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Fighting terror must be four-pronged effort


Since the end of the Cold War in 1990, the biggest threat to the free world has been terrorism. What we saw Sept. 11 isn't the full potential of the stronger organizations. Some nations have chemical and biological warfare capabilities, which have turned up in the hands of terrorist organizations around the world. It is these organizations and nations that pose a threat to the free world and must be dealt with.The U.S. has only one option for retaliation and that would be to form a coalition among nations and declare war on all known terrorist organizations and nations that support them.This coalition would have to do four things: 1) share intelligence; 2) insert teams of counterterrorism operatives to sabotage terrorist operations; 3) place trade embargoes on these nations to weaken their economy; and, finally, 4) have planned military strikes on all military and terrorist strongholds in the area.Over time, the embargo would weaken their economy, the military strikes would weaken their military and the operatives would weaken the organizations.If the United States retaliates, it would have to completely wipe out terrorism from the planet. If we don't, what we saw on Sept. 11 will continue, and the next attack possibly will be more devastating than what we have seen.Michael PlambeckNinth-grade StudentLarkin High SchoolElginMemories of towers and a friend now dead
Back in 1970, I remember sitting around the living room in our home in Bricktown, N.J., with my parents and grandparents. At the time, I was 7 years old. While sitting on my grandmother's lap, my grandfather asked me why I was so quiet. I told him I was sad that the Empire State building wasn't going to be the tallest building anymore.Many New Yorkers cursed the stark towers (of the World Trade Center) as a possible eyesore to their beautiful skyline. But over the years they were accepted, as they seemed more to complete the skyline than detract from it.I liked to draw when I was young, and I used to draw pictures of the New York skyline and have vivid memories of watching the towers go up when we would travel to the Bronx to visit my grandparents.The terrorists reached back into my childhood and tore up many wonderful memories.When I arrived home on Sept. 13, my wife informed me that the pilot of United Flight 175 was my good friend, Michael Horrocks. We enjoyed the Jersey shore, and we lived near each other in the same neighborhood in West Chester, Pa., for two years. We played on the same football team together. I joined the Marine Corps in 1981. Michael joined a few years later and went to Officers Candidate School and flight school and served for several years.My childhood has not only been scattered; it has been cut to the bone. As a nation, we feel exposed, as if standing naked and wet in a blizzard. But prayers can warm us, as will time. New York will never be the same, but it will rebuild. Our hearts will never be the same, but they will mend.All who live in America now, if you are not willing to melt in our pot, leave the country now! All who remain, wear in your hearts the colors of our flag. The flag I served and the flag Michael Horrocks served.Jack GalvinHuntleyFinding blessings in the ashes of tragedy
Through the ashes of this national tragedy, I find immeasurable blessing. I thank God for the wisdom of our president, who selected a superior Cabinet capable of guiding Americans through this dark hour.I am grateful that President Bush took an extended working vacation at his beloved ranch to prepare for the trials ahead and for his profound faith that led him to declare Sept. 14 as a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance.I am thankful for the incredible acts of bravery and compassion demonstrated by our citizens, the outpouring of gifts and the revival of patriotism. Through the agony, we have turned our hearts to God, rediscovered the power of prayer, finding solace in our churches. I am thankful to be a citizen of this great land and pray God will continue to bring blessings from this horror, and that He will unite us and guide us to a new America.Linda BurmeisterLake in the HillsHalf-measures against terrorism must end
Why do the television newspeople bring us experts who tell us, We can't fight these terrorists because it is not like any other war we have ever fought - they do not have a country or borders or uniforms or other identifying characteristics?Fellow citizens, landed immigrants and other residents who are here because of what America stands for, remember that for those of us to whom much is given, much is required. Now it is our time to show that we deserve our way of life. It is our turn to give back to our nation.Please tell your congressional people that we expect, no, demand, retribution. Let our news anchors know that we can, and we will, retaliate against those people who not only did this horrific deed, but also against those states that allow these people to rest, plan and refit within their borders.If you don't know who these people are, ask our secretary of state. We have always tried to be the nice guys and only hit back a little bit. The only thing that type of action got us was many dead and wounded in Vietnam, New York and Aden.In Desert Storm, the military and our president at that time, a former naval pilot who was shot down, said: No more nice guy. We are going to hit back with all we have.Secretary of State Colin Powell, understands that terrorists, not only in Afghanistan, but in six other nation-states must be eradicated. Our military will demonstrate that it will furthermore and hereafter be extremely detrimental to the leadership and the people of these harboring states.Think about this. The tough Taliban is publicly hollering, Not us, not us, and Yasser Arafat is now donating blood to help us.Please, Lord, give us the courage, the resolve and the anger to demand by our actions the lives of those who would claim our citizens' lives in a sneak attack. Please be advised we will not sneak up on these states and their leadership. When we come, they will know it is the American people because we will kick in the front door. This time, no more half-measures.Ernest F. EbnerCarpentersvilleU.S. as policeman must live with consequences
