September 11th defined my early adulthood. I was training to become a Navy SEAL when the planes struck the towers, and I later completed multiple combat deployments to Afghanistan because of those attacks.
That experience taught me that terrorism is not merely violence. It is violence calculated to provoke a political and psychological reaction. Terrorist movements attack civilians hoping that governments and societies will respond indiscriminately, validate the terrorists’ narrative, alienate the population, and create new recruits.
Al-Qaeda wanted Muslims to believe that the United States was at war with Islam. When Americans denigrate Muslims, favor one religion through government, or weaken the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses, they make that lie more credible.
Honoring the victims of 9/11 means more than remembering what happened. It means denying al-Qaeda the victory it sought by defending religious liberty, preserving our constitutional principles, and refusing to allow terrorists to determine what kind of country America becomes.
Religious hatred does not defeat al Qaeda. It validates al Qaeda’s narrative. Share this video if you believe America honors the victims of 9/11 by defending the constitutional freedoms the terrorists attacked.
