Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: When terror strikes

Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2001 | 9:04 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

"I HOPE TO GOD it was an accident."

You tend to remember the first words of so many people following the news of a tragedy like the one that struck New York Monday morning. What I will always remember is my reaction, which was to question that sentiment.

There can be no American with a heart or a brain who wasn't devastated Monday upon hearing that American Airlines Flight 587 crashed in New York with 260 people aboard. How much more can those people take? How much should they have to endure after taking the brunt of Osama bin Laden's terrorist attacks on Sept. 11? What about the families of the victims? The questions don't stop when a plane falls from the sky.

My first reaction -- and I am sure I was not alone when the news first hit -- was that another terrorist attack had reached across our borders and into our daily lives. I got angry all over again. That's not true. I just got angrier at the thought that these murdering bums are continuing to have their way with good and decent, need I say, completely innocent people.

That was my first reaction. When the words and pictures started to settle in, it became clearer that what we were witnessing may just be another terrible accident, the kind that we deal with from time to time and the kind that we accept as a risk of flying. As I write this, it is still too early to tell what caused the crash and where to place the blame. But that didn't stop my mind from questioning those who expressed their hopes that 260 passengers, and who knows how many people on the ground who lost their lives, did so because of fate and not for any other reason.

For a very short moment, I couldn't decide whether it would be better for America if that crash were a horrible accident or another horrific act of terrorism directed at the United States by bin Laden or his fellow henchmen. Given a moment to think, there is no doubt that an accidental cause would be far preferable.

So, why did I pause? Did others across this country react the same way when they first heard the news? Is this the way it is going to be from now on whenever there is a plane crash? Or a bus crash? Or some other transportation tragedy? Is this what it means when we are told that life in these United States will be different? That living in America will never be the same again?

As I write this, the black box has already been found and many of the questions that jumped into our heads will quickly go away as the critical ones are answered and the emotional ones are put back in that awful place from which they first sprang. It looks like accident will be the cause. And, if there can be any good news in a tragic situation like this, that would be it.

So why did I think the opposite would be better for America? Could it be that there is a belief, even now, that Americans are losing interest in the war on terrorism and that I thought -- for the briefest of seconds -- that we needed another jolt to ensure that our president had the continued and overwhelming support of the people to prosecute this war to the fullest? Not just against rocks and caves in Afghanistan but in other countries where harboring, nurturing and encouraging terrorism is a way of life.

Could it be that I thought we needed a reality check as our Congress continues to be hung up on some ideological hook that prevents the federal government from taking over all aspects of airline safety and security so that Americans and others will feel safer when they fly? So that travelers will be confident that safety and not politics is driving decisions in Washington?

I suppose I did and thought all of that and admitting it here is a cause for embarrassment. But I would rather be a bit red-faced about what I thought than find that our government has been caught short again because of lack of a political will blamed on an insufficiently perceived popular cover from the voters.

Let there be no mistake. The people in this country want bin Laden, al-Qaida, and every other terrorist organization wiped clean from the face of this good Earth. Regardless of the nature or validity of their complaints, there is unanimity of belief that terror is no longer -- if ever it was -- justified as a weapon for political change.

Accidents, we know, will happen. We will soon know if that was the fate of American Airlines Flight 587. And I look forward to the day when terrorism is not the first thing I think about when the news hits.

Don't you?