Editorial: Open borders leave nation vulnerable to attack
Last Modified: Monday, September 10, 2012 7:09 PM
Today marks the somber anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on America, one of the darkest days in this country’s history.
It’s fitting that we pause and remember the innocent victims of that terrorist attack 11 years ago. Nineteen members of al-Qaida, an Islamist militant group, hijacked four commercial airliners in coordinated suicide missions against New York City and Washington, D.C. Two planes struck the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan, eventually causing the buildings and another in the complex to collapse. Another airliner crashed into the Pentagon. A fourth, which was targeted for the United States Capitol building, crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pa., after passengers — who had been alerted to the other hijackings — stormed the cockpit and foiled the plan.
The attacks cost nearly 3,000 American lives that day.
The U.S. eventually extracted a small measure of revenge when members of a Navy Seals unit killed the operation’s mastermind, Osama bin Laden, last year in Pakistan.
Today is also time to celebrate that there has been no follow-up attack on the country. Credit for that belongs to the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and the military and civilian personnel who have stood watch to thwart any other devious plots.
We should also celebrate the fact that a new One World Trade Center tower rises like a phoenix from the ashes at ground zero. The not-so-subtle message to the rest of the world is that the U.S. is not impervious to wounds, but that this nation cannot and will not be defeated.
Along those lines, though, this is also a day to revisit the issue of this nation’s open borders. There are still people and organizations in this world that wish the U.S. ill and would love to inflict more harm on our shores and citizens.
In the face of this threat, it makes no sense to have open borders to our north and particularly to our south that can be easily infiltrated. Every day that anyone can walk across the border without the threat of apprehension is another day in which this country tempts the odds and invites another attack.
So, on this anniversary of 9/11, let us remember those victims who lost their lives, pay homage to both military and civilians who keep vigil to ensure there is no repeat attack and recommit to tell our elected officials in Washington to make entry into this country via its open borders impossible.
This editorial was written by a member of the American Press Editorial Board. Its content reflects the collaborative opinion of the Board, whose members include Bobby Dower, Ken Stickney, Jim Beam, Dennis Spears, Crystal Stevenson and Donna Price.
Posted By: Andrew On: 9/11/2012
Title: Confused Message
You do realize that none of those terrorist came up from the south. Many were legally in this country. Others had expired, formerly legal, credentials.
Confusing our national security needs from the (incorrect and bigoted) belief that the dark skinned immigrants are somehow more sinister than the pale immigrants is nothing but bigotry.
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