09/11/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10123

RUMSFELD ON MESSAGE OF 9-11

This week, Americans and others paused to remember the terrorist attacks of last September 11^th. In the words of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, these were not attacks "on America alone but. . .on people everywhere. . .who believe in freedom, who practice tolerance, and who defend the inalienable rights of man. Those precepts are the direct antithesis of terrorism, which seeks to intimidate, dominate, and subjugate free men and women through fear and devastation."

In response to the September 11^th attacks, the United States declared war on terrorists with a global reach. Around the world, some ninety other countries joined the fight. Aid from other countries has included seizing terrorist assets; sharing intelligence; providing airlift, basing, and over-flight rights; and contributing forces.

But now that the al-Qaida terrorists and their Taleban sponsors have been driven out of Afghanistan, some people question whether the war on terrorism needs to be pursued further. There are those, said Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, "who hope, beyond all evidence to the contrary, that the terrorists are few in number, that the violence will not spread, that the acts will not escalate in number or intensity, that the weapons used in the future will not be more terrible than those used in the past, that deterrence or diplomacy or worse -- appeasement -- will somehow succeed where it has already failed."

But this ignores several undeniable facts. Not only do chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons exist, but they are spreading. There are terrorist states that already possess such weapons of mass destruction, and others that are seeking them. These states have relationships with terrorist groups and terrorist networks.

It is also clear, said Mr. Rumsfeld, that "unlike wars of the past, in which time was required to amass and position great armies or navies to defeat an enemy, weapons of mass destruction can be developed in secret and deployed without warning, leaving little time. . .to. . .formulate a response."

With the risk so great, and the margin for error so small, the U.S. cannot leave itself vulnerable to another terrorist attack like that of last September 11^th in which not thousands but possibly tens of thousands could be killed. The U.S., as Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said, must be ready to act "in anticipatory self-defense." That is what it means to wage war against terrorism today.