We Lost Sight of Why We Went to War

There are images that mark us for life, no matter how hard we try to clean them away.  I have never been able to let go of the sight of two hundred or so Americans falling to their deaths from the top floors of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in order to escape the fire and thousand-degree heat consuming those who remained.  Of all the carnage unleashed by Islamic terrorists against the United States on September 11, 2001, their murders most haunt me.

Strangers became family as they fell through the sky holding hands.  Solitary jumpers gripped cell phones close to their ears so loved ones on the other end would be with them until the end.  Some clung to curtains turned into makeshift parachutes, desperately hoping for a miracle.  Their final moments were horrendous yet human.

Those images filled me with such uncontrollable anguish and wild rage that I lost any sense of being moored to the ground.  It is the only day in my life I have been seized by fury while tasting tears.  I watched Americans forced to make such an inconceivable choice as to how they would spend the last ten seconds of their lives, and I whispered to myself, “We’re at war.”

Now we’re bumbling our way out of Afghanistan, the war is over after twenty years, and too many Americans don’t even remember why it was fought.

Unfortunately, twenty years ago is ancient history to young Americans who did not experience those moments or feel the aftermath of 9/11.  They cannot appreciate how united in purpose Americans of all backgrounds became that morning.  They will never know what it was like to walk down the street and bond with every stranger streaming frantically past.  They cannot understand how empathetic Americans became with one another.

Personal disagreements were put on hold or dispensed entirely.  People looked up in the skies, worried that more planes were heading their way, and nervously asked each other what they knew.  Phone networks were so jammed with friends and family reaching out for each other that only the sound of busy signals could be heard.  People everywhere clenched their cell phones, redialing every number they had, seeking confirmation of life on the other end of each redial.  It was as if the business of life had disappeared behind a sudden appreciation for what it means to live.

Men looked at each other with the looks that men exchange when they know it’s time to fight.  Each interaction involved a silent acknowledgment that blood had been drawn and that more was coming soon.  There was a shared seriousness among those who were already preparing for what would happen next.  Young men spoke about impending war even before the morning had ended.  Veterans, including those who had endured a despicable homecoming after returning from Vietnam thirty years earlier, flooded military call centers offering to re-enlist.

Take a moment to consider that selflessness and love of country!  Men who had survived a war against communism in Southeast Asia only to return home to be treated by their countrymen as villains were some of the first volunteers after 9/11 to beg the military to let them back into the fight.  Let it never be forgotten that when America suffered the worst attack on its soil since Pearl Harbor, men with honor responded from every generation.

Nobody doubted who attacked us.  Almost immediately, ordinary people were talking about Osama bin Laden and his war against the West.  There were no hawks or doves in the aftermath of 9/11; America had been bloodied, and Americans would fight to make sure it never happened again.  The New York Yankees would keep playing baseball only miles from Ground Zero.  The stock market would reopen for business.  Movie theaters and concert halls would keep entertaining.  Restaurants would bring friends together.  Travelers would get back on planes with newly found courage.  Families would hug each other more tightly.

We all knew that living life freely and without fear was one of the first ways to honor the three thousand Americans who had been murdered by our enemies.  We instinctively understood that continuing to live as we had before 9/11 was the surest proof of our resolve against those who wish to destroy Western civilization for good.  And I knew, every time I closed my eyes and thought of those Americans falling from the sky, that too many Americans had suffered greatly to take our freedoms for granted.

What I didn’t know then was that much of the war to come would lose sight of its beginnings.  A war to protect Western civilization against Islamist aggressors who seek our deaths would be watered down into an anodyne war against “terror” in its most generic form.  The hunt for Osama bin Laden and the destruction of al-Qaeda would transform into a generational battle against the Taliban and a mission to transform Afghanistan’s warring medieval tribes into something akin to a modern high-functioning democracy.

The war in Afghanistan would require a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq fifteen hundred miles away to take down an evil dictator who nonetheless had little to do with America’s original mission.  And anywhere Americans put boots on the ground would simultaneously commit Americans to rebuild nations from the ground up.

Even worse, I didn’t know then that we would end up so destructively declaring war on ourselves in the misplaced belief that we can protect freedom by diminishing and dismantling it.  The same Transportation Security Administration designed to prevent another 9/11 attack from the skies would transform security at the airport into a humiliating exercise for even the oldest great-grandmother confined to a wheelchair.  An entire Department of Homeland Security somehow incapable of securing the southern border would eventually be repurposed to target Republicans as potential terrorists.

