This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE    6/1/06

                      We have been at war against the terrorists for the last 27 years/

                      Or rather….the terrorists have been at war with us for the last 27 years.  

Oh….you thought it all happened on September 1,2001?

Too many Americans think that the conflict with the terrorists only happened when they flew airplanes into the Trade Towers in New York City and a courageous group of people aboard another hijacked plane fought back and it crash landed in Pennsylvania.

Yes….we have been under attack ever since 1979.

Navy Captain Ouimette, executive officer at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola…...brought the picture up to date.

Remember when the Iranian students attacked the American Embassy in Teheran in November of 1979?   They held Americans hostage for over a year…. President Jimmy Carter attempted to rescue them in a raid that failed miserably.   President Ronald Reagan  engineered their release.

That was the beginning.  After that attacks against Americans increased.  In October, 1983, a truck laden with 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241 servicemen were killed.

Two months later in December 1983 another truck laden with explosives was driven into the U. S. Embassy in Kuwait with more casualties.

In September 1984 another van with driven into the gate of the U.S. Embassy In Beirut with still more casualties.

In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by U.S. Soldiers in Madrid.

In August 1985 a Volkswagen loaded with explosive was driven into the gate of the U.S. Air Force base at Rhein-Main...killing 22.

Fifty nine days later a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro was hijacked and an American in a wheel chair was murdered.

They blew up a TWA flight over Lockerbie in 1988 killing 259.

The terrorists came to America in January 1993 when two CIA agents were shot and killed at the headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

           In February of 1993 a rented van was driven into the parking garage at the World Trade Center in New York….six killed and over 100 injured.

In November 1995 a car bomb kills seven service men and women in Riyad, Saudi Arabia.

A few months later in June of 1996 a truck bomb  destroys the U.S. compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia...killing 19 and injuring over 500.

A coordinated attack hit two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. They killed 224.  We responded only with a few cruise missiles fired into Afghanistan.

The U.S.S. Cole….docked in Yemen  for refueling was hit by an explosive killing 17 sailors.  We sent the FBI to investigate. 

Then came the carnage in New York City on September 11, 2001.

Too many Americans thought this was the first attack by the terrorists.

But...as the Navy Captain pointed out…..we have been the target of the terrorists for the past 27 years.

Now….the murderous attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan.   Many have said that they were only the work of the defeated Republican Guard...and the Taliban.

Yet we see Iraqi civilians of all sects…..Kurds, Shiites and Sunni...being indiscriminately murdered every day.

Here at home…..there are many calling for us to cut and run….get out of Iraq….get out of the Middle East and all these murderous assaults will cease.   The facts show better.

We have been at war since September 2001, but the terrorists have been at war with America since 1979.  It is a conflict that will end either in America again cutting and running only to suffer further terrorists attacks...mainly here at home…...or the terrorists are defeated.

There are no other choices.

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