It had been more than a week since the attack on the World Trade Center before I heard that I had lost a dear old friend from my high school days. He was 33 years old, a husband, father of a 3-year-old daughter, and in just one week, his second child is due.He worked for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of 1 World Trade Center. Like thousands of others touched so closely by these horrific events, I have been overcome with emotions: anger, sadness, disgust, confusion. But as we search for answers in this sea of tragedy, I urge Americans not to succumb and think only with their hearts, but think more so with their heads to make sure this never happens again.Our hearts tell us to go after Osama bin Laden. They tell us to focus blame on the Taliban government of Afghanistan. They tell us to seek revenge. Our heads, on the other hand, say we need to find out why this happened and to take the steps necessary to prevent these atrocities from happening again. Our heads say it is time we take a good, long, hard look at how the behavior of our own government has led us to this day.Do not misunderstand my message. The perpetrators must be brought to justice, period, end of sentence. But we need to use our heads and find the real answer to why these events took place so they do not happen again.Sadly, I believe that answer lies in America's self-anointed title of world policeman and our interventionist foreign policy. Contrary to what our president and government officials are telling us, the terrorists who target America and its citizens are not waging war on our freedom or our capitalism or our democracy. They are waging war on us because we have been committing similar atrocities to their cultures and their way of living around the globe.The American government called the destruction we inflicted in Panama, Grenada and the Persian Gulf War military acts to liberate and promote freedom. What our government has failed to see, though, is that our freedom fighter is another man's terrorist. When the U.S. government sticks its nose into the business of other nations, it is called patriotism. When one of those nation's affected slaps our nose for interfering, it is called terrorism.These attacks on New York and D.C. were not meant to draw us into war. All actions are to the contrary: They were meant to put an end to a war. They were meant in retaliation to the decades of intervention perpetrated by the United States against the rest of the world.Imagine if one of the 50 states decided to secede from the union and a neighboring country came in to help it battle the United States. How would the United States react to this other nation getting involved in what we Americans would consider a private matter? We would undoubtedly declare war on it and use our forces to defeat it.This is exactly what Osama bin Laden and his terrorist army are doing to us. The media has compared these attacks to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Outside of being an attack on American soil, there is no comparison. What the World Trade Center attack should be compared to is our attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. Both attacks targeted innocent civilians, both were done by faceless assassins, and both were done to show the attackee the power controlled by the attacker. Both contained the message, You now know what we are capable of.I know my words here are unpopular. I know many will see them as unpatriotic. Believe me when I say there is no greater patriot than I. There is no greater lover of freedom and his homeland than I. Believe me when I say that more than anything I want to avenge the loss of my friend, but any attack made on these terrorists will be futile unless we also attack our own foreign policy and put an end to our arrogance and egotistic belief that we need to police the world.Revenge on Osama bin Laden and the terrorists undoubtedly will lead to more bloodshed. A change from an interventionist foreign policy to a neutral one, where we mind our own business, can only prevent it. If we feel it is our duty to be the police of the world and use force to influence others, then we must be willing to live or die with the consequences.Austin L. HoughState ChairLibertarian Party of IllinoisEast DundeeTime to show enemies a nation that is united
