Andy Martin on 9/11

ANDY MARTIN
“He works for the people of Illinois”
Republican for U. S. Senator
Suite 4406, 30 E. Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611-4723
Toll-free tel. (866) 706-2639
Toll-free fax (866) 707-2639
Web site: www.AndyforUSSenator.com
AndyMartinCampaignDiary.blogspot.com
E-mail: AndyforUSSenator@aol.com

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

CAMPAIGN DIARY #2

Dear Reader,

People often ask me, “Why do you feel qualified to serve as a U. S. Senator?” It’s a fair question.

My answer is experience, competence and credibility.

I am not a professional politician, or even a conventional politician. Rather, I base my credentials on having been an eyewitness to history, and having served in small roles along the way.

Viet-Nam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos; I was there in 1967, 1968, 1971. Hong Kong, 1971. Iran, 1979, 2000. Iraq, 2003. Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel. French, Greek, Chinese. And a very few words of Arabic. My opinions are based on experience, observation, participation.

No other candidate in either party has that reservoir of worldwide experience to draw on. They read what is written for them; they parrot what they are told, and their handlers tell them to speak the words the people want to hear, not to speak the words the public should hear. Politicians have not lived that of which they speak. Ignorance often breeds confidence and contempt as substitutes for experience.

And both sides distort the issues, the risks, the stakes. There is blame aplenty to cover Washington, to spread on both political parties.

September 11, 2001 found me, once again, an eyewitness to history. I was working in New York and planned to stop by the World Trade Center in the afternoon. The Port Authority had created a tiny office for me to work out of in 1974, Suite 2248 Two World Trade Center, and I operated from there for a while, though I had moved long before 2001. Still, the WTC felt like home, and every so often I would visit the area and my small office. That was my plan for the afternoon.

On the morning of 9/11 the phone rang and it was London calling. “Put on the TV.” I did, and found the attacks had begun. I watched the tragedy unfold from the safe distance of midtown. And I watched as the buildings fell.

9/11 has dramatically changed all of our lives. The smugness of the Yale scholar Francis Fukuyama that “history has ended” was replaced in an instant by the fear that a “long war” has begun. As for me, if you had told me on September 10th that in 18 months I would be in Iraq I would have laughed. But April, 2003 found me in Baghdad. Back in the Middle East.

As 9/11 unfolded New York slowly came to a halt. The tunnels were closed. Manhattan was cordoned off. Initially, people were blasé, perhaps because they did not yet realize the magnitude of the attacks. Then reality set in. Reports came in from Washington and rural Pennsylvania, where brave Americans may have saved the Capitol or White House from attack. New York City began to shut down.

Broadway went dark. The streets were abandoned, surreal. The subways and buses stopped running. There was very little food. The restaurant where I eat had not yet received any deliveries that morning. Swiss cheese, cold cuts and day old bread were available. Midtown New York is never more than a day or two from starvation. If the trucks stop, the food stops. And the trucks stopped.

Some people have recently criticized Rudy Giuliani for “running for president on what he did in New York.” But he did do it. First, he calmed the city, on 9/11. Then he kicked the city in the backside, on 9/12, and said “Get back to work.” And on 9/13 the city responded. New York was open for business again. If Giuliani’s predecessor had been in office the chaos could have spread, nationally, and persisted. But under Giuliani the public’s fears were contained.

As dusk fell on 9/11 I bicycled past the cordon at 14th street and managed to talk my way further south until I reached near the end of the darkness and fire.
Every 9/11 since then I have experienced the day on different levels. On one level, I can’t believe the Towers are not there. On my radio show I propagandized for rebuilding the Twin Towers. I still think it was a mistake to delay reconstruction and to substitute a meaningless “Freedom Tower” for the Twin Towers that were the great world landmark of New York. The old plans were still there. Build already!

I strongly disagree with former Mayor Giuliani on how the WTC side should have been handled. “Rebuild the Twin Towers!” is still my rallying cry.

And because of my own continuing disbelief at the disappearance of the WTC, I sympathize with those relatives of the dead who fight on, yesterday and today. But I also know life has to move on. Morbid reverence for the past and deceased relatives is just as unhealthy as indifference. The time has come. God gives us a new day every day for a reason and for a purpose.

In the period after 9/11 some good decisions were made. And some tragic mistakes were made. We came together as a people to deal with the enormity of 9/11, and since then we have gradually drifted apart.

At some point, arrogance may have taken hold. We were a “superpower.” We were free to act and react as we saw fit. I disagreed. In the long run, America should be a servant of the world, not its master. We must use our wealth and military power with wisdom, not reckless abandon. Experience cautioned that restraint, focus, practicality and reality were essential.

Today Osama Bin Laden or an actor playing Osama’s role (my opinion) mocks us for delinquent mortgages and unhealthy lifestyles. OBL pushes Islam as a tax shelter. Oprah has competition. It’s Osama vs. Oprah in the afternoon.

As we deal with the aftermath of 9/11, and the decisions made in that aftermath there is a cacophony of viewpoints, of sermonizations, of dramatizations. But decisions must be made. And no politician or political party has a monopoly on wisdom, insight or good policy. We must work together.

Republicans by and large remain loyal to President Bush. Democrats despise him. Middle-of-the-roaders are, well, in the middle-of-the road. That’s life.

I was an opponent of invading Iraq because I was a strong supporter of pursuing the war on terror. I knew Iraq would drain resources from fighting terrorism, and it has. Osama dead or alive? He’s alive. In body or at least in spirit.

John Edwards, a Democratic presidential candidate, has said the war on terror is a “bumper sticker.” It is not. Responding to terrorism is the first duty of the federal government. The threat is real. A proper response is essential. But we must do so intelligently, and with procedures and tactics that remain faithful to the values of our civilization and Constitution.

Where to go, and how to go, and what to do at home and abroad are complex questions with often elusive answers. These issues are both apolitical and intensely political.

Ultimately, we have to recognize and admit that the United States has asserted its influence in too many areas of the world, in too many conflicts, and that these expeditions have drained our limited resources. I don’t believe the conspiracy theories that continue to grow about 9/11, but then I don’t believe the people who have sought to exploit the tragedy either.

And so, in writing about the challenges we faced after 9/11, and we face today, I have dawn on a deep reservoir of experience in the real world, forty years of being an eyewitness to history. History is not always a petty place to be. Bullets fly, and bad things happen. Disproportionately, young men die.

Yet in life, and especially in the political arena, there is no substitute for experience. Experience can produce skepticism, restraint, often delay, and sometimes forbearance. That’s good.

And because of my experience, and my cautious approach to dealing with the world’s problems, I feel uniquely qualified to serve as a U. S. Senator. You may not always agree with me, but you will always know that I have studied the problems, analyzed them with real life experience as a background, and tried to do what is right and best for the United States and the American people.


Sincerely yours,

ANDY MARTIN


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