Special Section: At War.(Brief Article)

. . . Few wars begin like their predecessors. The wars of the last century opened with thrusts into Belgium or Poland, a surprise attack on battleships, a lurch in Kuwait, a steadily accreting campaign of jungle murder. This war began with four hijacked airplanes targeted at the Pentagon, Camp David, and the two World Trade Towers.

No one should think of this as terrorism, which is the effort to spread death and dismay among civilian populations. Much death and grief ensued, but the targets were precisely picked to incarnate American power, democracy, and wealth. The September Massacres were a rational attempt to thwart the will and depress the spirits of the United States.

Our enemies have proximate motives, as political and military actors always do. But let no one imagine that any American policy or lack of it, or any change in our ethnic or religious makeup, could have insulated us from such a strike. The United States is hated because we are, indeed, powerful, rich, and good. Like the temples of Rome sacked by the barbarians, or the Greenwich Observatory that was the target of anarchists in Joseph Conrad's Secret Agent, our national headquarters and totems excite the fear and wrath of those in the world who feel themselves shortchanged. For this historical moment, anyone who has a quarrel with the status quo will find us, with varying degrees of truth, somehow implicated in his discontents. Our exposure to these emotions is an unavoidable badge of honor.

Because this was an act of war, its agents must not be pursued by resolutions, lawsuits, or any of the other legalistic and diplomatic devices by which we have tried to combat terrorists in the recent past. President Bush's and Secretary of State Powell's early talk of "hunting down" the perpetrators is incomplete. These are not traffic violators to be given a desk ticket at the night court of The Hague. After the time it takes to guess the attackers' commanders, which should not be long, those commanders, and their allies and patrons, should be paved over. If our retaliatory strikes hit a few of the world's warriors who happened not to be involved in this war, that will be no great loss.

News reports showed dancing in the streets of Middle Eastern cities, graphic proof that our enemies are not restricted to cadres of ideologues or leaders. Striking the war-making capacity of hostile nations may involve clearing some of those streets. When that happens, we should not shrink. Our European allies have, in many cases, battened off deals with rogue states. They should be told that, if they continue to do so, their assets in this country may be appropriated to repair ...