As of this writing, ISIS has not formally taken credit for the Manchester, England attack at the concert hall. So far, 22 are dead with 59 wounded. There are many sobering thoughts racing through my mind tonight. But let us together pause for a few moments to discuss priorities.
Throughout history there have been multiple horrible events that have happened in numerous countries and cultures that have each given pause to the particular society in which they occur: wars, mass suicides, genocide, mass murders, earthquakes, fires, hurricanes and typhoons, tsunamis, and all manner of other indescribable travesties in which dozens, hundreds, and thousands of humans have paid the ultimate price. Little did the concert goers in Manchester this evening think for an instant it could be their last night on Earth. Yet for at least 19, that remote possibility played out.
Our President is in the second leg of a trip to the Middle East and Europe and just completed two days in front of 55 Muslim nation leaders from whose countries almost all Islamist terrorism is birthed, and made a case for the Islamic world to take control of destroying ISIS there instead of allowing ISIS to spread. The devastating growth of the inhumane scourge of Islamic terrorism that is sweeping every nation with no regard for race, creed, religion, or color, indiscriminately slaughtering thousands must be stopped and eradicated from our World. He charged those Muslim leaders to take responsibility for devising and implementing that process immediately to stop more Manchester, England attacks. Ironically the crackerjack American media, rather than reporting and concentrating on the wide acceptance of the U.S. President’s leadership by those Muslim leaders for this daunting task, today concentrated on the Russian story, the numerous investigations that seem to all include the Trump Administration, all of which have as yet no evidence of any wrongdoing. Oh, and they pointed out Melania Trump refused to hold hands with the President as they disembarked from Air Force One in Israel — such a bombastic and important story. Meanwhile, 19 died tonight and 59 are wounded by a ter
rorist attack in England.
But death is not the Islamist sought for end for their ruthless violence. Their quest is to create fear: fear among Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, and World citizens of any ilk not included in those just mentioned. The fear they spread is a direct result of pure, unadulterated hatred for all those whose thought processes do not parallel those of these militant Islamist terrorists.
So what will it take, America, for our nation to put aside the partisan angst of a bunch of voters who did not get their way in the November democratic election of the U.S. President? Never mind that a large part of the growth and expansion of ISIS in Libya, Egypt, and Syrians is due to the actions of the “other” Presidential candidate while Secretary of State. Those actions happened in conjunction with President Obama’s policies that removed a democratically elected leader in Egypt and the arming of Syrian rebels that evolved into ISIS. Do you think it is time to join together, not as immigrants, Hispanics, Caucasians, native Americans, Christians, Jews, African Americans, or Asians, but simply as Americans with one mind and one accord to together stamp out this terrorism? Are we ready to give our duly elected officials the support and confidence they need to plan and implement any and all measures necessary to stamp out this terrorism, no matter what it takes? Or will we continue to sow seeds of anger and divisiveness, hate and disdain, instead of becoming again one nation, continuing the hatred of Americans with “other” political opinions, while ISIS comes to the U.S. to slaughter our children on our soil?
It took Pearl Harbor and the thousands of dead Americans that December day at the hands of the Japanese to pull Americans together to fight one common enemy. It took sacrifice and togetherness and sharing heartache and loss to find the common thread of Americanism that stood its ground against Hitler that allows us today to speak English instead of German. It took a President who hated totalitarianism who was willing to stand in defiance at the Berlin Wall and cry out to the Soviet leader to tear down that wall which ushered in the fall of the strongest Communist state in World history.
What will it take now to unite Americans? We already have 9-11, San Bernardino, Ft. Hood, Boston, and Chatanooga. How many more Americans must die before we learn that the only way to combat fear is to stamp it out with the truth of true democratic government in which each has an equal voice in all things pertaining to liberty and justice for all in the greatest nation on Earth?
Will we join together or will we wait until Manchester comes to New York, or Austin, or Reno, or Bellingham, or Virgina Beach, or to your town or city?
“God help the families of those slaughtered at Manchester. God heal those wounded in that attack. God help and protect the United States of America. God guide President Trump, all those who serve in his Administration , our Congressmen and Congresswomen and Senators. Give us all your guidance and sense of truth along with a renewed commitment to support our leaders as one nation, under God, indivisible with justice for all.”
