Like all Americans, we at The Heartland Institute wish to pause for a moment not only to remember one of this country’s saddest anniversaries, but also to strive to understand the meaning of terrorist attacks in the context of history and their implications for the future.
We take note of the 1st anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon, and also the 30th anniversary of another tragic event: the murder by terrorists of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The deliberate indifference of many individuals and government regimes to murder, and the past lack of serious response to these murders by the world community, represent a clear danger to our cherished freedoms. We are left with no choice but to be vigilant … at great cost to us, financially and spiritually.
We cannot turn back the clock and try to imagine what could have been done to avoid decades of hijackings, hostage-takings, and bombings. But we can commit to taking seriously the events of September 11, 2001, as well as the tragedies that have occurred before and will, inevitably, happen in the future.
Those tragedies remind us of the values we cherish as Americans committed to individual freedom, for ourselves and for the world we inhabit. Those freedoms always have been, and will never cease to be, worth defending.
Greg Lackner
Public Affairs Director
