David McElroy

U.S. military forces have spent a decade fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, but most Americans still don’t have a clear idea why those wars happened. What’s worse, it’s considered unacceptable in some circles to tell the truth about why terrorists from the Middle East attacked the United States 10 years ago. People honestly prefer to remain in the dark about it.

When the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 happened, it was understandable that many people were emotional and frightened. I can even understand — if not condone — the fact that many Americans were willing to support irrational foreign and military policies under such stress. But I have no sympathy for people who refuse to face the truth after this long.

Republican presidential contender Ron Paul is the only presidential candidate who’s been trying to have an honest, adult conversation about why the terrorist attacks happened and why the two wars happened. Shamefully, voters are showing clearly that they don’t want to hear him. In the CNN Tea Party debate Monday, Paul was booed when he outlined why certain groups are upset with the United States. It’s not that they have facts to indicate that he’s wrong. They merely don’t like the truth that he has the temerity to speak.

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One of the first things you learn in politics is to never repeat the charges that your opponent makes about you. It’s counter-intuitive for most people, but after you’ve been in the business for awhile, you learn that if you defend yourself by explaining what your opponents are saying — and why they’re wrong — you end up reinforcing what the opponents are saying, even if they’re wrong.

Because of that, I’m shocked to see Barack Obama’s re-election campaign falling into one of the worst traps I’ve ever seen. The campaign has set up a website that it calls “AttackWatch.com.”

If you set up a site that talks about the lies your enemy is telling about you, all you’re doing is giving them — and their lies — publicity. I know it appeals to the rational side of the brain to respond, but I guarantee that it doesn’t work 98 times out of 100.

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I was in a small group in the back yard of someone’s home when the talk turned to fear of terrorism. We were sitting next to the man’s pool while kids played in the water and the adults talked about scarier things.

“I’m just about scared to travel anywhere these days,” the man said. “The world is so scary now because of the terrorists. I’m sure not going to New York City or some big place like that. Why would anyone even think about living there these days?”

I hadn’t been saying anything, because I usually get myself into social trouble by being the lone dissenter in such situations. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore, though, so I asked the man if he knew that more people were killed every single year in swimming pools than were killed in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Someone scoffed. A couple of people laughed.

“Oh, the pool’s safe,” the man said. “We keep the kids away when we’re not around, so we can control this. But when you’re dealing with terrorists, you don’t have any control.”

I kept my mouth shut, because I knew there was no way to make him understand a very simple statistical fact. Almost 3,000 people died in the World Trade Centers attack, but close to 3,500 people die in U.S. swimming pools each and every year. Tell me which you should be more afraid of.

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