This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE (9-9-04)

Saturday will be three years since the tragic events of September 11th. What has happened in this interim?

First of all, almost forgotten in the current presidential race is the very successful military campaign in Afghanistan. There our military swept into an austere landscape, dominated by local war lords, and wiped out the Taliban governing body.

Shortly the Afghanistans will be conducting their first vote for an elected President. Some ten million have registered to vote despite the fact that remaining taliban terrorists have killed and threatened those involved in the election process.

Meantime the volatile Middle East continued to be the scene of suicides, murders and explosions, destabilizing thatentire area. Effort after effort at arriving at a peaceful solution foundered on the Palestine leader Yassar Arafat turned his back on even his own agreements.

Here in America.....congressional study went on endlessly as to why were we attacked and why weren’t we aware of the attack in advance...and what should be done to avert another attack.

Receiving advice that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and was becoming a provider of funds to those Palestinians who were willing to blow themselves up. Husseins forces were constantly threatening our planes that monitored the no fly zone established after the Gulf War. There appeared to be no doubt that Hussein was a threat and could even become more of a threat if he should have access to atomic weapons.

Inspectors had found no such weapons, although they had no access to Iraqi scientists and were led around to so called inspection sites.

After President Bush went to the United Nations urging them to give Hussein a final ultimatum or face the consequence he was stalemated by France with its veto power. Again the U.N. was proving to be powerless in a crisis.

Bush, along with a number of allies took action. The victory over the Republican forces of Iraq was unexpectedly swift as those enemy forces melted into the countryside...vowing to fight an underground war.

What we had hoped to be a quick victory has turned out to be a costly struggle as our young men and women were assaulted by not only the vanished members of the Republican guard, but also by terrorists who slipped into the country from neighboring Syria and Iran.

Our forces are training and equipping thousands of Iraqis so that they can defend their own country. Terrorists are now killing many Iraqis as well as some of our troops, but progress is being made.

A government has been established...and an election will be upcoming in January. Hopefully Iraq can become a free nation amid the controlled countries of the Middle East.

Congressional Committees have come forth with recommendations as well as criticisms on what was or was not done during the September 11th attack and the continuing safety of the nation. The President has concurred in most ofs their suggestions and has established a National Intelligence Agency and has also set up a Homeland Security system.

All this has been accomplished despite an outpouring of vitriolic criticisms by presidential candidates, casting doubt on the Commander in Chief.

And that’s where the situation stands as America approaches the third anniversary of that murderous attack on New York’s Twin Towers, the Pentagon...and another aborted effort.

In my mind there is no doubt that we are a stronger nation today than then.....the attack awoke us to the immoral, brutal and murderous aims of the terrorists who will kill any and all, including hundreds of little children as they did in Moscow.

The conflict with terrorism is a war we cannot afford to lose...because if we do.....civilization as we know it will disappear.

This is Floyd Wynne and that’s THE VIEW FROM HERE.