The root of our own destruction...

On April 19, 1775, British troops killed 8 colonists and wounded 10 others in the battle of Lexington. The British continued on toward Concord and after a skirmish with about 150 Minutemen, they headed toward Boston. Following the battle of Concord, Patriot Minuteman raced ahead of the British army and hid behind trees, rocks, houses, barns and alongside roads. The British army made an easy target for patriot snipers as they marched in traditional formation wearing bright red uniforms.

The British were unwilling to adapt to this new kind of warfare because it was ‘ungentlemanly’ and as a result, the most well trained army in the world was defeated by a poorly financed, poorly trained, and poorly equipped group of farmers and tradesmen.

America has now fallen into a similar trap. We have underestimated the ferocity of our enemy and the depth of their hatred. We are marching in the formation of political correctness while our enemy is most-assuredly plotting something beyond even our 9-11 comprehension. Certainly, they will not go backward to a time when a simple bomb or hijacking would get their message across.

You can’t fight fair when you are fighting someone without limits or conscience. You can’t march in formation wearing bright red uniforms and not expect to be decimated. It is a new kind of enemy and we must wage a new kind of war. You can have policies hindered by political correctness or you can have policies that catch terrorists. You cannot have both.

On the eve of the fifth anniversary of 9-11, Osama bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri issued a lengthy video statement calling on Muslims to step up their resistance to the United States and warning that "new events" are on the way. "Your leaders are hiding from you the true extent of the disaster," al-Zawahiri said in the video, which appeared on Islamist Web sites on Sunday. "And the days are pregnant and giving birth to new events, with Allah's permission and guidance."

Our enemy is united in their hatred of us but we are unfocused-- divided by our hatred of each other. It doesn’t matter whether you love Bush or hate him—expending all of this energy against a lame duck president is ludicrous. Al Quaida--who killed nearly 3,000 of our countrymen in cold blood, is still out there…planning and plotting and what are we doing—coming up with tricky bumper stickers in an effort to point the finger. No wonder they hate us—we are a nation of fighting, whining children with little resolve and even less backbone.

Terrorists have been quoted as saying that failure to act when The U.S.S. Cole was attacked emboldened them in the 9-11 attacks. You may hate George Bush and you may hate this war, but, he acted--and with the support of congress and the American people. If it makes you feel better to say that George Bush is evil...then go ahead...but, you know it isn't true. What is true and rarely publicized is that 5,000 terrorists have been captured around the world since 9-11. Perhaps one of those 5,000 terrorists was heading in your direction—picture it for a minute...your city, your subway car, the drinking fountain at your child’s school.

Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand”. There are those whose biggest hope is that Bush will fail; but, if Bush fails, America fails…we all fail and we all fall. We have a common enemy; they are well-financed, well-trained and well-equipped. It is too big a fight to stand as republicans and democrats but it is not--nor will it ever be-- bigger than a united America.

America will not fall to terrorists unless we allow it to happen by virtue of division and complacency. In that case, we don’t need Al Quaida, we will be our own worst enemy. America came into being because the greatest army in the world could not imagine being out maneuvered by a group of undisciplined guerrillas hiding behind trees. How ironic if that kind of thinking was the root of our own destruction.