America’s sense of security, its innocence and part of its identity came crashing to the ground Tuesday when the World Trade Center towers collapsed.

Wednesday, September 12, 2001

America’s sense of security, its innocence and part of its identity came crashing to the ground Tuesday when the World Trade Center towers collapsed. It is impossible to put the ramifications of this event into words, but it is also difficult to overstate its meaning.

We can only begin to comprehend the tremendous loss of life. Beyond that, the number of lives shattered will reach hundreds of thousands. And still more will have been robbed of a sense of safety in their own free country.

That is why America’s reaction to this attack will be so important. In this hour of our country’s history, America’s reaction will redefine the nation – just as its strong response after Pearl Harbor established the United States as the world’s premier military power; just as its reaction to the assault on Fort Sumter defined it as a nation willing to fight for unity and justice; just as its response to imperial British opression showed its residents were willing to die for freedom and self-determination.

Today, as President Bush put it, our freedom and way of life are threatened. How will we respond?

Pleas for a peaceful reaction are hard to ignore. Responding to violence with more violence is not always noble; answering bloodshed by shedding more blood can be contrary to our values.

But the most compelling argument is this: If America does not respond with a show of strength to punish those responsible, the terrorists who orchestrated this daring attack will not likely rest. They have struck before, and emboldened by this success, they will strike again, perhaps even more boldly. They have every reason to be confident in their abilities to do so.

Unless they are stopped. Unless they are shown that America will not take their abuse.

The President and Congress must devote every resource and energy to finding out who is responsible. It must pay whatever financial price to renew its intelligence efforts around the world and ensure this does not happen again. And when the time is right, it must strike against whoever is responsible – not out of rage or desire for revenge, but to protect the very freedom America was founded upon, and to protect the millions of citizens who watched in horror Tuesday as America was blindsided by tragedy.