Security or hysteria?(in "the good old days" there was less fear, more action)

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Security or hysteria?(in "the good old days" there was less fear, more action)

Posted: 9/4/2005 12:33:55 AM EDT

Security or hysteria?
WALTER WILLIAMS
By Walter E. Williams
September 4, 2005
www.washtimes.com/commentary/20050903-090947-2909r.htm
Driving through downtown Washington, D.C., a few weeks ago, I asked myself: What has happened to the character of the American people? There were barricaded landmarks, armed guards and people waiting to be searched. Several weeks ago, I visited downtown Philadelphia in the vicinity of Independence Hall. Again there were barricades, armed guards and visitors waiting in line.
During the 1940s, my cousin and I, carrying our shoeshine boxes, simply walked in and stood before the room where the Declaration of Independence was adopted and the U.S. Constitution signed. The only barrier was a velvet-covered rope. Much of today's security measures are little more than a panicked response to terrorism and unlikely to ever go away because Americans are coming to accept it as normal.
Melanie Scarborough's article "The Security Pretext," in the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute's Briefing Papers (June 29), argues Americans haven't always panicked in the face of attack. British troops burned the White House in 1814. Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. In more recent times, the Statue of Liberty has been taken over by Puerto Rican nationalists, Attica Brigade and Vietnam Veterans Against the War (twice). The Black Liberation Front tried to blow up the statue in 1964. Since 1915, bombs have been detonated in the Capitol three times with no injuries or structural catastrophe. Ms. Scarborough writes, "Terrorists have already hit our national monuments. The difference is that after those attacks, the government did not respond with hysteria."
In an October 2001 interview, Osama bin Laden boasted: "I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The United States government will lead the American people into an unbearable hell and a choking life." Government security measures haven't yet produced an "unbearable hell and a choking life," but with all the emerging restrictions, we're headed that way. The late Sen. Patrick Moynihan warned, "Terrorism succeeds when people become terrified."
Ms. Scarborough says the war against terrorism is largely a war against fear. To win, three things are critically needed. First, Americans must realize we cannot produce, nor would most Americans want, an environment totally free from the risk of terrorist attack. Second, improving security is important but we must weigh the costs against the benefits of each measure.
A minor example: Engineers have testified that the Washington Monument, with its 15-foot thick walls, is virtually immune to destruction by hand-carried bombs. Therefore, how wise is it to spend millions protecting it against hand-carried bombs?
Third, it's essential our leaders exhibit courage. During the Cold War days of 1963, when President Kennedy was assassinated, some in the administration thought it was the start of a coup. If that were the case, Lyndon Johnson would be the next target. But when Mrs. Kennedy said she intended to walk from the White House to the funeral, President Johnson helped lead the procession through the streets of downtown Washington.
During last month's commemoration of V-J day, I thought about American responses to loss of life in Iraq compared to yesteryear's American response to loss of life in the Pacific.
Taking Iwo Jima cost 7,000 American lives and thousands wounded. Okinawa cost the lives of 5,000 sailors, 7,600 soldiers and thousands more wounded. There were no calls to cut and run and no political attacks on Presidents Roosevelt and Truman. Instead, those losses stiffened Americans' backbone and resolve. But of course, back then, common sense prevailed. We hadn't become feminized and turned into a nation of wimps and nervous Nellies.
I would like to see our political leaders adopt the character of their predecessors and say we will not sacrifice liberties and cower in the face of our new enemy; we're going to kill him.

Walter E. Williams is a nationally syndicated columnist.

Posted: 9/4/2005 12:40:17 AM EDT

[#1]

I love that man. What a great article.

Posted: 9/4/2005 12:42:10 AM EDT

[#2]

"I would like to see our political leaders adopt the character of their predecessors and say
we will not sacrifice liberties and cower in the face of our new enemy; we're going to kill him."

+1

Posted: 9/4/2005 12:46:30 AM EDT

[#3]

Well, I like his attitude, but in those past wars, we never had people driving truck bombs and flying planes into civilian targets on our soil either. The nature of the threat has changed.

Posted: 9/4/2005 12:54:29 AM EDT

[#4]

"What has happened to the character of the American people? "

It seems like we have changed also
remember that video that played around here where the big guy
was beating up the little guy in a pizza parlor or something?

No One did anything............

Posted: 9/4/2005 12:58:06 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Well, I like his attitude, but in those past wars, we never had people driving truck bombs and flying planes into civilian targets on our soil either. The nature of the threat has changed.

The nature of the threat has changed, and people have a hard time seeing where the individual can do something. It is easy to see that if you're close enough to an exploding bomb, you're dead. Not too many people think beyond that, though. What if you are in the right place and you actually survive the explosion? This is the point where most people go into denial, and argue that it is so unlikely that they don't have to think about what their next move would be.
I've even gotten the argument that "People shouldn't have to think about these things in this day and age." WTF?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Security or hysteria?(in "the good old days" there was less fear, more action)

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