Freedom has more than one enemy

"Give me liberty, or give me death."

- Patrick Henry

Freedom won a strong victory when United States troops shot Osama bin Laden in the face. But, as many pundits have been quick to point out, this victory, like the attack of Sept. 11, 2001, is symbolic, not decisive. We are still at war. The threat still exists. Both al-Qaida and the western world will continue to battle. Al-Qaida and its affiliates will continue to kill indiscriminately, exploit the vulnerable and shield themselves with the defenseless. And, in certain instances, they will have victories.

Similarly, we will continue to fight. But we, as a nation must be clear on what our role is. We are warriors for freedom, not just foot-soldiers against al-Qaida. As such we have a higher standard. We must dedicate ourselves to the protection of human dignity, and prepare ourselves for the fact that winning this war may mean losing a few battles. And this doesn't mean just overseas. Al-Qaida will kill more Americans. They will kill those we love, and they will do it on American soil.

But we stand to lose more than our lives: We stand to lose the very ideals our country stands for. And if we do, we lose the war.

We hail freedom because we detest the idea of the strong forcing the weak to their will. We detest abuse and exploitation. We detest everything that al-Qaida stands for. And because al-Qaida is so flagrant, and has left such a scar, it is easy to fear them. But we shouldn't; we must use the same cool resolve we have used with threats in the past, and that we use with bigger threats facing us today. In its biggest victory against the United States, al-Qaida killed nearly 3,000 people. In idyllic American fashion, it took our fellow civilians less than an hour to launch a decisive counter-attack on al-Qaida and thwart an assault from the air aboard Flight 93. Those heroes lead by courage.

Unfortunately, our government has taken a different approach domestically; leading through fear. Out of fear of terrorists, we allow the government to search under our and our children's clothes with no suspicion whatsoever. Imagine if we reacted the same way to every threat we faced. Drunk drivers killed 10,839 men, women and children in America in 2009 alone. Imagine for a second submitting to a search each time you use a roadway.

We must recognize that fear of terrorists is irrational. Let our soldiers kill them overseas, and be supportive in their doing so. Someday we may be in the unlikely scenario where we are asked to give our lives, the way those aboard Flight 93 did, in defense of our country. But we must go about our lives with the awareness of that danger, the same way we do with our awareness that we share the road with those who use their cars as murder weapons.

We tossed bin Laden in the ocean to keep from ever having a shrine in his memory. However, we have allowed a temple to arise in his honor by allowing government to metastasize to the point where we let a stranger touch our children.

Our military deserves praise for the seemingly endless and thankless job they are doing overseas. Barack Obama deserves praise for his calm in destroying bin Laden. But the true warrior that will lead us to victory in this war looks you in the mirror every morning if you show courage, not fear.

Luke Malek is a Kootenai County native and an attorney who believes that the existence of the TSA does little more than bolster job numbers in the U.S., and that Janet Napolitano should honor her oath to the Constitution. He can be reached at awakeningremarks@gmail.com.