Last week in my kindergarten art class, the children made American flags. They drew a picture of themselves on the flags and wrote, I am an American. I explained to them that we are all Americans; it is one thing we all have in common.When the bell rang, they proudly carried their flags through the halls and out the doors. The most beautiful thing about this procession was the fact that some of these children were Japanese-Americans. Some are Korean-Americans and Jewish-Americans. But they are all Americans.I was deeply disturbed last week by the reports of ignorant people who felt they had to show their patriotism by flexing their little muscles and going after our Muslim neighbors. Do those families not live in our community? Do they not hold jobs and own businesses that make our cities a better place to live? Do they not go about their daily lives just like the rest of us? If my neighbors are going to be targeted for hate crimes like this, I just have to ask myself, Who's next?My grandmother was half Syrian. My great-great-Grandfather Curry was Indian. Will they come after me? Will they hurt my children? You cannot see my ancestors in my features, but if you look closely, you could see them in my father's. He has that slight curve in the bridge of his nose. His hair was black as night before it turned to gray. He raised us to be proud of our ancestors. He makes no secret of his Syrian blood. And, by the way, if anyone is interested, he just happens to be the creator and artist of Precious Moments. You know, the sweet little figurines portraying the love and tenderness of Jesus' teachings.Will someone target my father, who has brought comfort to millions through his artwork, because of his heritage?If we have learned anything from the events of the past week, it is this: We must protect and cherish what is ours. This includes the peaceful religions and the gentle people who reside in our cities and suburbs. We must come together to protect our neighbors. We must educate the ignorant, and if that fails, lock them up like the animals they are.We are at war. It is time to be strong and show our enemies we are truly the United States. We are all in this together.Debbie Butcher ChoElginMany ways to make airplanes safer
In the wake of the terrible tragedy that struck New York City and Washington, D.C., there has been much discussion of ways to make commercial planes safer, ways to help prevent a recurrence of this in the future.Ideas of making the pilots' cockpit area more impregnable with bulletproof armor have been rejected because of the weight factor. But it seems to me that if body armor made of Kevlar can stop a 9mm bullet at close range, something using this material could be designed to protect the cockpit.Ways to lock the cockpit from the inside have been rejected because pilots are worried about being hurt in a crash and rescuers not being able to get to them. But couldn't an exterior escape hatch be designed, possibly in the roof of the cockpit, that could be opened from the outside.Obviously, armed air marshals could be aboard many, if not all, the flights. They could be undercover as flight attendants or in plain sight in uniforms. A mix of both would keep potential hijackers off-balance.Finally, why couldn't a system be designed, which at a push of a switch by the pilot, would fill the passenger compartment with an odorless gas that would render everyone unconscious.I believe any or all of these measures are necessary in what will prove to be a continuing war against more terrorist sneak attacks in the future.Chris BackeAlgonquinRauschenberger letter was well-reasoned
State Sen. Steve Rauschenberger wrote an admirable letter stating that what he thinks we can do at this time of incredible sadness and helplessness is first to pray for the families of the injured and lost, and to take this time to cherish our loved ones. Then we need to send a message by being conservationists and walking or driving as little as possible, skipping unnecessary trips, making us less dependent on foreign oil supplies.He then wants us to write a check to our churches, the American Red Cross or the Salvation Army. I wish he had added synagogues or mosques, because we have to be very sensitive at this time to the fact that not all good citizens of the United States are Christians.There have been enough appalling incidents since last Tuesday to make us realize that we can't categorize people who are different than we by their appearance or attire.All in all, I was very impressed by the reasoned and compassionate tone of his letter, and his lack of a rush to judgment. I hope all his actions on our behalf are always as well thought out.Sheila BurrisElginDon't let cowards alter your life too greatly
On Sept. 16, I was scheduled to go on a planned vacation to Las Vegas. I wasn't sure if this was going to take place since a group of cowards decided to take the easy way out by ending their lives as they destroyed thousands of others. I was surprised when we were allowed to fly out to our destination.Information, through the media, had alerted us to increased security. We were prepared for this and were willing to accept this. The airline handled us with true professionalism. Any delays we encountered were due to a self-indulgent public. There were random luggage checks, and most people were willing to succumb to this delay as they preferred their safety over inconvenience. I say most because there were a few who complained.Our flight out had a few empty seats as some people were apprehensive. When we came back on Sept. 19, I noticed the airplanes were only a third filled. I mentioned to my to wife that it was unconscionable that the American people have allowed cowards to alter their lives so greatly. Maybe it is because there are so many who have grown up not having to fight for their freedom. Or who have grown up feeling that the government will care for them.Richard C. TuckerSouth ElginThanks for helping N.Y. firefighters
We would like to say thank you to the patrons of Mr. Funnel Cake who attended the Heritage Fest in West Dundee from Sept. 14 to 16. A donation of $664 has been sent to the New York Fire 9-11 Relief Fund to benefit the families of the FDNY's fallen firefighters.Dennis and Linda BurmeisterLake in the Hills

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