From the Publisher/Arnold G. York
By the time this newspaper is on the street the United States will probably be, barring any last minute miracle, at war. We are about to unleash a fearsome armory of death upon a country and its people, which will kill many soldiers, but also, unavoidably, many civilians. The U.S. is going to do it without much support from other nations, with a hostile United Nations, an American populace that appears divided and with many grave reservations about whether it’s a rational policy to follow. There is even some suspicion that some of this hard-line policy may be routed in some very nasty and cynical domestic politics.
Yet, having said all this, there is, on some level I find even harder to define, deep down in my guts a deeply satisfying feeling that we’re finally taking our gloves off and going into battle. I admit the feelings are primitive, probably bound deeply in the spiral of my DNA. I want America to strike back, and cause pain and devastation equal to what we felt after 9/11.
I think what we are about to do goes back to 9/11, because that’s the day that changed our world. It redefined for us the meaning of both enemy and ally. After 9/11 it has slowly become apparent that many of our alliances, which had been created in a different time for different wars, were effectively useless in this new world, and we would have to go, to some measure, alone. It was also apparent that many nations were glad to see us get, what they viewed, as our comeuppance. And though they might pay lip service to helping us stamp out terrorism, many saw this terrorism as a legitimate war of national liberation and secretly wanted us to take our lumps.
But it wasn’t just external events that changed with 9/11. It also changed something inside us. In me, it produced a monumental rage, the extent of which I’m only now beginning to realize. I suspect it may have had the same effect on many others. I never believed I would say it, but I want some measure of revenge.
Strangely enough, there are some sound policies behind the demand for revenge.
Revenge is primitive but for one thing, other people understand it. You don’t need to give a detailed explanation. We are going to be a nation that returns blows in kind. Hurt us and we will come back and demand our pound of flesh. It doesn’t matter what the treaties say. We don’t care whom you’re allied with. We’re not interested in going to the international court. We’re not even interested if we can prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt. Our policy is clear: “Strike us and we will retaliate.” That applies equally and as strongly to the aiders and the abettors. Who are the aiders and the abettors? Iraq, Syria and Iran, and a host of others.
Although it may sound emotional and ruthless, there is a rational basis for taking a very aggressive position vis—vis nations that aid terrorists. For one thing, we can’t stop every terrorist attack directed at us. Airport searches will never do the job. There are too many soft targets in this world and in this country. But what we can do is make it very difficult for terrorist groups to operate. We can cut off their money. We can destroy countries that give them safe havens. We can keep them on the run and off balance. We can make sure that no country wants them around because it puts that country at risk. We’re already following this policy.
It’s not an accident that Pakistan has arrested a number of high-level Al Qaeda terrorists since 9/11. The Pakistanis watched us in Afghanistan. We proved in Afghanistan that we were serious in our intent to protect ourselves. We also used it as a lab to test and season our troops and our technology. The Pakistanis chose sides and we now have sources of information we didn’t have two years ago. I believe it’s because we’ve used our power, our money, and a not very subtle threat that it’s dangerous to any regime not to be on our side in this fight. It worked.
I’m hopeful the same will work again.
I predict, just as soon as the tide of battle swings in our direction, or they find some weapons of mass destruction, the French will suddenly discover they were with us all along, or the Turks will decide that flyovers are really not so bad. The U.N. will start clucking like old hens.
Some have said that if we do this, in the end we’ll have to go around invading all the dangerous countries of the world, but I don’t think that’s so. People get the message, and get it quickly. We don’t need them to like us or to be our ally. All they need to do is make sure they’re not harboring or helping anyone out to destroy us. If they do, fine. If not, well that’s another story.