This is some very interesting reading. You have to read
the catalogue of events in this brief piece. Then, ask
yourself how anyone can take the position that all we
have to do is bring our troops home from Iraq, sit back,
re-set the snooze alarm, go back to sleep, and no one
will ever bother us again.

In case you missed it, World War III began in November
1979...that alarm has been ringing for years.

U.S. Navy Captain Phil Ouimette is the Executive Officer
at Naval Air.Station, Pensacola, Florida.

Here is a copy of the speech he gave last month. It is
an accurate account of why we are in so much trouble today
and why this action is so necessary.

AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP!

That's what we think we heard on the 11th of September
2001-AD (When more than 3,000 Americans were killed) and
maybe it was, but I think it should have been "Get Out
of Bed!" In fact, I think the alarm clock has been buzzing
since 1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button
and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep
since then.

It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going
through a religious and political upheaval when a group
of Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy
in Tehran. This seizure was an outright attack on American
soil; it was an attack that held the world's most powerful
country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency. The attack
on this sovereign U. S. embassy set the stage for events
to follow for the next 23 years.

America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam
experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union
when then, President Carter, had to do some thing. He
chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The
ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol
of America's inability to deal with terrorism.

America's military had been decimated and downsized/right
sized since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained,
poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called
on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the
start.

Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began
to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East.
America could do little to protect her citizens living
and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued.

In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives
was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut. When
it explodes, it kills 63 people. The alarm went off again
and America hit the Snooze Button once more.

Then just six short months later a large truck heavily
laden down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through
the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut
and 241 US servicemen are killed. America mourns her
dead and hit the Snooze Button once more.

Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded
with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait,
and America continues her slumber.

The following year, in September 1984, another van was
driven into the gates of the US Embassy in Beirut and
America slept.

Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a
bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers
in Madrid.

Then in August a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven
into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main,
22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing louder and
louder as US interests are continually attacked.

Fifty-nine days later a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro
is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair
is singled out of the passenger list and executed.

The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian
airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986
that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight
103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259.

Clinton treated these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact
we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These
are acts of war.

The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder. The terrorists
decide to bring the fight to America. In January 1993,
two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarter
in Langley, Virginia.

The following month, February 1993, a group of terrorists
are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives
is driven into the underground parking garage of the World
Trade Center in New York City. Six people are killed
and over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime and not
an act of war?

The Snooze alarm is depressed again. Then in November 1995
a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women.

A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb
explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound
in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroys the Khobar Towers,
a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500.
The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they
see that America does not respond decisively.

They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous
attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. These
attacks were planned with precision. They kill 224. America
responds with cruise missile attacks and goes backto
sleep.

The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen
for refueling on 12 October 2000, when a small craft
pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy
Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but
we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back
to sleep.

And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001.
Most Americans think this was the first attack against
US soil or in America. How wrong they are. America has
been under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to
hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep.

In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing
from every high official in government over what they
knew and what they didn't know. But if you've read the
papers and paid a little attention I think you can see
exactly what they knew. You don't have to be in the FBI
or CIA or on the National Security Council to see the
pattern that has been developing since 1979.

The President is right on when he says we are engaged in
a war. I think we have been in a war for the past 23 years
and it will continue until we as a people decide enough
is enough.

America needs to "Get out of Bed" and act decisively now.
America has been changed forever. We have to be ready
to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our
way of life continues. We cannot afford to keep hitting
the snooze button again and again and roll over and go
back to sleep.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto said
"...it seems all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant."
This is the message we need to disseminate to terrorists
around the world.

Support Our Troops and support President Bush for having
the courage, political or militarily, to address what
so many who preceded him didn't have the backbone to do
both Democrat and Republican. This is not a political thing
to be hashed over in an election year this is an AMERICAN
thing. This is about our Freedom and the Freedom of our
children in years to come.