Colonel Nathan Jessup: "Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls need to be guarded by men with guns."
News arrived hours ago that a team of Navy Seals had infiltrated a hideout in Pakistan and killed Al Qaeda terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden. Great news for America, but the celebrations are shortsighted, and far too premature. Bin Laden was just one of many terrorists. Even though he is dead, there will be others who will follow him.
When I titled this blog post "Thank You Colonel Jessup" I was trying to express my appreciation for members of our United States military who earn their pay the hard way. Most Americans sleep safely in their beds at night because we have some great men who are willing to do whatever is necessary to protect us. These men are usually anonymous. We don't know who it was that put their own ass on the line by helicoptering into that firefight.... but it was something that many Navy Seals do all the time. It's part of their routine. They do their work in quiet. They stay out of the limelight.
President Barack Obama, on the other hand, gets to go on TV all over the world and announce Osama Bin Ladens death. The President, whom I dislike, made a high-quality speech that few other politicians can pull off. He was modest and did not claim all the credit for ending the life of one of our countries biggest enemies. He even gave his usual hat tip to the Muslims by saying that "..we are not at war with Islam".
Well, not yet, anyway...
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those anonymous soldiers and sailors and airmen for all they do to keep us safe. Thanks to all the Colonel Jessups out there in the world.
I'm also feeling very grateful to the man who put Osama Bin Laden on the run for the rest of his life.
Let's not forget the man who got this project started.
Thank you, President Bush.
