By Captain Brent Ramsey, US Navy, ret
STARRS Board of Advisors
I was at work at the Construction Battalion Center, Gulfport, MS on 9/11/2001. It was a normal Tuesday, and I was at my desk. At the time I was the Executive Director, the senior civilian manager at the base.
One of my staff quickly came into my office and told me that there had been some sort of attack and that I needed to go to the CO’s office immediately, which was just a few steps away. I went into the CO’s office and watched the chaos that was unfolding in New York, at the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania.
We didn’t know what to do so we sat there in shock for a bit and watched the tragedy unfold. This only lasted a short time and then we got to work. We knew at once to tighten security at the entry points of the base so that precaution was put in place quickly.
Our Commanding Officer, CAPT Brian Kelm was at a conference at CBC Port Hueneme, CA, more than 2000 miles away. The XO spoke to him, and he said it was urgent for him to return to the Center. Since all planes were grounded, the CO and his party got into their rental car and headed for Gulfport. They arrived in approximately 30 hours, driving straight through taking turns at the wheel.
Of course, everyone was in total shock over what had happened and was uncertain what to do. The actual impact on the Center immediately was zero as we were so far away from the sites that were attacked.
We carried on with our normal work after a certain delay absorbing the enormity of what had happened. So, there was no real immediate impact on the Center other than a decrease in productivity and attention to our work for a period that gradually went away. This at most was the loss of a minor amount of work being done.
The bigger impact by far was the lasting impact over the next several years as the Navy and the nation went onto a semi-war footing expecting more attacks and more terror.
My guess is that CBC along with the rest of the entire military spent thousands upon thousands of extra hours on security and countermeasures that were largely never challenged by a real attack, all because of 9/11.
We put rigorous gate entry procedures into place almost immediately. At first makeshift barriers were put up and later permanent concrete barriers were erected with alternating lanes and methods of diverting terrorists trying to enter the base were created. Travel restrictions were enforced.
Our whole approach to security and access to our bases and deployment methods were changed. Every evolution was examined and altered all for the purpose of being able to defend against the next terror attack.
No terrorists ever came to attack the Seabee base in Gulfport, MS. But we didn’t know that none would and our government had no choice but to harden every military base and government site.
No doubt millions of manhours and trillions of dollars were spent to harden more than 800 military sites around the world and untold thousands of other government sites.
Government studies estimate that the attacks on 9/11 have cost the U.S. trillions of dollars. The cumulative cost of 9/11 is now believed to be more than $5 trillion, and the cost continues to accumulate since the entire country still operates with anti-terrorism facilities and practices in place. How many man hours that have been directed towards this effort will never fully be known.
We still operate in many ways that probably defy good sense based on the actual likelihood of a similar type of terrorist attack like 9/11 could ever happen again.
The threat from radical Islam is still present as it was in 2001 and in some ways is worse than ever. Our domestic transportation system is hardened, and another 9/11 style attack probably will never happen again. I know, never say never. So, we will not see planes flying into buildings again. But two greater threats have arisen.
First, and foremost is from Iran who has gotten stronger and more dangerous over the years. For 47 years since the overthrow of the Shah, Iran has been shouting “Death to America” as their defining mantra. They believe they are on a divine and ordered jihad against infidels (any non-Muslim) and that they will be rewarded in heaven for killing all Jews and destroying America and the west and implementing Islam and Sharia law all over the world.
If Iran had a nuke, they would not hesitate to use it to destroy Israel in a stroke and to attack the U.S. Imagine nuclear bombs smuggled into the U.S. going off in Washington, DC, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles all at the same time. Millions would die. Iran would not hesitate a nanosecond to do that to us.
Short of having that nuclear weapon, if Muslim fanatics stay in charge of Iran, they will continue their holy war against the west in the form they have been using of terror attacks all over the world, supporting terror networks, terrorizing their own population and other nations in the middle east and clandestinely by any means still trying to develop their own nuclear weapons.
Second, radical Islam using Iranian and other money sources, has proliferated and morphed into political movements that are secretly and somewhat silently moving into and coopting parts of the west.
