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March 29th, 2024

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Bush's Big 9/11 Mistake

Alicia Colon

By Alicia Colon

Published Sept. 15, 2016

 Bush's Big 9/11 Mistake

Although I generally supported Pres. Bush's actions in the war against terrorism, I have always felt he made a gigantic error when he said this after the horror of September 11, 2001:


"Ours is a war not against a religion, not against the Muslim faith. But ours is a war against individuals who absolutely hate what America stands for, and hate the freedom of the Czech Republic. And therefore, we must work together to defend ourselves. And by remaining strong and united and tough, we'll prevail."


The president made similar comments over the months to follow probably in deference to our Muslim allies in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey but he ended up reducing the war language to PC protocol. Considering the undisputed facts that the 9/11 murderers and all the other jihadist terrorists claim to be doing their horrendous deeds because the Koran commands them to do so and they yell Allahu Akbar before releasing their deadly weapons, Bush should have admitted that a certain faction of Islam was our enemy.

During WWII, Japanese and German Americans were taken from their homes and sequestered in internment camps but I certainly am not suggesting that this was ever an option after 9/11. However, once the general consensus policy was to bend over backwards so as not to offend the Muslim community, the doublespeak term of Islamaphobia was widely used to short circuit any attempt to weed out potential terrorists. How did that happen?

The PC culture has made the proliferation of the Lone Wolf terrorist and sleeper cells hard to contain. There were steps that could have been implemented to curtail their development. Liberals here in NYC managed to stop the very effective surveillance of suspect mosques. These politicians halted the use of undercover agents due to pressure from Muslim groups like C.A.I.R which incidentally has connections with terror groups.

No real effort was made to halt or monitor visas from countries with known terror activities. In light of the fact that many Americans have been recruited by radical Imams in prisons, authorities are reluctant to restrain their visits.

Political Correctness kills. Individuals who came in touch with radical Islamists like 9/11 killer Mohammed Atta, Major Nidal Hasan, San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, all feared being called Islamaphobic so they suppressed their natural instinct to alert others.

Although as a conservative and potential Trump voter, I might be a member of Hillary's 'deplorables', I am certainly not a typical xenophobic. I grew up in a Manhattan barrio and loved the city's international community. But the immigrants at that time are not anything like those entering our country today who seem to be bent on its destruction and mayhem. By not openly acknowledging the danger of fundamental Islam and jihadists, Bush commanded us to treat all Muslims with respect regardless of any terrorist ties.

It is the height of outrageous irony that after the worst attack on our country by fanatical Muslims, the Muslim community has grown in both influence and population. To some degree, 9/11 was a great victory to Islamist supremacists because they named any opposition to Muslim Brotherhood mosques and Sharia initiatives as Islamaphobic. The fact is that there has been an increase of 100% of new mosques since 9/11, 2001. Liberal politicians supported the building of a mosque just a few blocks away from Ground Zero and when I wrote that it was unseemly to have the NYC Board of Education establish an Arab language school in the city still reeling from the attacks, I was bombarded by vicious hate mail.

As an irredeemable, deplorable voter, I am not afraid to recall the cheers of Palestinians in the Middle East that arose in the crowds overjoyed that the Great Satan had been attacked. London has been the site of several 9/11 celebrations with radical Mullahs urging them to learn the lessons of the murderous attacks. Not all Muslims are terrorists but most of the terrorists in the last 50 years have purported to be devout Muslims. Yet we are always reminded that Islam is a religion of peace.

I have lived next to Albanian Muslims for nearly forty years. They are wonderful neighbors and even sent their children to the same Catholic school my children attended. It is very easy to distinguish between moderate Muslim Americans and the fundamentalists in the way the men treat the women. Any Muslim who believes in Sharia Law should not be living in the United States. This law is incompatible with our code of justice.

Before 9/11, women wearing full burkas were almost non existent but they are appearing more and more on the streets. I don't recall Madison Avenue traffic stopped so that a crowd of Muslins can pray on Muslim Day.


Similar massive prayer events are now planned in several states with large Muslim populations but are they praying for peace or showing strength in numbers?

Academic institutions are using taxpayer money to fund footbaths for Muslims in schools. Most of these accommodations have been made since 9/11 and since questioning all of this confirms my status as a deplorable, I will dare to ask this as well. Since Islam demands praying five times a day and foot washing is required before prayer, then in essence aren't devout Muslims unemployable? Only a Muslim employer would allow these interruptions of duties.

If being prudent and having reasonable reactions to those who want to kill us make us deplorable, so be it but if George W. Bush had been a little less politically correct in naming our enemy we really would be safer 15 years later.

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