Soap Box

I'll never forget 9/11/01, the morning that the world changed forever. The morning the mighty United States of America experienced a kind of evil we thought we were immune to, basically believing that our in place defenses and the threat of our might would deter any enemy foolish enough to attack the homeland.

I had some errands to run that day and after the first plane hit my son called me to let me know about it, and like almost everybody else in this nation I thought it was a horrible commercial accident, but soon after, when the second plane hit, the Pentagon was attacked and the plane crashed in Pennsylvania it became abundantly clear that the unthinkable had happened and our beloved country was under attack.

There followed a couple of the most confusing days in our nation's history as America tried to figure out what had happened, why and if it was over. No planes were flying, the ground where the twin towers of the World Trade Center had been was a huge hole full of twisted, smoking wreckage, there was a gaping hole in the north wall of the Pentagon and there were acres of scarred earth where some heroes on United Flight 93 thwarted the plans of the terrorists and brought the plane down in a field in Pennsylvania.

But the confusion faded fast and a period of togetherness and patriotism took hold of the country as Americans everywhere realized that regardless of race, creed, color or political affiliation we were all in this together and we needed each other and we needed God.

We did a concert in Harrison, Arkansas that weekend and all the way across the country the marquees in front of roadside businesses had patriotic slogans and American flags. Retail outlets quickly ran out of flags, they were everywhere along the road, on cars and even flying from the backs of trailers on 18-wheelers.

America was united and the confusion and was replaced by a deep, cold anger and a burning desire to pay back in kind, but it would be many years and many changes before Osama Bin Laden would be located and killed in Pakistan, but his terrorist organization, al-Qaeda and their accomplices, the Taliban, would keep American military tied up in Afghanistan for many years looking for him.

One year ago on 9/11 another tragedy took place as four Americans were murdered in Benghazi Libya by a mob of terrorists. One was a US ambassador whose body was raped and mutilated.

Though the attack lasted for somewhere around nine hours, and there were security resources available, no attempt was made to send help.

So far, even though the network news reporters seem to have no problem locating the terrorists responsible for the murders in Benghazi, there have been no arrests, no retaliation and no resolution. The personnel who were present during the attack, the eyewitnesses, have not been brought forth to tell what they saw and experienced that night and the president doesn't even want to talk about it.

Hillary Clinton has made the statement that it makes no difference whether the attack was part of a spontaneous protest or a coordinated terrorist attack and the administration just basically ignores it.

Where 9/11/01 brought a desperate and hurting nation together, 9/11/12 has torn it apart as citizens seek answers that are never forthcoming, vengeance that is never exacted and explanations that are ignored and stonewalled and we are more confused than ever.

How does it end? I just don't know, but one thing I do know.

We still need each other and we still need God.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

— Charlie Daniels

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