It finally happened — the nightmare that demonstrates our vulnerability. And all our nuclear missiles and battleships and the best military on Earth cannot put the World Trade Center back together again.
Now what?
First, the perpetrators’ ethnicity and location do not change the fact that only a handful of people committed this crime, and vengeance against a broad group does not befit us. Moreover, as we gratefully take advantage of the military’s enormous resources, we must be sure that the military does not overtake our system of civilian governance.
Our greatest victory will be to show that our way of life has been hit hard but not broken. We must not become fanatics, shrieking for revenge before we know who’s responsible. An investigation of such a grave event may take time to do correctly, but that is a small price to pay compared to the consequences of pointing fingers at those who are not responsible. And when we know who did it, we must respond as a great nation, with the full measure of power as allowed by international law, and with the entire civilized world in support.
That leads to the second challenge. Will we continue our policies of unilateralism and disengagement from problems in far-flung reaches of the world? Only days ago, foreign affairs was, for many Americans, a distant subject. Horrible conflicts and mass crimes happened somewhere else, and we thought we could insulate ourselves technologically and legally from their effects. We can’t.
Missile defense would not have stopped those hijacked planes. Stronger intelligence and international law enforcement networks with our allies might have. Participation in international agreements to prosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity can begin to build those networks. A diminished image of self-righteous arrogance and a national commitment to address the suffering of other people could generate sources of intelligence that could help reveal such plots.
Although we do not know if the perpetrators were in some way affiliated with the Middle East, preliminary indications and speculations suggest that region’s involvement.
For over a year, the United States has stood to the side as criminality on both sides of that conflict has escalated. A far more intense American commitment to halting the cycle of Middle East violence could help diffuse a cauldron that has inflamed global terrorism.
To find the people responsible is going to take a coordinated international effort; the United States cannot do it alone. All peace-loving nations must join that effort. Especially those nations that, in the past, have sheltered terrorists must unambiguously and vigorously contribute to bringing these terrorists to justice or be themselves considered international criminals.
The United States can emerge from this catastrophe stronger, with a deeper commitment to the unique dignity of our way of life and a profound reinvigoration of our leadership role among and with civilized people with whom we share a vulnerable world.
