Guest post from Mark West of the Chattanooga Tea Party.

When Evil Visited Our City

It was another quiet, sunny day in beautiful Chattanooga, affectionally known as “Scenic City” Tennessee.  Just a few weeks earlier our city with such charm and character was voted “Best Town Ever” by hundreds of thousands of Americans.  And yet, on the morning of July 16 at 10:45  the peace in our city was tragically shattered in a sudden and violent manner.  In the moments that followed, our city was drawn into a worldwide battle between good and evil.  Previous to July 16, our sleepy neighborhoods, bustling shops, busy ballfields and overflowing restaurants seemed to insulate us from this enemy, which to date had been advancing in their one-sided war, with very little opposition.  

Our leaders, entrusted with the security of the world’s sole superpower, like too many Americans, have wished this evil away.  Many of our leaders at all levels, both federal and state, have refused to acknowledge the truth of the ideology known as “radical islam” or “islamic terrorism.” 

Ignoring a deadly virus in one’s body does not eliminate the certain death that virus will cause. Likewise, refusing to mouth the words “islamic terrorist” does not insulate innocent citizens from the evil that most certainly awaits them. 

Unfortunately my fellow Chattanoogans and I know the truth of this evil ideology.  We have seen it first hand.  We have witnessed the physical effects.  And tragically, there are four families whose lives have been forever changed with the reality that their beloved Marine will never return home.   

But, did this have to happen?  Could this virus evil have been stopped?  As importantly, will our state and national leaders once and for all place the lives of their citizens above their stubbornness and political correctness? 

We all know the story of the boy who cried wolf for some time to a point that folks around him stopped listening to him so that when the wolf finally showed up, there was no one to kill the wolf and save the boy. 

For many years now there have been many in our nation crying wolf.  The wolf is radical islam.  Here in Chattanooga our organization has been warning our community of this evil for years.  And our movement across Tennessee has been expressing a dire warning to our political leaders, both in Nashville as well as Washington.   

In 2013 a group of over 500 concerned Tennesseans met US Attorney Bill Killian in Manchester, TN to express our opposition to his veiled threat that if citizens expressed an “inappropriate” negative sentiment towards Islam that they could be charged and prosecuted.  For many of us, the extent of our comments was to assert that Islam is not a religion of peace, in opposition to what we’ve heard regurgitated since a few days after 9/11.  Truthfully, our assertion is backed up with irrefutable evidence at infinitum.  The meeting with Killian was a volatile gathering because of Killian’s antagonistic attitude towards citizens who, while perhaps unruly at times, believed that their cry of “wolf” was unquestionably justified. 

Fast forward to yesterday and we heard from the same US Attorney Bill Killian at a news conference in Chattanooga just a few hours after 4 marines were killed.  Ironically, or perhaps sadly, the warning by hundreds of citizens who cried “wolf” about the threat of radical islam was tragically validated when Killian admitted that Chattanooga was struck by domestic terrorism.  

There’s no jubilation in being right about a tragedy.  In fact, there is sadness, frustration and anger.  Too many of us are experiencing these emotions because once again the policies of our nation, guided by men like Killian, Governors, Congress and the Commander in Chief continue to result in dead Americans.  

Whether it’s the fourteen murdered and twenty-nine wounded by Nidal Hasan (which was falsely documented as “workplace violence”) or now our own four tragic deaths and several wounded in Chattanooga, these senseless deaths might have been prevented if we merely had a Commander in Chief and many other elected officials who would speak truth.  

Wishing a war or an enemy away will not cause them to dissipate.  Rather, such behavior only emboldens and enables terrorists like Abdulazeez.  Only an aggressive pursuit of our enemy with the intent of total victory will insure their destruction and secure the lives of our citizens. 

So, will this happen?  I can see only one way this will occur.  You and I must recommit ourselves to never, ever allow this to occur again.  We must remember the ache within our soul on July 16 at 10:45am.  We must never allow that pain to diminish or depart.  And with that understanding that this threat continues, we must step up today, tomorrow and the next day to demand truthfulness by our leaders in identifying our enemy and action by the same in pursuing those enemies to the gates of hell to defeat them… or else, evil will once again visit our community, our state, our nation.  

But then, it will be too late. 

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Mark West