Letter: U.S. continues to be model of hope for world

Saturday, Sept. 15, 2001 | 7:40 a.m.

On Tuesday America was violently and unmercifully attacked. There are evil people in the world, and some of them have access to money and weapons and are unrestrained by even the simplest of moral principles. Even as we attempt to rationalize the basis of this evil we must come to the conclusion that those who are willing to give up their lives fulfilling their fanatical dreams are not individuals who are subject to reason. Nor can we expect them to accept responsibility for the cruelty of their actions.

As we seek justice we must deal with the nasty reality that those who are willing to die for their cause, and bring others with them to their death, will not be distracted by the threat of retaliation. They consider it an honor to die. Our desire for justice and revenge in the most direct sense will most likely never be fully satisfied. We must accept the notion that our direct strategy must be to bring those to justice who committed the acts and eliminate others who would take their cause. Prevention by any and all means is the only suitable strategy to defend our country from this type of evil.

It is time for our nation to rise up to its full potential as a national community. As a people with a united vision we are morally strong. With a shared foundation of freedom and liberty we are morally right. With a strong resolve to protect our freedoms we can never be defeated. We are and will continue to be a model of hope for the rest of the world. Our ability to put aside individual concerns for the common good and show what it means to be a free and open society will strengthen the world community to fight the forces of evil that seek to destroy us. America will show the world how we help each other in times of crisis, how we are not afraid to confront our tragedies and how our hope for the future of our nation and the world will not be diminished. We will show that the best justice for America is the justice that we create for ourselves.

GEORGE CAAN