Diana Irey: The Speech That Said It All

(PHILADELPHIA, October 9) -- Washington County Commissioner and Pennyslvania 12th District Republican Congressional nominee Diana Irey today addressed the Philadelphia Chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition on the topic of "National Defense and Homeland Security."

Below are excerpts of her remarks:

Being asked to speak about "National Defense and Homeland Security" is a bit broad.

I could speak to you of force structure … or the need to upgrade and modernize our nuclear deterrent … or the requirement to build and deploy a ballistic missile defense system … or the challenges posed by an all-volunteer armed force of married soldiers with families, rather than a conscript army of unmarried men and women …

I could talk to you about how best to inspect the hundreds of thousands of cargo containers that enter American ports every year … or the need to conduct background checks on our dock yard work force …

I could talk to you about the need to secure our borders ...

I could speak to you about the challenges posed by rise of China and India … or the threat posed by a nuclear North Korea or Iran …

I could speak to you about any or all of these things, and I would be on topic.

But I fear I would be missing the larger point, and you would go home without having learned anything about the greatest challenge we face in the 21st century.

So instead, if you will, allow me to focus my remarks today on that one topic -- to wit, what is the greatest threat we face in this new century, and what shall we do about it?

The world in which we grew up ended 27 years ago, on November 4, 1979, when hundreds of radical Muslim students overran and occupied the American embassy in Teheran.

For 444 days, the world watched and waited, as a radical Islamic regime held hostage not just 52 diplomats in a fortified bunker, but, in fact, an entire nation thousands of miles away.

For the first time, we Americans -- a proud people, with an altruistic history of sacrificing blood and treasure to free or defend millions of people around the globe from the depredations of dictators and tyrants -- heard our county described savagely as the "Great Satan."

The seizure of the American embassy in Iran in November 1979 by Muslim extremist students was the first shot fired in what is now, clearly, a war with a radical Islam determined to destroy the West and reestablish the Muslim Caliphate along a crescent that stretches from Spain to the Middle East.

This war is unlike any our nation has ever faced -- in fact, it is unlike any war ANY nation has ever faced … Because it is not a war that pits one nation-state against another; it is a war that pits one entire civilization against another.

To make matters worse, we face this war not because of territorial ambitions, or imperial over-reach, or commercial or economic interests …

We face this war because we choose to exist.

It is really that simple. Because we choose to exist, we are now targeted for destruction by radical Islamo-fascists who are determined to destroy us.

For more than three decades, they waged war against America and her principal ally in the Middle East -- Israel -- and we chose not to see it for what it was.

Rather than recognizing what was going on, we chose, like the ostrich, to bury our heads in the sand.

And as a result, we buried American and Israeli bodies in the desert.

The seizure of the American embassy in Teheran in 1979 was followed by the suicide truck bombing against the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut on October 23, 1983, which cost us the lives of 241 young soldiers -- the deadliest single-day death toll for the Marine Corps since the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

That attack was carried out by the same Hezbollah terrorists who rain destruction on northern Israel. They were funded, trained, and equipped by Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

And what did we do? Ronald Reagan chose to listen to the counsel of men who advised withdrawal.

Five weeks after Bill Clinton was inaugurated as our 42nd President, a Ryder rental van packed with 1300 pounds of explosives detonated in the underground parking garage of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Islamo-fascist terrorists linked to what later became known as "al Qaeda" had brought spectacular terrorism on a grand scale home to America for the first time.

Just a few months earlier, American soldiers had been dispatched to Somalia in a humanitarian mission to ensure the safe delivery of foodstuffs to end starvation that had already killed 300,000 Somalis. On October 3rd and 4th, 1993, in what became known as the Battle of Mogadishu -- popularized by the book and movie "Black Hawk Down" -- 19 Americans died at the hands of Somali militias, and Americans watched on CNN as the body of a dead American Marine was dragged through the streets.

What we did not know at the time -- and only learned later -- was that the assault on the American forces was conducted by forces trained, equipped, and funded by the then-virtually-unknown al Qaeda.

And what did we do? Bill Clinton chose to listen to the counsel of men who advised withdrawal.

