1 and B-2 business and tourist visas. The U.S. remains the only major industrialized nation in the world with no centralized system for monitoring alien visa-holders.
As part of a 1996 immigration reform measure, Congress mandated an automated entry-exit tracking system for all foreign nationals. But with bipartisan help President Clinton effectively repealed it, and replaced it with a toothless database requirement that remains unenforced. Over 40 percent of illegal aliens in this country are tourists who overstay their visas. What good is an expiration date if no one enforces it?
No. 3) Congress should freeze U.S. admissions of foreign students from Arab countries. Two of the hijack bombers reportedly attended American military academies. One received training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas; the other may have studied tactics at the Air War College in Alabama, and they may have received F-1 academic visas.
For years, researchers have warned about the dangers of allowing students from terrorist-friendly nations to pursue higher education in the U.S. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy reported that Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Sudan – all listed by the State Department as state-sponsors of terrorism – sent nearly 10,000 students to the U.S. between 1991 and 1996. Among the visa recipients:
- A key scientist in Iraq’s nuclear weapons program who earned a doctorate in nuclear engineering at Michigan State University;
- Three Iranian scientists involved in developing the Iranian nuclear program;
- And, a Jordanian who studied engineering at Wichita State University in Kansas and participated in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Until we have a fully operational tracking system, the United States should suspend the academic exchange program for all terrorism-sponsoring Middle East countries and their Arab neighbors.
We must also learn that a strong military is necessary to national defense. The first obligation of a government is to protect its people from foreign invasion and attack. During the Clinton administration, military spending fell from 24% of the federal budget to 16%. Expressed another way, defense spending dropped from 5.2% of Gross Domestic Product in 1990, to just under 3% of GDP in 2000. Today, we have the weakest military that we’ve had in over 60 years.
Another thing we can learn is that, the unthinkable, can really happen. With that in mind it’s time to build a missile defense system. The prospects for the SDI never looked so good. Ronald Reagan’s grand vision for the ultimate in “Homeland Security,” might actually become a reality. But, according to most Democrats, right now — there are no inbound missiles and a missile defense system only threatens prescription drugs, food stamps, corporate welfare, and other federal handouts.
Let’s examine our final question, Where do we go from here?
Well, It appears that we must now go to war. We must avenge our national honor, we must eliminate a serious threat to national security, and we must return injustice with justice. This will be a war that will try our resolve, but this war will be won or lost by American citizens, not diplomats, politicians or soldiers. Now is a time to remember who we are, and recall the mistakes of our past.
We need only look back to the tragedy of Vietnam to realize that without a strong national resolve we cannot win. The North Vietnamese overran the South, without ever winning one single tactical battle. American forces were victorious on the battlefields of Vietnam, but we simply gave up and came home.
The Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz, says that there is a “remarkable trinity of war” that is composed of (1.) the will of the people, (2.) the political leadership of the government, and (3.) the chance and probability that plays out on the field of battle, in that order. The will of the American people will decide this war. If we win, it will be because we have what it takes to persevere through a few more hits, learn from our mistakes, improvise and adapt.
However, this will be a war that must be waged with surgical precision. If we engage in indiscriminate bombing, we will do exactly what Bin Laden wants us to do. We will drive millions of resentful Islamic citizens into the arms of the terrorists.
We must not be tempted to throw away the best weapon we have, which is a sense of embarrassment among Islamic political leaders regarding what was done in New York, in the name of Islam. The primary objective of the attackers was not to take down the Trade Towers, but rather their main objective is to draw the United States into a holy war that will take down pro-western governments in their own region. The stability of the entire Middle East will be determined by how we handle our response.
I have never before been so proud of a leader as I was of President Bush when he addressed congress, the nation, and the world a couple of weeks ago. He delivered a powerful message and said exactly what needed to be said, to both our people, and to our adversaries. His words were both accurate and appropriate. Like many of you that helped elect him, I hung on every word, but most especially when he spoke on behalf of a united country.
His words gave us comfort and direction when he said, “ Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done. I know there are struggles ahead and dangers to face, but this country will define our times, not be defined by them. Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger, we have found our mission and our moment.”
I don’t think that it can be said any better than that. G.W. made us proud!
11 September 2001 is now part of American history. What happened on that fateful day and its after shocks will be recorded for future generations to study, and there will be many lessons to learn.
As we sift through the rubble of the greatest national disaster of our lifetime, what can we find? We find that America is strong, and that the principles that make us great have endured. The base of America’s freedom is intact after that horrible explosion in New York on a late summer day, under a clear blue sky.
From the rubble we retrieve the gems of truth about the American character. These are precious principles such as:Individual Liberty, The Rule of Law, and a Common American Identity.
Amongst the ashes, we also find, that Western Civilization is founded on Christian truths about human nature that give us supreme strength in times of crisis. And, we find that terrorism is the deplorable strategy of those who are physically and morally weak. And finally, we uncover the answers to our three central questions.
· Why did this awful tragedy happen? What can we learn? And, Where do we go from here?
Why did this happen? It happened because there are people and political organizations in the world that hate us and will stop at nothing to destroy us. It happened because as a people we have been complacent for way too long. We have failed to address the immigration crisis and other direct threats to everything that we hold dear. And it happened because we have allowed others to squander our national security as a peace dividend.
What can we learn? We can learn that the world really is a dangerous place and that there is a price to be paid for ignoring the obvious about our enemies. We can learn that bad foreign policy will generally produce bad results. We can also learn to put America first and stay out of foreign barroom brawls unless the fight threatens direct national interest, or the security of our most loyal allies.
And finally, Where do we go from here? Centuries ago George Washington warned,
“If we are wise, let us prepare for the worst.” First, we must bury out dead and show love, compassion, and concern for every individual and family that was injured in this brutal attack. Second, we must unite around our President, our leaders, and the very principles that make us who we are.
With unflinching resolve, we should defend this country, punish those responsible, but at the same time protect everything that we hold dear as Americans. Liberty, Justice, and the American dream.
But most especially, as Republicans, we must fight to defend a core set of founding ideas that make us the greatest nation in the world. We do not strike the enemy to protect our prosperity, power, or international prestige, but rather we fight to defend those principles that make all of these things possible.
This is a time to unite, to stand tall, and to defend all that we believe. Ronald Reagan warned that, “Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction.” My mother and father are part of the greatest generation, and we are part of the present generation. From our generation to theirs, I call on all of you today, to join with me and pledge together that, “During this watch, the lamp of liberty will not go out!” Thank you, and may God protect the people of the United States of America!!!