The sister of the pilot whose jet was crashed into the Pentagon by al-Qaida hijackers 13 years ago believes America's war on terror is flawed and needs stronger leadership in Washington.
"We still have a Washington that refuses to name the enemy and a cultural elite — and that includes our academic institutions, media [and] secondary schools — that won't allow us to have a national conversation about this ideology that is political Islam," Deborah Burlingame said Thursday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
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"But it's very important that we don't give up and continue to strive to push back against that kind of political correctness.
"It's quite suicidal for us to even begin to try and cope with organizations like ISIS, al-Qaida, and the dozens and dozens of Islamic militia groups in this global movement to establish a Caliphate and destroy the West."
Burlingame is the sister of Capt. Charles "Chic" Burlingame, who was killed along with 64 people aboard American Airlines Flight 77 and 125 people at the Pentagon on Sept. 11th, 2001.
"I feel like I was a different person back then. I had no idea what was going on. It was such a nightmare, a living nightmare and I was clueless as to what had happened and it took me a long time," she said.
"Now I just feel so sad for what we went through and … I see those images now in the context of what is happening now. I'm very focused on what is happening now."
Burlingame, who is co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America and Keep America Safe — added:
I'm worried about our children and our grandchildren and that is a fight that we must win and it is a generational plight.
"Success really can't be measured in these skirmishes here and now. It's a much, much, longer, bigger fight than that."
Burlingame urged lawmakers in Washington lawmakers "to be leaders … they need to wake up the American people and sound the alarm."
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