A PATRIOT Act justified to stave off foreign threats would be turned against American citizens by unconstitutionally surveilling all of their phone calls, emails, and other electronic communications.  The same soldiers who have fought for America overseas would become the Pentagon’s next target as the Department of Defense declares war on “white rage.”  The Intelligence Community would end up conspiring with Silicon Valley and multinational corporations to censor Americans’ speech and control their behavior.

I certainly would not have predicted twenty years ago when America was awash in bravery and courage that Americans would allow themselves to be frightened and cowed by the prospect of illness to relinquish even more of their remaining freedoms in the name of health, nor would I have believed society could be shut down so easily today when Americans refused to do so after 9/11.

Twenty years later, and it is clear that we lost much more than those Americans killed on 9/11 and in combat fighting two long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and in numerous other conflict zones around the world.  We have lost a sense of who we are and why we rose as a country to defend America two decades ago.  In fighting those who would end Western civilization, we have worked awfully hard to end it on our own here at home.

And I wonder, when the American government spends so much of its time and energy treating its citizens as threats today, who will rise to defend the nation the next time it is under attack?  If the political class in D.C. can’t answer that question, then it has forgotten what it feels like to watch innocent Americans fall to their deaths.

The Dangers of Speaking the Truth Diminish If We Work Together

It’s becoming harder and harder for patriots to ignore the deep suppression of truth that’s happening in America today.

In all of my years in journalism, I have never received as many threats or been attacked by big companies like Google and Facebook as I have in 2021. I’d say that ever since we started covering widespread voter fraud, government-endorsed Pandemic Panic Theater, vaccine cover-ups, Critical Race Theory, and the various Neo-Marxist and Satanic agendas at play, I’ve been targeted more in months than the entirety of my life prior.

Speaking the truth is getting harder with so much censorship and suppression rampant. Prior to 2020, I was not a “conspiracy theorist” or an “anti-vaxxer,” but if there’s one thing the onslaught of exposed lies have taught us in the last 18 months, it’s that we cannot take what we’re told by the “arbiters of truth” at face value. There’s an agenda behind every message, a narrative driving every story, and a series of gigantic cover-ups designed to keep the masses in the dark.

This is why we’re building a network of news outlets that are willing to go against the narrative and expose the truth. We need help. We’re establishing strong partnerships with like-minded news outlets and courageous journalists. Even as Big Tech suppresses us, the honest messages they’re trying to quash are finding their way to the eyes and ears of patriots across the nation. With the help of new content partners like The Epoch Times and The Liberty Daily, we’re starting to see a real impact.

Our network is currently comprised of nine sites:

• NOQ Report
• Conservative Playlist
• Truth. Based. Media.
• Freedom First Network
• Based Underground
• Uncanceled News
• American Conservative Movement
• Conservative Playbook
• Our Gold Guy

Some of our content is spread across all of these sites. Other pieces of content are unique. We write most of what we post but we also draw from those willing to allow us to share their quality articles, videos, and podcasts. We collect the best content from fellow conservative sites that give us permission to republish them. We’re not ego-driven; I’d much rather post a properly attributed story written by experts like Dr. Joseph Mercola or Natural News than rewrite it like so many outlets like to do. We’re not here to take credit. We’re here to spread the truth.

I’ve said much of this before. From time to time I reframe this request for assistance by taking the most relevant message of the day and adjusting the story accordingly. We’ve discussed this network in previous articles. Now, it’s time to talk about help. First and foremost, we need financial assistance detailed below. But we could also use more writers who are willing to volunteer their thoughts for the sake of spreading the message. Those who are interested should contact me directly.

As far as money, we’re looking better than we have in the recent past, but we are currently experiencing a gap between revenue and expenses that cannot be overcome by click-ads and MyPillow promos alone (promo code “NOQ” by the way).

To overcome our revenue gap and keep these sites running, our needs fluctuate between $2200-$7800 per month. May, 2021, for example, was amazing and we almost broke even. June, revenue was sluggish at best and we had to make up a big difference out of our pockets. But we’re not just trying to get out of the red. If and when we start getting enough contributions to expand, we will do just that. Very few get into journalism to try to get rich and we’re definitely not among those who do. Our success is driven by spreading the truth, profitable or not.

The best way you can help us grow and continue to bring proper news and opinions to the people is by donating. We appreciate everything, whether a dollar or $10,000. Anything brings us closer to a point of stability when we can hire writers, editors, and support staff to make the America First message louder. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal or Bitcoin as well. Bitcoin: 3A1ELVhGgrwrypwTJhPwnaTVGmuqyQrMB8

Time is short. As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report and the other sites in the network going. Our promise is this: We will never sell out America. If that means we’re going to struggle for a while or even indefinitely, so be it. Integrity first. Truth first. America first.

Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker

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