bloodshed which afflicts so much of the world can migrate here as well.
There was an immediate sense that life in this isle of peace will never be the same again. “We are at war,” said one expert after another. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) called the wave of terrorist attacks “the second Pearl Harbor.” One Chicagoan on the street said to another, with grim irony, “Welcome to Jerusalem.”
It may be hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the loss or the enormity of the crime. The scope of the carnage strained comprehension — and the repercussions it will have in the days and years to come are almost without limit. Countless lives will be marred, deeply and indelibly, by what happened. For Americans as a whole, Sept. 11, 2001, is a date that will forever live in infamy.
It is easy, though, to overestimate the impact the attacks will have on our personal safety and our way of life. America is indeed at war, with someone. But this is not the Cold War, when thousands of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles were poised to annihilate hundreds of millions of people within the hour. This is not World War II, when we faced mighty nations with formidable, far-reaching military machines, implacably intent on forcing us to submit to their will.
The terrorist organization or government that struck these blows may be diabolical, ingenious, determined, and well-financed. Still, the chances are good that what it achieved Tuesday is not the beginning of the war, but the beginning of the war’s end. Launching a series of strikes at American targets means leaving fingerprints behind.
The terrorists are in the position of an archer hunting a grizzly bear, who may enjoy the advantages of concealment as long as he holds his fire. Once he releases an arrow that fails to kill his quarry, he faces detection and terrible retribution.
Tracking the murderers to their lair may be challenging and time-consuming, but it can be done — and it’s reasonable to wager that, in time, it will be done. In the meantime, the enemy’s main preoccupation is not to hit more U.S. targets but to avoid being hit. This triumph was far easier to pull off than it will be to replicate.
Whoever ends up being responsible for these appalling barbarities can’t count on living long to savor the achievement. Any restraint that the U.S. government might have observed in locating its worst enemies and eliminating them will be gone. Sooner or later, the American military is bound to exact punishment on those responsible.
Retaliation, as the Israelis can attest, doesn’t necessarily eliminate the threat, either immediately or eventually. Kill one militant leader, and new leaders and followers will sprout. Every “martyr” we create may spawn more fanatics eager to sacrifice themselves to their cause.
But the U.S., unlike most governments grappling with terrorists, has the protection of distance. We aren’t trying to contain an enemy on our borders. We aren’t trying to rule over an alien and hostile populace. We don’t face the endless challenge of trying to cope with what amounts to an armed rebellion or a civil war within our borders.
We can take modest steps to enhance our security. Tighter airport security, of the sort that Israelis take for granted, ought to be able to prevent airline hijackings, which turn out to pose a much broader peril than anyone imagined. We have allies worldwide whom we can call on for help in defusing the danger.
Our enemies are not so numerous or so powerful that they can force a bleak alteration of American life. A free and open society is inevitably more susceptible to unpredictable acts of violence than a tightly controlled one. All that means, though, is that trying to prevent any given terrorist incident is like trying to guard against being struck by lightning on a clear day. You can’t do it, so you accept the small risk of dying and go on with your life.
What took place Tuesday was a horrendous catastrophe leaving wounds that may never fully heal. It demands greater vigilance than we’ve had to exercise before. But permanently robbing our daily lives of normality is more than even these terrorists can do.
Patriotism in time of war
Now more than ever, we need to make sure that the United States makes plenty of room for dissent
Sunday, September 23, 2001
The war against terrorists has hardly begun, and the anti-war activists are already in midseason form. A group called the Washington Peace Center, which urges the United States not to answer “violence with vengeance,” is planning demonstrations in the nation’s capital on Sept. 30. Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover are among the organizers of a coalition urging the administration not to take rash action but to work “cooperatively as part of a community of nations within the framework of international law.”
Several hundred students rallied at Harvard Thursday with signs bearing messages like “War Is Also Terrorism.” One speaker announced, “As long as the United States is exploiting the rest of the world to create your own wealth, you won’t ever have peace.”
You may be thinking the obvious: What morons. And you’d be right. If these imperturbable opponents of war had been around on Dec. 7, 1941, they would have urged President Roosevelt to arrange a friendly chat with the Japanese and try to understand their grievances.
But while the peace activists may have very little to say that is persuasive, we should be grateful they’re speaking up. War is a time for unity, but not uniformity. Now more than ever, we need to make sure America makes plenty of room for dissent.
That has not always been the case. During World War I, one man went to prison under the Espionage Act for telling volunteer knitters, “No soldier ever sees these socks.” In the infamous postwar Palmer Raids, the FBI arrested thousands of people and held them incommunicado for their leftist political beliefs and their suspected involvement in domestic bombings. “Most of those arrested,” reports “The Oxford Companion to American History,” “were found to be harmless.”
After Pearl Harbor, Japanese-Americans were hauled off to internment camps, not for their views but for their ancestry. Furious over an embarrassing Chicago Tribune exclusive about the Battle of Midway, FDR wanted publisher Robert McCormick, one of his staunchest critics, put on trial for treason.
During the Cold War, panic about communism fueled the rise of McCarthyism, which tarred countless innocent people as subversives. The abuses uncovered in the Watergate scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration’s paranoia about opposition to the Vietnam War. They were merely the culmination of decades of illegal surveillance and harassment of dissidents.
The flurry of flag-waving in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 atrocities was a spontaneous show of national sorrow, pride and determination. It reflected a warm and generous brand of patriotism, and an outpouring of sympathy for those who died at the hands of terrorists.
But during times of war, some people try to use our national banner as a gag. A generation ago, flag decals proliferated with slogans like “America: Love It or Leave It,” self-styled patriots beat up anti-war demonstrators, and country singer Merle Haggard had a hit song expressing a common sentiment toward anyone opposing U.S. policies: “You’re walkin’ on the fightin’ side of me.” The widespread conviction was that questioning the war was tantamount to betraying your country.
We’ve learned a lot since then. Still, the impulse to equate loyalty with blind allegiance is not dead. When a reporter dared to ask about the Fox News Channel’s decision to adorn all its broadcasts with an American flag, senior vice president John Moody replied, “I’d sure prefer that to a hammer and sickle, I’ll tell you that.” There you have it: Either you’re a loyal American who loves the Stars and Stripes, or you’re a filthy communist. It’s even been argued that anyone selling
