The recent news of the death of a high-ranking Al-Qaeda “martyr” is not as rosy as it appeared at first glance.  Anwar al-Awlaki, an enemy of the United States, was actually an American citizen born in Las Cruces, New Mexico on April 22, 1971.

At the age of seven, al-Awlaki’s parents returned with their son to their native Yemen. There, the budding terrorist completed his high school education before returning to the U.S. with specific goals in mind. Entering the country with a foreign Visa and armed with a scholarship from Yemen, he attended Colorado University in 1991.  (Hint: his goals were not higher education.) Three years later, al-Awlaki graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering.  During his academic career, he also became the President of the university’s Muslim Association.

During his formative years, al-Awlaki’s ideology was shaped by the violent propaganda of Sayyid Qutb, the originator of an anti-Western jihad group.  Later, al-Awlaki become an Imam cleric in a mosque based in California.

As the life of this scum plays out in the media, one has to wonder.  One wonders why an American traitor that may have been involved in the unprovoked destruction of the Twin Towers on September 11th, 2001 and the deaths of 3,000 innocent citizens is worthy of this posthumous glory.  Why not cast it off the bastard’s death as good riddance to bad rubbish?  Why all this coverage lionizing a man whose ideology was, “Death to America!”

al-Awlaki’s story begs the question, “By what criteria does a person truly become an American citizen?”  Is it the birthright of a newborn brought forth upon this soil?  Is it the Pledge of Allegiance when that child is old enough to understand the tenets of that pledge?  In al-Awlaki’s case, as in the case of all would-be criminals, parental guidance should prevail in child rearing, guidance that must include screening of the child’s associates.  No doubt the terrorist’s parents were terrorist sympathizers.

America is one of the few nations to allow its people to practice freedom of speech and religion.  Our children are the pride of our nation.  It a reasonable assumption that our children will uphold — and when the time comes, teach their own children to uphold — the canons of our founding fathers.

The United States of America began as English colonies.  The only true Americans were the Natives that inhabited and respected this vast land.  After the American Revolution, a new nation emerged for free men and women.  It would eventually become the world’s melting pot of immigrants seeking freedom from religious and social oppression, freedom from hunger, and in general, a better way of life for themselves and their descendants.

Two hundred fifty three years after the birth of the United States, the world has changed greatly, and not for the better.  Today, we struggle with a flailing economy and attempts to reform social programs.  This may be good time to consider reforming the ways in which people acquire U.S. citizenship.  The reformation would help to protect our society from murdering radicals who, by chance or intention, are born here, reap our country’s riches, but give no genuine allegiance to the land of their birth.

The murderers of thousands of 9/11 victims, the Fort Hood murderer of thirteen brave service men and a chaplain, the Underwear Bomber, and the Time Square Wanna-Be Bomber were all educated and employed here. Their pledges of allegiance to this country were lies.  They took full advantage of the freedoms offered here to commit their heinous, cowardly acts upon innocent Americans.

Unequivocally, U.S. citizenship should be prized, as it was by the millions of Europeans who escaped tyrannies and poverty abroad to flow legally through Ellis Island and the welcoming arms of America.  With citizenship comes the responsibility of preserving our freedoms at all costs.  If We the People do not demand reform in our citizenship laws, we will allow the perpetrators of hate and violence to undermine our society.  “United we stand, divided we fall.” 

The Afghan War may be the tip of the iceberg in the radical Islamic plan to conquer the world.  In the past year, we have witnessed not the emergence of homegrown terrorism on our soil, but something far more insidious and bone chilling: we have seen an increase in terrorism and attempted terrorism within our borders.  US Army Major Nidal Hasan gunned down 13 military personnel at Fort Hood. More recently, Faisal Shahzad was arrested as the would-be Times Square Bomber; his crime was to rig a car with explosives and abandon it in the heart of midtown Manhattan where, thankfully, it was spotted before it could detonate and obliterate God knows how many lives.  Both of these terrorists were American citizens. Yet, they chose to bring death and destruction to us because they are devotees of those who have perverted the Muslim faith into a force for violence.

Adding to our concerns is the news that seventeen Afghan troops training as Special Forces in Texas have gone AWOL.  If our government has found them or has a clue as to their whereabouts, it’s keeping the answers under its hat.  One of the AWOL crew is Anwar Abdulla Nasser Aulaqi.  Born on April 22, 1971 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, he was residing in Yemen as a cleric and had ties with Major Nidal Hasan, the murderer of thirteen.

