Gilbert Gutknecht: “Every generation faces its own challenge. We in our day met ours on Tuesday morning. Our ancestors looked squarely into…”

“Every generation faces its own challenge. We in our day met ours on Tuesday morning. Our ancestors looked squarely into the ugly face of Naziism and of communism. They knew that the future of all they held dear counted on them. They understood the stakes. They met the challenge. They prevailed. And the world is better for it. The 'ism' that we must defeat is terrorism. We will bury our dead, we will comfort the wounded, we will rebuild those buildings. But if we fail to defeat this enemy, all of our burying and building will be in vain. The attacks against innocent Americans were acts of war. The souls of the victims cry out. They cry out a warning. If we fail to defeat terrorism, there will be more attacks, and more victims. We must commit ourselves to a total war. Clauschwitz said that the goal of any military encounter is to destroy the enemy's will to fight. This must be our goal. We must destroy their will to advance their agenda through terror. We must raise the price of practicing terror so high that generations to come will gag at the very thought. There have been many times in our Nation's history when our adversaries have miscalculated the steely resolve in the American spirit. They miscalculate us now. The war that we must confront will not be easy. There will be dark days. We may not win every battle. But we will and we must wage the war with valor and with vigor.”