It makes no difference who’s in power. It matters not if you are Republican or Democrat. We must be extremely proud of our American military for pulling off the operation that was witnessed Sunday night in Pakistan.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Americans came together as President George W. Bush addressed the nation in the wake of the most deadly and most destructive act of terrorism this county has ever seen.
On Sunday night, May 1, 2011, almost 10 years later, some degree of closure came as President Barack Obama announced to the American people that Osama bin Laden was dead.
From what we know about the maneuver that led to the elimination of bin Laden, it must have been a well-planned operation that exemplifies the high-tech, superior intelligence of our military forces. The U.S. Navy Seals are the best of the best. Those individuals who performed the task will probably never be recognized publicly for the sake of anonymity. But we, nevertheless, thank them and praise them for what they did in the name of the United States Armed Forces.
Like on that fateful day of Sept. 11, 2001, on Sunday night politics was set aside and we were Americans. We applaud President Obama on his directive to go get bin Laden.
As we understand now, the operation that took place on Sunday was the culmination of days, weeks, months and perhaps even years of intelligence work by the U.S. government and our military forces.
U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) said on Monday, “The enemies of freedom should know that America will not stand down for one moment from the mission of keeping the world safe from the scourge of terrorism.”
Does the death of bin Laden mark then end of terrorism? Of course not. We may even see a resurgence of terrorism in retaliation to the U.S. action because, like it or not and despite what some may say, the Arab nations hate the United States and the freedom and democracy it represents.
We may not agree with everything our government does and we may not like some of the decisions that are made by our leaders. But we still have free elections and I have the freedom to write what I want to in this free newspaper that is not controlled by the government.
I can boldly say, I’m proud to be an American and I pray that God will continue to bless the United States of America.
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On a much lighter note, I want to congratulate the Ava High School FFA on another great Parent-Member Banquet last Friday night.
Although we realize the chapter advisors Brent Lakey and Tiffany Kauffman work hard in preparation for the banquet, and making sure the students are prepared, the banquet itself is performed almost entirely by the students with very little input from the teachers.
And besides that, the food is always great! No finger foods or store-bought snacks. We’re talking real honest to goodness steak and boneless chicken breast cooked on the grill, with vegetables and desserts…the whole shebang.
