I found John Munford’s article about Randy Gaddo’s Memorial Day commemoration talk, “Memorial Day speaker recalls terrorism’s 1st big attack” (The Citizen, May 28), particularly striking after having recently watched the “American Experience” presentations on PBS about Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

It seems that we Americans are always lost in our dreams, or our own little worlds, when our enemies attack, and we never seem to learn from the resulting catastrophes.

Under Roosevelt and Truman, we had to dig ourselves out of deep holes at the start of World War II and the Korean War because we were complacent and not at all focused on the obvious dangers around us.

Both of them blundered along the way, but then led us back from the abyss.

It just always seems to take us a long time to fully recognize the peril, focus on the enemy, and bring to bear the necessary resources to defeat the attackers.

So, here we stand, almost 25 years after the “... first big attack,” yet failing to recognize and truly focus on the enemy, let alone bring to bear the overwhelming resources to defeat them.

Whether due to Munford’s word selection or Gaddo’s (I was not there), the article mumbles about “terrorism’s” attack on us.

This terminology is used all the way to the White House and apparently reflects our historic reluctance to truly recognize an enemy, focus on them and defeat them.

“Terrorism” didn’t attack us in 1983, or 2001, or any of the other times we’ve been attacked over the past quarter century.

Terrorism, sports fans, is a cheap weapon, or tactic, that can be used by any individual or group to promote whatever purpose or agenda they choose as an excuse. “Terrorism” is not a movement or an enemy.

Our leaders’ bungling in this current war didn’t start with the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld triumvirate, either. With the exception of Daddy Bush, who loaded the wagons, marshaled the troops and allies, and took no prisoners in Kuwait, every administration has appeared reluctant to call Islamic radicals, or radical Islam, the free world’s current greatest enemy.

Once in a slip of the tongue, Dubya used the word “crusade,” showing that he wasn’t really as stupid as he has appeared since, but also demonstrating a lack of courage to completely and openly recognize the enemy, focus on them and defeat them.

Against such a backdrop, Islamists who are not radicals and are not bent on world domination are not likely to denounce those who have attacked or would attack us. Likewise, for our timid “allies.”

It’s past time for all of us, old warriors, journalists, butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers, to recognize that we are in another battle for survival, a world war, and to enlist for the duration. After 25 years of attacks, we should at least be able to name names and focus on our true enemy.

The sleeping giant that finally awoke to World War II, or the Korean War, etc., may already have permitted porous borders, the Balkanization of our culture, and the erosion of our moral strength, to divide us and set us up for defeat this time around. This ancient enemy from the Middle East has once again been emboldened, and once again must be defeated at all costs.

When you go to the polls in November, you better have had a serious talk with yourself about who you would want to have leading our troops when we’re finally forced to wake up and take some more decisive action in the current world war. It better not be anyone who wants to run away from a fight.

Al Camp

Fayetteville, Ga.

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