Once again the forces of extreme liberalism, moral ambiguity and pacifism have banded together to create the illusion of indignation over something that our president has done, and for obvious political reasons. I'm talking about the recent "outrage" over George W. Bush using images from 9/11 in two campaign advertisements released last week. (Video 1 | Video 2)

When I first started hearing family members of certain victims of those horrific attacks saying that they were upset by the "unconscionable" use of those images by the president, I was shocked. I've seen the ads in question, and the few seconds of footage showing firefighters carrying the body of a fallen comrade draped in an American flag out of the wreckage of ground zero, and the shot of the flag waving in front of that wreckage, seemed perfectly appropriate to me. After all, 9/11 is one of the single most politically influential events of modern times, shaping not only the way our leaders have dealt, and will deal with, the various nations of the world, but the way we all live our very lives here at home.

The atrocities of that day were broadcast on practically every television network there is to most of the people on earth, and made the front page of the majority of newspapers on every continent. Within the first few hours of that attack, most Americans saw the images of the twin towers falling over and over again, as the major news networks played them on an endless loop in small windows beside their commentators' faces. Each day that followed brought more footage shot from nearly every angle possible of the disaster area, and countless individuals were interviewed who witnessed the event first hand. Ceremonies of all kinds were later performed in honor of the victims, and songs, poems and tributes of every description were created regarding it from the most diverse of perspectives.

Do I really need to articulate how profoundly affected the lives of all Americans were by that day in our history? Is it now necessary that I point out to anyone how many months went by before people stopped talking about 9/11 on a daily basis? Is there anyone anywhere who cannot appreciate what has transpired throughout the world because of the worst terrorist attack of all time? I can't think of a single aspect of our lives which has not, in some way, been effected by 9/11, yet now I'm supposed to believe that the man who has dedicated himself to making sure it doesn't happen again is wrong for mentioning it. Am I somehow supposed to think that it's now inappropriate for the president of the United States to discuss, during his reelection campaign, what he intends to do in order to assure that such a catastrophe doesn't happen again?

Apparently, or so a few left-wing activists contend. You see, the folks who have been speaking out against President Bush's use of these images are not simply the family members of 9/11 victims. No, they are also supporters of a rabidly anti-war and anti-Bush organization called the 'September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows' (http://www.peacefultomorrows.org) which has opposed both the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan from the day of its inception in 2002. Claiming over 120 families as members, it is a project of the 'Tides Center' (http://www.tides.org/index_tds.cfm) which is funded by foundations chaired by none other than Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of the president's primary political opponent, John F. Kerry.

This should come as no surprise to anyone who, initially, was just as bewildered and dismayed by the words of people like Colleen Kelly, the leader of SEFPT, who came on national television on the day the president's ads were released and said "'It makes me sick... Would you go to someone's grave and use that as an instrument of politics?." Like myself, many people just couldn't understand why anyone related to a victim of the 9/11 attacks would react in so irrational a manner some two and a half years after the fact, especially when George W. Bush is the only president we've had who has ever taken substantial steps to defeat the terrorist threat which caused the death of their loved ones in the first place!

Kristen Breitweiser, who's husband died in one of the World Trade towers, stated "It's offensive that he would have the audacity to use 9/11 in a political campaign", adding that "Three thousand people were murdered on Bush's watch." Is this woman suggesting that our president was responsible for the attacks? It sure seems that way to me. If that's not the case then why bring it up? Does this woman blame former President Franklin D. Roosevelt for Peal Harbor? Did she think it unfitting of him to speak about that tragic event while running for reelection? As I listened to the remarks of these women and several others that same day, I felt certain that there had to be some ulterior motive behind their sudden and seemingly well coordinated attacks against Mr. Bush so soon after his ads were made public. Of course, now I understand that there was such a motive, and that the well established political opponents of the president were standing in the wings right behind these purported grieving family members.

What's worse is that no one in the popular media even mentioned that the people they were interviewing were members of a radical left-wing group that has savaged the Bush administration for well over a year. They also failed to mention that this group is funded with money donated by a foundation run by John Kerry's wife! Was that not what they considered to be pertinent information before they decided to fill the airwaves with these incomprehensible snipes at our president?

And why do the members of SEFPT hate George W. Bush so much that they would undertake such an obvious charade anyway? What is the rationale behind their extremely hostile personas? If anyone is using this issue for solely political reasons, it's these people and everyone like them in the Democratic party who seem to have nothing better to talk about than what they perceive is wrong with President Bush... that and the fact that John Kerry fought in Vietnam. God forbid any of us should forget that historic event!

Edward Daley