Instead of being tried as the war criminal that he is, Khalid Sheihk Mohammed, the self-professed architect of 9/11 will be judged in a civilian court.  This mockery of justice for one who robbed 3,000 innocent souls of their lives comes courtesy of the politically correct environment rampant in our nation.  God forbid we should offend the terrorists!

All of these facts should be a growing concern to Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of Homeland Security.  She has been stymied by our present administration, which shrinks from pointing fingers at our enemies.  As President Obama began his term of office, he extended an olive branch to the Muslim world.  In the hope of initiating a foundation for peace, he announced that, in the past, America had demonstrated arrogance and misconduct in world affairs, particularly in trying to build a bridge between the East and the West.

This maneuver did not yield satisfying results (golly gee, I wonder why).  What it did, apparently, was embolden our enemies to step up the violence right here at home.  As evidenced by the greetings that English troops received when returning home for the war against Al Qaeda, Europe and the United Kingdom are experiencing the same treatment. Instead of being welcomed home, the British soldiers who had fought in Afghanistan were met with jeers and anti-war slogans.

Our fearless leader (Obama) added insult to injury by thumbing his nose at Israel in an attempt to appease the Arab world.  On a visit to the U.S., Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, received a cool reception.  That reception prompted Jose Maria Aznar, the former Prime Minister of Spain, to caution the Western world concerning the dangers of not supporting Israel.  His heartfelt speech can be found on Wikipedia.com, where a part of it reads, “If Israel goes, we all go.”

During World War II, Japanese citizens living on American soil were isolated in “camps,” right here in America, for reasons of security. To a lesser extent, Italian and German nationals faced the same treatment (and for those who don’t know their history, Japan, Italy, and Germany made up the Axis powers, those who were our enemies).  Should we use these same camp/isolation tactics to curtail the activities of terrorists living on our soil and enjoying all the amenities that come with that?  Or will we sit by and just wait for another 9/11 to occur?  And how do we identify radical Muslim groups in America?

These are serious questions; hell, these are serious times.  There is an old saying; “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  So what do you think? 

Twice recently, we have heard of by Al Qaeda’s planned attacks upon our commuter aircraft.  These threats have meet with nothing but perfunctory rhetoric from our Department of Homeland Security.  The enemy seems to know more about our security operations than those allegedly in charge of them.  The media, whose sense of responsibility I have seriously questioned for at least a decade, reports that our security force possesses a list of suspected terrorists numbering as high as 500,000.  Five will get you ten that if the government spoon-fed this figure to the media, it is must be twice as high as that, if not more.

 

Meanwhile, thousands of illegal aliens have already crossed the Mexican-American border, and guess what?  They aren’t headed to Acapulco for a little R&R.  They are infiltrating the United States and placing additional burdens upon our already groaning economy.  Just this week we learned that easily accessible technology — cell phones — now enable the unlawful “visitors” to pinpoint sources of potable water across our border, thereby accelerating the mass exodus out of their country and into ours.

 

I don’t know about you, but these numbers sound like an armies to me. Why have we not profiled potential terrorists?  Why have we not deterred the marauding aliens more productively?  Who’s minding our store?  Apparently, no one!  If this is a barometer of the efficacy of our national security, we are in deep doggie-do!

 

There is absolutely no excuse for allowing terrorists to board any manner of conveyance, at home or abroad, for the sole purpose of murdering innocent people.  In possession of advanced technology and so many names, we can profile passengers with ease!  And if we instituted more stringent controls at the border, we could put the kibosh on illegals claiming jobs and benefiting financially from our social programs without having to pay into them.

 

The truth of the matter is we have a homeland security in name only.  The present administration is so involved in pushing its healthcare reform through to approval that it can’t see the forest for the trees.  It can’t prioritize the needs and rights of our citizenry.

 

What are the CIA, the FBI, and Homeland Security doing to secure our transportation system against terrorist attacks?  Must another tragedy like 9/11 befall us before they take action?   Some time ago, we lost thirteen good people at Ford Hood at the hands of an Islamic zealot whose twisted mindset was not only known but also documented in his formal military records.  Two gatecrashers appeared recently at a White House fete, slipping like butter past security and potentially jeopardizing the safety of our President and First Lady.  Mere days after Christmas, two of our airplanes were in serious threat of attack by suicide bombers.  All of this could have been avoided had the suspects in question been profiled.

 

Had the terrorists succeeded, the dirty bastards would be dancing in the streets in Yemen and toasting Osama Bin Ladin in the rat-holes of Afghanistan.

 

If these incidents don’t constitute a wake up call, I guess we will just have to wait for the Big One before government moves its lazy, red tape-lovin’ behind.