We must trust our leaders to make wise choices

By PHILIP GAILEY

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 16, 2001

So little left to say, so much left to do.

What adjective has not been used to describe Tuesday's monstrous assault on our nation in what may turn out to be, when the body count is completed, the single bloodiest day in U.S. history? What words are left to convey the horror and shock that Americans felt after hijackers rammed two jetliners into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and another into the Pentagon just outside the nation's capital? What sermon or homily has not been delivered from the pulpits of our churches? What elected leader has not threatened the terrible swift sword of retaliation?

We are at war -- "the first war of the 21st century," President Bush calls it -- and it feels neither real nor familiar. No yellow ribbons this time. There is a run on American flags. American blood has been spilled, but even more blood is being donated by people standing in line for hours at donation centers. The nation is united in anger and outrage, and citizens -- some too old to serve -- are showing up at Army and Navy recruitment offices to volunteer in the war against a shadowy and elusive enemy called terrorism. Military reserves are being called up. War planes protect the skies over Washington, and soldiers patrol the streets around the capital city's power centers.

First we must bury our dead, thousands of them, and secure the homefront. There are some things we can and should do to better protect ourselves from terrorist threats. We will accept the inconveniences of tighter airline security, and maybe some loss of privacy, and we will make sacrifices to defend our shores. However, there is always the danger in a time of national crisis that we will lose something precious, that bad laws will slip through.

As former Secretary of Defense William Cohen told the Wall Street Journal: "This was a transforming experience. Our lives will never be the same. This will confront us with some ugly choices -- how to balance the need to protect and defend our people while protecting our civil liberties."

Indeed, none of the choices will be easy. Americans will have to decide what price they are willing to pay for freedom from terrorism, and how many of their own freedoms they are willing to sacrifice in this war. The choices we make will define our national character.

We are neither at peace nor at rest. This time, it was hijacked airliners taking dead aim at New York skyscrapers and the Pentagon in Washington. Next time, it could be fanatics who strap bombs to their bodies for suicide missions in our restaurants, shopping malls and other crowded public places -- the very fear that pervades Israel every day. Or it could be the release of biological weapons in subway tunnels, or even a nuclear explosive in a ship sailing into a U.S. harbor.

After last Tuesday, the unspeakable is no longer unthinkable.

The horror of the attack on two of the most visible symbols of U.S. financial and military power has not only united the nation but it has ended -- at least for now -- the partisan bickering in Washington. The day after the terrorists struck, congressional Democrats and Republicans gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol last week and sang God Bless America. The politically untouchable Social Security "lockbox" is about to be shattered like a piggy bank. Money will be no object in the war on terrorism. President Bush asked for $20-billion in emergency military and recovery spending; Congress doubled that.

Congress, however, has a higher duty than just writing blank checks to the Pentagon, the CIA and the FBI. That duty is to protect our liberties not only from our foes but from well-meaning elected officials. Lawmakers will find it difficult to resist new antiterrorism laws that further erode our civil liberties. The prospect of passing an official secrets act suddenly has improved, after a dangerous antileak bill was recently withdrawn for a lack of White House support. The proposed legislation is aimed at government whistle-blowers, not foreign terrorists. But the bill's sponsor, Sen. Richard Shelby, D-Ala., may try to resurrect the measure as part of Congress' antiterrorism agenda.

We can also expect the Bush administration to use the moment to step up its push for a huge investment of national treasure in a missile defense shield, which now seems irrelevant to the threats we face. Administration officials concede that such a shield would not have prevented the airborne assaults in New York and Washington, but they still insist it is vital to national security. Congress should ask if the billions requested for missile defense could not be better spent on antiterrorism strategies.

As many commentators have said, the terror that roared out of clear blue skies over two of our great cities has forever changed our country. It remains to be seen whether the changes are for better or worse. America, the world's superpower, is preparing for war against a stealth enemy. The enemy flies the flag of no nation. It wears no uniform. We've hit back before, with cruise missiles aimed at suspected terrorist hideouts, but with little result. This time, our commander in chief and military leaders say it will be the real thing. It will not be easy or quick or without costs.

Now Americans must trust its leaders to act firmly but wisely. At a time like this, words matter. Sometimes, the most powerful words of war are the simplest, if they are spoken with conviction and purpose. Winston Churchill, whose words rallied the British people and their allies against Hitler, sent this message to the strutting peacocks of the Nazi war machine more than a half century ago: "You do your worst, and we will do our best."

The terrorists have done their worst. Our duty now is to do our best.

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