Dakota Beacon

Most folks enjoy taking life easy this time of year. It is, after all, a holiday. Therefore, it is wise that I keep it simple when serving up a bit of screed over the Thanksgiving weekend.

A month has passed since our ambassador and three others were murdered in Benghazi, Libya. Frustration builds with a lack of Obama’s response and contributes to a perception of ineptness.

Libyan terrorism is nothing new. Among their attacks, on April 5, 1986, Libyan terrorists bombed a Berlin discotheque killing 3 of which 2 were American servicemen and injuring 229 of which 79 were also American servicemen. Retribution was swift and decisive. President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher working together authorized air strikes for April 15 against Libya targeting airfields and barracks.

PM  Margaret Thatcher, speaking on April 15 and 16 to the British House of Commons, justified both British and American decisions to conduct air strikes. PM Thatcher’s remarks are notable for her leadership, resolve and understanding of terrorism.

What follows is an extensive quote cited in view of our current Benghazi travesty. One strong woman, and my heroine, Lady Margaret Thatcher, speaks.

“My statement yesterday explained the Government’s decision to support the United States’ military action, taken in self-defence, against terrorist targets in Libya.

“Of course, when we took our decision we were aware of the wider issues and of people’s fears. Terrorism attacks free societies and plays on those fears. If those tactics succeed, terrorism saps the will of free peoples to resist....

“Terrorism has to be defeated; it cannot be tolerated or sidestepped. When other ways and other methods have failed...it is right that the terrorist should know that firm steps will be taken to deter him from attacking either other peoples or his own people who have taken refuge in countries that are free....

“...However, we now know that there were a number of civilian casualties, some of them children....The casualties are, of course, a matter of great sorrow. We also remember with sadness all those men, women and children who have lost their lives as a result of terrorist acts over the years--so many of them performed at the Libyan Government’s behest....[break]

“Had the honourable gentleman been listening, he would have realized that I was trying to tackle that argument in part when I said that terrorism thrives on a free society. The terrorist uses the feeling in a free society to sap the will of civilization to resist. If the terrorist succeeds, he has won and the whole of free society has lost....

“As I told the House yesterday, I replied to the President that we would support the action directed against specific Libyan targets demonstrably involved in the conduct and support of terrorist activities; further, that if the President concluded that it was necessary, we would agree to the deployment of United States aircraft from bases in the United Kingdom for that specific purpose....

“It has been suggested that, as a result of further Libyan terrorism, the United States might feel constrained to act again. I earnestly hope that such a contingency will not arise....

“Many honourable Members (of Parliament) have questioned whether the United States action will be effective in stopping terrorism or will instead have the effect of quickening the cycle of violence in the Middle East. Let us remember that the violence began long ago. It has already taken a great many lives. It has not been so much a cycle of violence as a one-sided campaign of killing and maiming by ruthless terrorists, many with close connections with Libya. The response of the countries whose citizens have been attacked has not so far stopped that campaign....

“Indeed, one has to ask whether it has not been the failure to act in self-defense that has encouraged state-sponsored terrorism. Firm and decisive action may make those who continue to practise terrorism as a policy think again....

“...The growing threat of international terrorism is not directed solely at the United States. We in the United Kingdom have also long been in the front line. To overcome the threat is in the vital interests of all countries founded upon freedom and the rule of law. Terrorism exploits the natural reluctance of a free society to defend itself, in the last resort, with arms. Terrorism thrives on appeasement. Of course, we shall continue to make every effort to defeat it by political means. But in this case that was not enough. The time had come for action. The United States took it. Its decision was justified, and, as friends and allies, we support it.”

Terrorism is on the rise but our government turns a blind eye. More than a quarter of a century after Lady Thatcher’s address to the House of Commons our Ambassador to Libya and three others were murdered. The US response? The Obama administration takes no action. Instead, it bobs and weaves and dawdles in an attempt to stonewall and cover-up ineptitude.

How times change.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).