Dear Kahno,
As I watched the continuous television news coverage beginning Tuesday morning I remember my first reaction as being total disbelief. I tuned in the broadcasts a couple of minutes after the second plane hit the other WTC Tower. And news reporters were coming to the realization: “This is NOT a coincidence. Something is going on here!” And then…when it was reported that a 3rd plane had dived into the Pentagon, the truth was clear. We’re under ATTACK!! Who? What? Why?
As I sat looking at very familiar landmarks in flames there was a certain surreal quality to it all. I grew up on television in the 50’s and throughout the morning I had conflicting thoughts: “This can’t be real. This can’t be happening. This must be, well, this must be television.” But it WAS real. It WAS happening. And mixed with that sense of disbelieve and shock, there began to enter a feeling of anger. Not so much with whoever was doing this to us, but with our government for allowing it to happen.
You see, the last time anything, even remotely, like this happened was at Pearl Harbor in 1941. And Hawaii (a U.S. territory at the time) was still thousands of miles from the U.S. mainland. The only times previous to that when a foreign entity successfully attacked the U.S. mainland was in 1917, when Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa crossed into Columbus, New Mexico and killed a few citizens, and in 1813 when our British cousins, in a spate of ill-humor marched into Washington D.C. and burned the White House and a couple of other buildings. But on the whole we Americans have had the good fortune to feel secure against foreign invasion or attack on our country. This is why the events of Tuesday, September 11, 2001 come as such a shock to all of us.
So with all our technology, with all our satellites and our C.I.A. and our F.B.I. and our N.S.A. and a bunch of other letters from the alphabet, how could this be allowed to happen? Then…slowly…inevitably came the thought: Who did this, and what are we going to do about it? As the hours wore on, and then became days, and as pieces of the puzzle were beginning come together, there was a growing feeling of outrage and frustration. Outrage, that SOMEBODY had used our own democratic traditions, our own freedoms to successfully attack us. Outrage that it was our own commercial aircraft that were the weapons of choice.
And then…frustration. Forget nuclear weapons for a moment. In terms of conventional weaponry the President of the United States is the Commander in Chief of the most destructive military capability on the face of the planet. And nowhere to direct it. The feeling of helplessness as we patiently wait for our investigative efforts to prove out what so many have surmised from the beginning. Frustration that, like other western nations, we have sat for years pretending that certain terrorist organizations who have publicly sworn to destroy us would somehow fail to find the means. That we would be able to intercept the terrorists at the borders before they could do us harm, while ignoring the source of those terrorists out of some sort of misguided sympathy for those with a gripe. Even after the World Trade Center bombing in 1994, when we KNEW who ordered those bombs…holding back because…well, you know. We wouldn’t want the rest of the world to think poorly of us, now would we? We wouldn’t want anyone else to think we were bullies. And then sitting in front of a television watching the twin towers of the WTC collapse upon those still trapped in them, and the rescue workers desperately trying to free them…frustration. Frustration at knowing that hundreds, probably thousands of our fellow citizens were dead and dying because the U.S. was too correct, too legalistic, too…too nice to do what it should have done years ago. Frustration that our government was, apparently, more concerned with world opinion than with the protection of it’s citizens and sovereign integrity.
But finally, there is a feeling of hope and encouragement. Throughout the trauma of this devastating attack Americans are united. Politicians who, the week before, were at each other’s throats, standing arm-in-arm singing patriotic songs. Government leaders, who, the week before, would have wished for George Bush’s head on a platter, now publicly declaring themselves in complete support of the President of the United States and pledging their assistance in whatever way they can.
If our government leaders are sincere in what they tell us. If they mean what they say, there is going to come a day of retribution. Those who have attacked us are going to pay the price for their decisions. But if the United States and it’s allies will hold the course, and do what they know MUST be done, there will be hardship, there will be destruction, there will be those who condemn us for our actions. But when it is over, we, and our allies, and the greater portion of the world will be able to sleep a little better at night. But it will take continued vigilance. We Americans have such sort memories. We’re so naïve. We get done with the battle and we think it’s over. We lay down our weapons, and forget that we’ve done this before, again and again. We sit and wait for the next “Day of Infamy” and then act surprised when it actually happens. Maybe this time we’ll remember that the battle is never really over; that those who value freedom must always be on guard and ready to act against those who would destroy it. Maybe this time.
Thank you for your interest,
Ray
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