After that, the attacks against Americans overseas began coming faster and faster:

In June of 1996, a truck bomb exploded outside a U.S. Air Force barracks in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. The bomb was planted by members of an organization called Saudi Hezbollah, a group allied with the Hezbollah terrorists who control southern Lebanon. 19 American servicemen died.

On the morning of August 7, 1998, in coordinated attacks that occurred just minutes apart, car bombs exploded outside the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. 257 people died, and another 4,000 were injured. The attack was carried out by African members of al Qaeda.

On October 12, 2000, in the Gulf of Aden, two suicide bombers rammed their skiff into the side of the U.S.S. Cole, a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer. They blew a hole 40 feet by 40 feet, and killed 17 Americans. Again, the attack was carried out by terrorists of al Qaeda.

And then, less than a year later, the war came back home to America on 9/11.

Islamo-fascist terrorists are determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can, and destroy our nation -- not because of anything we've done, but simply because of who we are and what we believe.

This is the great challenge facing America in the early years of the 21st century, and we need leaders who understand this threat and are committed not just to defending against it, but to defeating it.

When Osama bin Laden -- the world's most dangerous Islam-fascist terrorist -- issued his famous call to arms in August 1996, he "praised the 1983 suicide bombing in Beirut … and especially the 1993 firefight in Somalia after which the United States 'left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you,'" according to the 9/11 Commission report.

The American embassy in Teheran. Beirut. Word Trade Center One. Mogadishu. The Khobar Towers. American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. The U.S.S. Cole.

Each time, our response was muted. Each time, terrorists learned a simple lesson: they could kill Americans with impunity.

President Bush has determined that enough is enough. In his speech following the terrible attacks of September 11, he declared that it would be the policy of the American Government to defeat these terrorists, and that we would no longer tolerate other governments allowing terrorists to operate from within their nations. "You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists," he said.

I support the President.

In Iraq today, we are engaged in the central front of the War on Terror.

We know that because the terrorists themselves have said so.

Do I wish this war were over? Of course I do.

But this war will not be over until one side or the other is vanquished. And I, for one, do not want to have to explain to my children why America lacked the will to defend itself.

When a bully confronts you in the schoolyard, you have two choices -- you can run and hide, or you can stand your ground and fight back.

If you run and hide, he will come after you. Again and again and again.

But if you stand your ground and fight back, you can beat him.

For too long, America has acted like a frightened child.

But the stakes in this conflict are too large for us to continue to act that way.

For the sake of our children, and our children's children, we must defeat this enemy NOW.

The war in Iraq is difficult. I know. I have spent time visiting with wounded soldiers at Walter Reed. I have seen their courage, and been honored by their sacrifice.

I, for one, will not allow their sacrifices to have been in vain.

I, for one, will not turn my back on the 12 million Iraqis who braved terrorist threats of death to cast a vote in their most recent election.

I, for one, will not cower before cowards who send young boys and girls out with bombs strapped to their bodies, and then hide amongst women and children.

Withdrawing from Iraq now, before the mission is complete, would be just one more time that America raises the white flag of surrender.

Withdrawing from Iraq now would merely send the message to the terrorists one more time that America does not have the will to prevail -- and it would, therefore, embolden the terrorists and lead to even further attacks.

Withdrawing from Iraq now would send a message to other governments as well, that America is an undependable ally -- and that it is safer to cut a deal with the terrorists than to count on us.

The Islamo-fascist terrorists who threaten us may be the first to engage in a clash of civilizations, but they are not the first to threaten America. Their fate will be the same as the fate of others before them who threatened us.

A few weeks ago, we commemorated the fifth anniversary of the attacks that woke us to the gathering storm. Our President addressed the nation that evening from the Oval Office, and I'd like to close my remarks by quoting his: "The attacks" he said, "were meant to bring us to our knees, and they did, but not in the way the terrorists intended.

"Americans united in prayer, came to the aid of neighbors in need, and resolved that our enemies would not have the last word.

"The spirit of our people is the source of America's strength.

"And we go forward with trust in that spirit, confidence in our purpose, and faith in a loving God who made us to be free," he concluded.

America will be the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.

God bless you, God bless our troops, and may God bless the United States.