The Red-Green threat has been identified and described by many including Mansoor Laghari in this link.
In recent days in the U.S., we have seen an unholy alliance between Muslim extremists and far left Democrats joining forces to win elections. There are already several radical Muslims in Congress, and the numbers are expected to increase in the coming election.
Because of lax immigration and even laxer governance in some states and locales, Muslim enclaves are being established and are growing rapidly in many states including Minnesota, Michigan and even Texas. Thus, we are threatened from without and from within.
It is time for Americans to remember what happened on 9/11.
Muslim attackers killed thousands of innocent Americans just because of that alone, we were Americans and thus deserving of being killed. That is what radical Muslim believes. All Americans except those who bow to Allah are to be killed. By any means possible.
In the 47 years since the radicals took control of Iran, there have been thousands of smaller attacks all around the world that have killed or maimed thousands of other Americans.
On 9/11 we rightly should look back and remember those who were lost and those who were forever maimed or damaged by those despicable attacks. We should also remember the families and the first responders and the impacts of those horrible atrocities on lives, families, and hundreds of thousands of those directly impacted by the 9/11 attacks.
But we must not lose focus that the war of radical Islam on the U.S. is something we are right in the middle of now. We must support the current war on Iran to prevent for all time the radicals in Tehran from ever being able to develop nuclear weapons….whatever it takes or as long as it takes.
And we must redouble our efforts internally to defeat the Red-Green internal threat that plans to take over America from within by conquering us at the ballot box.
When the Shah of Iran fell in 1980, there were 1.2 million Muslims in America. Today the number is slightly under 6 million. Muslims once arriving here have higher birth rates than the U.S. traditional rate is and we admit large numbers of Muslim immigrants too.
A question needs to be asked what percent already in the U.S. have been or already are radicalized to be jihadists? As 9/11 proved, it only takes a few to inflict enormous death, destruction, pain and cost on America.
Americans of good will must consider all these issues and decide what should our policy and practice be.
We are not at war with Islam. But we must protect ourselves as best we can from radical Islam from without and from within or we will be seeing other terrorist attacks from within or will suffer a catastrophic attack from Iran or some other agent of radical Islam from overseas if a nuclear warhead is ever used to attack us in the future.
STARRS Board of Advisors member Captain Brent Ramsey, US Navy (Ret.) served 30 years in the Navy and 23 years in Navy Civil Service. Among his assignments were Commanding Officer, Cargo Handling Battalion TWELVE, Executive Director, Construction Battalion Center, Gulfport, and Mississippi Navy Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer.
He served as Senior Advisor, Center for International Maritime Security, and was a Member/Secretary of the non-partisan Military Advisory Group for Congressman Mark Meadows (NC-11) for four years. He now serves in that same capacity for Congressman Chuck Edwards.
He was formerly Director At Large for STARRS as well as Deputy for Operations and Public Affairs Officer. He is an officer, director, PAO, and principal liaison to Heritage Foundation for Calvert Task Group and on the Board of Advisors for the Center for Military Readiness. He serves many roles at Hopeful Lutheran Church, is Secretary of the Hopeful Foundation and member of the Hopeful Cemetery Board.
CAPT Ramsey studied at Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, is a graduate of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Executive Management Program, the Reserve Components National Security Course, and the FEMA Emergency Preparedness Management Officers Program.
He has authored more than 95 articles on national defense matters, China, and military/social issue issues. His writing has appeared in Real Clear Defense, Real Clear Policy, Washington Examiner, Center for International Maritime Security, National Defense, Creative Destruction Media, Armed Forces Press, American Thinker, Association of American Mature Citizens newsletter, and he writes regularly for Patriot Post. He has written exclusive content for STARRS including reviews of many books. He is co-author of Don’t Give Up the Ship: Woke Politics Are Endangering Our Military and Our Nation. See articles on STARRS
US NAVY IN EXTREMIS! Facing China’s Growing Maritime Threat with Capt. Brent Ramsey, USN ret.
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