Ten years ago, I was with the U.S. Army in an interrogation room at the detention facility in Parwan, Afghanistan. Through a translator, I asked the captured Taliban commander sitting before me how long he intended to keep fighting us. “You have me in a cage; my fight is over for now,” he said. “But my children will fight you, and if they don’t win, their children will fight you. If it takes a thousand years, we will win.”
Our enemies are focused on fighting the long-term war against the West, continuously educating the next generation to pick up the torch. In fact, Taliban is the Pashto word for “students,” named after the graduates of the schools the Taliban and their allied groups run where children are indoctrinated to become fighters in the jihadist cause.
We must educate our youth about our history and who our enemies are, or others will do it with a distorted version of the facts.
In 2021, when the Taliban rolled into Kabul, the newsreels were filled with images of young fighters, many of whom were not even born when the war started, just going to show how effective this strategy of generational warfare has been.
A little over a decade prior to that interaction in Afghanistan, I vividly recall — as does every American who lived through it — watching the Twin Towers fall, an event that profoundly shaped not only my life but my entire generation. But what do those here in the United States that were born in the aftermath of 9/11, or shortly before it, know about our enemies?
It was 23 years ago, which is a significant block of our nation’s population, including much of our military. Have we taught our children about not just what happened on September 11, 2001, but about who our enemies are who carried out such atrocities? Al-Qaeda was just one group in a long list of enemies who share the same goals and who unquestionably have this generation in their crosshairs, whether or not our children know it.
When Hamas terrorists attacked, murdered, raped, and captured civilian concertgoers and other Israeli civilians in their homes on October 7, 2023, we saw American students come out in droves on campuses to support the terrorists, something that would have been unthinkable in the early 2000s. A survey conducted of U.S. college students by Generation Lab found that 12% saw the terrorist attack as a justified act of resistance by Hamas and 48% did not even blame the terrorist organization for it.
One in eight college students openly supporting a terrorist group’s slaughter of innocent civilians is not a majority, obviously, but it is a number that should appall any sane person. We are not doing our job to properly educate the next generation.
In response to the campus protests, a congressional committee subpoenaed the presidents of several of America’s most prestigious universities, and we witnessed gross incompetence and an unwillingness to answer simple questions on the subject, ultimately leading to the resignation of two of the three subpoenaed presidents.
I reached out to two members of that committee for their thoughts. “Our colleges and universities are failing the moral test of ensuring our students can distinguish good from evil,” Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) told me. “Now more than ever, moral clarity is needed in higher education to ensure future generations know who the real enemies of America are.”
But what are we doing as parents to ensure our children know who our enemies are before they reach adulthood?
“After witnessing the woefully inadequate response by the leaders of some of America's most prestigious universities in dealing with pro-Hamas and anti-Semitic sentiment on college campuses, it has become all the more apparent how critical it is for the next generation to understand the threats we face to freedom and American values,” Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) said.
We must educate our youth about our history and who our enemies are, or others will do it with a distorted version of the facts. Today, jihadist enemies are waging ideological battles in America rather than on foreign battlefields. They understand that the next generation of presidents, governors, representatives, and voters are in our schools and colleges right now, and they are effectively reaching them. It is our responsibility to prepare these young people by teaching them the truth about our enemies. The strength and future of our nation depend on it.
Studying and emulating the lives of great men is a useful practice with a long history. Our culture, however, tends to promote celebrities, self-improvement gurus, and politicians.
Although no such luminaries proved of much use during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, many “ordinary” people found it within themselves to act with stunning courage and determination.
The story of Rick Rescorla offers an especially poignant lesson for these times, involving as it does the triumph of individual know-how, experience, and common sense over bureaucratic “expertise.”
While serving as a platoon leader in the Vietnam War, the British-born Rescorla calmed his troops by singing to them. Years later, he employed the same tactic while helping evacuate the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Twenty-three years on, it’s clear just how woefully unprepared our leaders were for 9/11. Rescorla, on the other hand, was ready.
Even before he became head of corporate security for Morgan Stanley, he had long warned anyone who would listen of the Twin Towers’ vulnerability to attack. When American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower, the Port Authority ordered Rescorla to keep everyone at their desks.
His response, given his somewhat more intimate view of the unfolding crisis, was appropriately blunt: “Piss off.” The evacuation plan he’d insisted all employees rehearse through countless surprise drills went smoothly. His defiance saved some 2,700 lives.
Having led his charges at Morgan Stanley to safety, Rescorla went back into the building in search of more people to help. He was last seen on the 10th floor. He had never been comfortable calling attention to his wartime deeds, for which he was awarded a Silver Star and a Purple Heart. "The real heroes are dead," he would say. When the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., Rescorla joined their ranks.
Files should be open to the public unless otherwise specified, not secret by default. We the people have a right to know what our government does in our name, and to know our own history.
Once again, we are in a battle too many Americans do not know we are involved in. Our culture has changed as Americans turn away from God.
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