Video: Lara Logan’s Keynote Speech at the 2012 BGA Annual Luncheon

Lara Logan of CBS News delivered a chilling warning to American policy makers and the American people during her keynote address to the Better Government Associations annual luncheon on Tuesday, October 2, 2012:

Lara Logan, a correspondent for CBS’ “60 Minutes,” delivered a provocative speech to about 1,100 influentials from government, politics, media, and the legal and corporate arenas. Such downtown gatherings are a regular on Chicago’s networking circuit. (I am a member of the BGA’s Civic Leadership Committee, and the Chicago Sun-Times was a sponsor).Her ominous and frightening message was gleaned from years of covering our wars in the Middle East. She arrived in Chicago on the heels of her Sept. 30 report, “The Longest War.” It examined the Afghanistan conflict and exposed the perils that still confront America, 11 years after 9/11.

Eleven years later, “they” still hate us, now more than ever, Logan told the crowd. The Taliban and al-Qaida have not been vanquished, she added. They’re coming back.

“I chose this subject because, one, I can’t stand, that there is a major lie being propagated . . .” Logan declared in her native South African accent.

The lie is that America’s military might has tamed the Taliban.

The sad truth we’ve gone back to our lazy, complacent pre-911 ways and are not willing to address the threat posed by radical Islam. Ms. Logan is right in our arrogance, we think we write the script. We don’t, our enemies get at least as much of say in it as we do.

And we’re not listening. We haven’t beaten them, we may have weakened the Taliban and al-Qaeda  in the short-term, but while we’ve become complacent here at home they’ve been regrouping and are making a comeback… wars don’t just end, they are either won or lost. Unfortunately, while our elected leaders are trying to find a politically acceptable way to end the war in Afghanistan, our enemies are trying to win it.