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We Are At War
Rich Galen Friday July 23, 2004
TRAVEL NOTE: Starting this weekend the Mullmeister will be in Boston to cover the Democratic National Convention. As Bette Davis once said: " Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy ride."
The report of the 9/11 Commission - whose official name is the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States - can be condensed into four words: We Are At War.
This certainly is not the first time in modern history there has been significant concern that the continental United States might come under attack.
In World War II attacks launched by German U-Boats against East Coast targets, and attacks by Japanese assets - everything from marine to high-altitude balloons carrying explosives - presented a real and present danger.
Everything from air raid wardens who made certain black-out curtains were in place after dark throughout American cities to the rationing of almost every conceivable consumable - including internal travel - were a day-to-day fact of life.
Following the end of World War II, the threat moved East to the Soviet Union and the Cold War between the USA and the USSR. I am old enough to remember the neighborhood men - in this case the neighborhood was Long Island, New York - having serious discussions about how much building a fall-out shelter would cost and whether it would make sense to go in on a common shelter.
A regular feature of my grammar school week in the 1950's was a "duck-and-cover" drill. This required students to scramble under our desks - facing away from the windows - covering our heads with our hands. This sounded quaint prior to September 11. Now, every office building in Washington, DC has conducted at least one evacuation drill.
The 1960's saw the beginnings of the Viet Nam era which essentially began with the assassination of President Kennedy and ended with the resignation of President Nixon in 1974.
We were at war - with ourselves. The use of military forces within the confines of the United States' borders was the highest since the Civil War. Riots, political assassinations, civil disobedience, and a general break-down in what was known as "law and order" were the currency of the time.
The political divisions in America, which are the staple of day-time cable television news chat shows, are a modest squabble over a parking place at the shopping center compared to what was going on in the sixties and seventies in this country.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1980's presented us with a sense of security which reached back into the early decades of the 20th Century when the oceans were our first - and best - line of defense against an attack on the homeland.
The 9/11 Commission makes the case that it was a false sense of security and neither the Administrations of President Bill Clinton nor George W. Bush took the war on terror seriously enough, until the war was brought to our shores.
It is in the nature of these commissions to see the world through the prism of their own activities - whether it is the 9/11 Commission or a Commission to investigate a Shuttle crash.
There were - and are - many things going on in the country and in the world which require the attention of our leaders. Education. Housing. Health care. Infrastructure - roads, airports and sea ports, electricity. Energy. Environment. You name a federal cabinet department, and I'll show you a Secretary who believes he or she needs more time on the President's schedule.
It is in the nature of leading in a complex society that the matter of juggling priorities is, indeed, the first priority.
We are at war, and therefore the Kennedy-esque admonishment must be recast: As not what your country is doing to protect you. As, rather, what you are willing to do to help protect your country.
It is well past time for that discussion to begin.
A personal note: Morton Kondracke is not a close friend of mine, but he is, in the context of Washington, DC, an acquaintance. Mort's wife, Milly, was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease 17 years ago.
I never knew Milly until she was wheel chair-bound due to her disease. No one who ever saw Mort and Milly together - whether out and about, or at an official function - ever doubted the devotion they shared.
Milly Kondracke died yesterday, thus ending this chapter of a wonderful love story.
On the Secret Decoder Ring Page today: A link to the 9/11 Commission web page where you can download the full report or the executive summary and a Mullfoto of the Mullmeister on the radio earlier this week.
--END --
Copyright © 2004 Richard A. Galen
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