“Nine-eleven” is a term that brings to mind a sad day in our nation’s history, one that should never have been. It seems to me that ample warning was available but the warning was ignored. Evidence not allowed to be shared between the FBI and the CIA is a prime example. But years before the event, terrorists had blown up our embassies, attacked our ships and tried to blowup the trade center, among other things. These things were all but ignored except for talk. Where was the will to bring the guilty thugs to justice?

After the brutal sneak attack on the twin towers using our own airlines as weapons there were many critics of our effort to learn terrorists’ plans of further attacks by tapping into telephone chatter. “George Bush is listening to our private conversations,” they charged.

Airline trips became an hour or two longer because of airport security. Despite the security a terrorist got on a flight and tried to light a bomb in his shoe. Now all passengers must take off their shoes. And shampoo or a bottle of water is suspected of being explosive.

Later on a terrorist with a bomb hidden in his underwear got aboard a flight, went into the lavatory and tried to set off his bomb. It seems to me that with a little bit of profiling this terrorist would not have gotten on the airplane. Didn’t this guy’s father warn against him? But profiling is not politically correct. Lets not offend anyone, even a potential terrorist. Instead, lets offend everybody else.

Because of the underwear bomber we now have the choice of body scanners or pat-downs where underwear is supposed to be. Millions of airline passengers face the indignity of such treatment. And guess what. The government is considering extending this stuff to trains and buses.

Despite our war hoping to wipe them out, terrorists must be laughing their heads off or at least smiling broad grins. I’m reminded of my days as an ornery little boy when I learned that my little sister was afraid of spiders. I could put her to flight by merely pretending I had a spider in my hand. So it is with terrorists; they need only to make us think that more terror is on the way. They have already cost us billions of dollars and wasted hours. They’re causing us to get used to lining up like sheep going to slaughter. To terrorists’ delight there goes another chunk of our freedom.

I believe the terrorists have won. We should probably start over. First we should throw political correctness into the trash heap, embrace profiling and stop treating citizens as the enemies.