The American Spectator

Streetcar Line

Renewing the Spirit of 9/11

By Quin Hillyer on 9.11.07 @ 12:08AM

Six years ago today, Islamic murderers committed an unspeakable evil against this nation.

I don't make a habit of quoting myself, but (for reasons that will become clear at the end of this column) I urge you to read the editorial for the following day that I drafted within hours of the 9/11 bombings, on behalf of the Mobile Register editorial board and with the excellent fine-tuning of my board colleagues. I believe the editorial's themes remain just as relevant today -- and if so, there's a lesson in that relevance that has nothing to do with its author and everything to do with the themes themselves. Before exploring those themes, though, here is the Register editorial from 9/12/01:

Terror will not succeed, and justice will prevail
UNSPEAKABLE EVIL has occurred. Thousands of innocent people have been killed or injured. The United States of America has been targeted because of its strength, a strength that grows directly from its essential decency.

But for those same reasons of strength and decency, the United States will not be cowed. It will respond firmly and appropriately to Tuesday's vicious assaults; and when it does, those who are responsible will understand that they are no match for America's military and moral might.

There is, of course, no logical explanation for the terrorist attacks that shook New York and Washington. There is no ultimate logic to terrorism.

Yes, there may be planning and there may be discipline and there may be an odd rationality that tries to calculate the costs and "benefits" -- benefits as defined by a sick mind -- of the terrorist actions. But logic, by definition, involves reasoning that is correct and principled. And terrorism knows no principle; terrorism is only a twisted, radical hatred that knows no bounds.

Hatred by its very nature seeks out its opposite; hatred seeks to assault that which is built on hope and on the best of human nature. And hatred succeeds only if it spawns more hatred.

The United States is a better nation than one so easily lured into hatred. The United States has a system built not on hatred, but on justice. Justice may demand retaliation, but it is a retaliation based on logic and on principle, and on laws springing from the informed consent of the governed. Yes, justice should be as swift as possible, but it is more important that it be sure.

What this means is that now is a time for intelligence gathering that is rapid, but careful. Now is a time for a massive and thorough search for evidence. Now is a time for a sober assessment of what happened.

Then, as soon as humanly possible, American justice must be visited upon the perpetrators, and those who harbor them, like a terrible swift sword. It is indeed right, as President George W. Bush said Tuesday, that "The United States will hunt down and pursue those responsible for these cowardly actions."

It is right, too, that Americans ask how such a complicated attack could be launched undetected. The nation's political leaders soon should undertake a thorough reassessment of the nation's intelligence-gathering capabilities.

But while justice must be vigorously pursued by the official organs of American government, the rest of this nation must show its resilience by going about its business. This may have been an act of war against the United States, but it was far from disabling to a country as powerful as ours.

Together, we will care for the wounded and for the families of the victims. Together, we will donate blood and supplies. Together, we will rebuild the financial and communications infrastructure that was harmed in the attack.

And together, we will go about our lives in a condition of freedom that the terrorists can only dream of, in a country where strength grows not from brutal command and control but from the free choices of hundreds of millions of individuals.

An unspeakable evil has been perpetrated. But it was not an evil that succeeded at its aims. It aimed to strike terror in American hearts. Instead, it will strengthen our unity and resolve.

And that resolve will again show the United States to be a light among the nations, a land whose justice and mercy are both self-evident truths.

The sentiments expressed in that editorial were, I believe, not at all exceptional, but instead were shared almost universally among Americans in the hours and days after the attacks. But how many of you not just remember but still feel that unity and resolve today? How many of you feel that the rest of the world accepts as self-evident truths the notion that the United States is a beacon of justice and mercy among the nations? How many of you are still absolutely certain of this nation's might, both military and moral?

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Business, Islam, Law, Military, Iraq, United Nations