Editorial: We must be in war for long haul

Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2002 | 9:02 a.m.

Americans have spent today reflecting on Sept. 11, 2001. And while it is fitting to mark the anniversary and grieve for the estimated 3,000 people who were killed by terrorists that horrible day, it also is vital that we look ahead and understand why we have to remain vigilant in our war on terrorism. Our military action in Afghanistan, the base for the Sept. 11 terrorists, has proven mostly successful, with the Taliban wiped out and al-Qaida largely crushed there. But a year later Osama bin Laden still hasn't been captured and al-Qaida terrorists in Europe and elsewhere remain in hiding and are plotting future attacks. Clearly, our work is unfinished in rooting out al-Qaida.

While there is broad public support for continuing the campaign against al-Qaida, President Bush is having a trickier time in enlisting the same level of backing from the U.S. public and, to a greater extent, from foreign allies for a military invasion to overthrow Iraq's Saddam Hussein. On Thursday President Bush, speaking before the United Nations in New York, will get a chance to make that case more persuasively than he has so far.

In our war on terrorism, while it's essential to get as much support from abroad as possible, we may have to go it alone if our nation believes another terrorist group or nation poses a threat to our security. Israel often has been condemned by the United Nations and Europe for taking military action to defend itself against suicide attacks from Palestinian terrorists, but its pre-emptive strikes to disarm terrorists have proved successful and necessary.

We need to be mindful of the fact that, as the last remaining superpower in the world, we have extra responsibilities to protect ourselves and other democracies. Vigilance requires it. In the end, there may never be a clear-cut victory in the war on terrorism as there was in World Wars I and II. Nevertheless, for the sake of national security, the United States must remain in this struggle for the long haul.