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I was in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 so my family and I always see things through the lens of our personal story from that day and the impact it’s had on the rest of our lives. We will never forget the horror and tragedy that we experienced first hand.
You can learn a bit about our 9/11 story below:
It is because of our personal story that we firmly believe the temporary travel restrictions on the seven nations in President Donald J. Trump’s extreme vetting executive order are right, important to our family’s safety, and critical to our nation’s security.
Many Americans have been put at risk or have died over the last 16 years on our own soil because of our failure to do extreme vetting. The Boston Marathon Bombers, the Underwear bomber, the San Bernardino shooters, the Chattanooga killer, and the Orlando nightclub shooter are just a few of the high visibility terrorists that have slaughtered innocent Americans on their own home turf. It’s for this reason that I have a very difficult time being “ok” with overreaching judicial decisions like the 9th Circuit Appeals Court that has interfered with timely execution of the President’s lawful order with no basis in fact, only offering political ideology in its opinion.
My family and I find it very difficult to have much compassion for a few folks that have been “inconvenienced” by the temporary travel restrictions. If you are one of these people lamenting over the restrictions because you’ve been “inconvenienced,” consider the victims and their families that were “inconvenienced” by Islamic Jihadi Terrorists on 9/11.
Sarah Clark, 65, was a sixth-grade teacher at Backus Middle School in Washington. She was accompanying student Asia Cottom, 11, on a National Geographic Society field trip. At age 11, Bernard Brown was an excellent student, catching the attention of his teacher, Hilda Taylor. She picked him to go on the 4-day National Geographic Society school trip. These are just a handful of the innocent people that were “inconvenienced” while flying on American flight 77 that day. You can read about the dozens more that were “inconvenienced” on that flight here.
If the Americans killed on American soil isn’t enough for you, think about the thousands of military members who have died in this war started by the Jihadis. Thousands of military children have been “inconvenienced” as they have had to spend months and years away from their parents who are constantly being deployed to fight these evil militants.
From someone who has experienced a terror attack on American soil first hand, the only “inconvenience” I can see in this situation has been to people who have no legal right to enter this country.
It is my recommendation the President and his national security team issue another, even more broad executive order to include countries like Saudi Arabia, as soon as possible to nullify the court’s order and bring security back to the American people.
Retired Colonel Rob Maness is owner of Iron Liberty Group and Chairman of GatorPAC. Rob served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, survived the attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and commanded the oldest bomber squadron in the Air Force in combat. Rob’s senior officer assignments included Vice Commander of the Air Force’s largest airborne intelligence wing, as first Deputy Director of Planning and Programming at Air Force Global Strike Command. Rob broadened his experience after his military career working for Entergy Corporation in the energy industry, then later entered the political arena in 2014 when he ran for the U.S. Senate.
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