At war against an invisible enemy

Don't tell me there is no such thing as evil in the world. It blares forth from us in the early morning, awakening the nation like a dark sun. Its works are there in the ash-covered streets of Manhattan, in the center of the nation's capital, in the strewn wreckage of a plane outside Pittsburgh, in the panicky calls and useless cell phones and the robotic answering-machine voice that says only, again and again: "All circuits are busy now, please try your call later."

Evil has struck, and you hear its echoes in the wail of sirens and see it in the disciplined rush of hospital emergency rooms, in the ululations of bloodthirsty crowds in the Middle East celebrating their macabre victory, and in the jumbled thoughts of a nation now going from shock and horror to calm, focused determination. (ital) Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us.(unital) - Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941.

It was a day on which not just the skyline of a great city was altered, but American complacency. Again. We were confronted anew by the fragility of life and all we hold dear in it, and the realization of how precious it is, and how vulnerable. And how implacably it must be defended. No, never say there is no evil in the world. It has just struck, and now must be struck down. Just give us the strength, Lord. Let the memory of this day forever gird us.

The United States is at war against an invisible enemy, and he operates in a darkness suddenly made visible. The only trace he leaves is panic, chaos, incredible loss and fear of the next attack. That is his greatest weapon - fear - and it will fail. It is not in Americans to cower.

Across the world, free nations rally to our side. The realization dawns that terror anywhere is terror everywhere. We are all Israelis now. There on the screen is Yasser Arafat explaining how "shocking, completely shocking" he finds an attack on innocent civilians, as if he would know nothing of such things.

But there is no time to dwell on such ironies, lest we be distracted from the business at hand. A posse of free nations needs to deliver an unmistakable message to whoever claims to be ruling Afghanistan at the moment: Give us Osama bin Laden alive or the leaders of the Taliban dead. It is a message we should have delivered after our embassies in Africa were destroyed. In this case, there are other suspects, but bin Laden and those who harbor him are at the top of the list. And we have just begun to search and destroy. Not only for bin Laden and his gang but all those who make terrorism possible.

Those first few hours after the horror at Oklahoma City engendered the same confusion, alarm and bewilderment. But after the shock, after the Breaking News on the screen and the Extras on the street, after the moment of paralysis and the start of a lifetime of grieving, the murderers were apprehended and one executed. So, too, must it be now. So, too, (ital)will (unital) it be now.

Not just our hearts but our resolve goes out to the souls living and dead most affected by this wanton act of cowardice. The purpose of terror, as an experienced terrorist named Lenin once explained, is to terrorize. But this Republic will not be terrorized. You can feel the resolve forming across the land, the horror hardening into resolve.

Across the harbor from the twin towers that are no more, away from the screeching sirens and hospital emergency rooms, the Statue of Liberty still holds her torch aloft, and if you look closely, you can see the eyes narrow, the great hand clench into a mighty fist: Liberty Aroused.

Already the inexpressible anger felt by every citizen of the Republic begins to concentrate itself in a cold, useful, organized fury. We will bury the dead, tend the injured, solace the mourners and clear away the only material losses. But we will not rest till justice is done, no matter how long it takes, so help us God.

An open letter to a terrorist:

Well, you hit the World Trade Center, but you missed America. You hit the Pentagon, but you missed America. You used helpless American bodies, to take out other American bodies, but like a poor marksman, you STILL missed America.

Why? Because of something you guys will never understand. America isn't about a building or two, not about financial centers, not about military centers, America isn't about a place, America isn't even about a bunch of bodies. America is about an IDEA. An idea, that you can go someplace where you can earn as much as you can figure out how to, live for the most part, like you envisioned living, and pursue Happiness. (No guarantees that you'll reach it, but you can sure try!)

Go ahead and whine your terrorist whine, and chant your terrorist litany: "If you can not see my point, then feel my pain." This concept is alien to Americans. We live in a country where we don't have to see your point. But you're free to have one. We don't have to listen to your speech. But you're free to say one. Don't know where you got the strange idea that everyone has to agree with you. We don't agree with each other in this country, almost as a matter of pride. We're a collection of guys that don't agree, called States. We united our individual states to protect ourselves from tyranny in the world. Another idea, we made up on the spot. You CAN make it up as you go, when it's your country.

If you're free enough.

Yeah, we're fat, sloppy, easy-going goofs most of the time. That's an unfortunate image to project to the world, but it comes of feeling free and easy about the world you live in. It's unfortunate too, because people start to forget that when you attack Americans, they tend to fight like a cornered badger. The first we knew of the War of 1812, was when England burned Washington D.C. to the ground. Didn't turn out like England thought it was going to, and it's not going to turn out like you think, either. Sorry, but you're not the first bully on our shores, just the most recent.

No Marquis of Queensbury rules for Americans, either. We were the FIRST and so far, only country in the world to use nuclear weapons in anger. Horrific idea, nowadays? News for you bucko, it was back then too, but we used it anyway. Only had two of them in the whole world and we used 'em both. Grandpa Jones worked on the Manhattan Project. Told me once, that right up until they threw the switch, the physicists were still arguing over whether the Uranium alone would fission, or whether it would start a fissioning chain reaction that would eat everything. But they threw the switch anyway, because we had a War to win. Does that tell you something about American Resolve?

So who just declared War on us? It would be nice to point to some real estate, like the good old days. Unfortunately, we're probably at war with random camps, in far-flung places. Who think they're safe. Just like the Barbary Pirates did. Better start sleeping with one eye open.

There's a spirit that tends to take over people who come to this country, looking for opportunity, looking for liberty, looking for freedom. Even if they misuse it. The Marielistas that Castro emptied out of his prisons, were overjoyed to find out how much freedom there was. First thing they did when they hit our shores, was run out and buy guns. The ones that didn't end up dead, ended up in prisons. It was a big PITA then (especially in south Florida), but you're only the newest PITA, not the first.

You guys seem to be incapable of understanding that we don't live in America, America lives in US! American Spirit is what it's called. And killing a few thousand of us, or a few million of us, won't change it. Most of the time, it's a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of Spirit. Until we're crossed in a cowardly manner, then it becomes an entirely different kind of Spirit.

Wait until you see what we do with that Spirit, this time. Sleep tight, if you can. We're coming.

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