White House Wag: Putting Talk to the Test
W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 11 -- White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer's remark that Americans "need to watch what they say" may be the most analyzed comment by a public official since the Sept. 11 attacks.
While some saw it as intimidation, Fleischer says it wasn't intended that way. He says he was simply trying to call for civility in this difficult time. But let's turn Fleischer's exhortation around for a moment, by looking at some of the things President Bush and his top aides have said over the last month.
The Terrorists' Mistake?
The president has declared several times that those who struck Sept. 11 made a "terrible mistake" or "miscalculated." Speaking at the FBI two weeks after the attacks, Bush said, "I believe the evildoers miscalculated when they struck America." A day earlier, he declared of the terrorists: "They made a terrible mistake...They have raised the ire of a great nation."
How they miscalculated is unclear. The hijackers and their supporters certainly did not expect their acts to go unnoticed. They wanted to die for their cause and they were granted that wish. They have cost more than 100,000 Americans their jobs, at least temporarily. They probably didn't expect to topple the Western world in one day, but they certainly got our attention.
Nor can they have had any doubt that the United States would try to engage them militarily. Rather than fearing a fight, they were eager to bring one on. There is little we can do to strike fear into the hearts of people who believe they will receive eternal bliss in another world by incinerating themselves and thousands of others.
Which is not to say that we should not hunt down those responsible for the hijack plot. Here, our interests are oddly aligned with theirs. They wish to die and most Americans would gladly see them granted that wish.
To be sure, some in this plot have made mistakes and miscalculations. They are the ones who sit in various jails across this country and in Europe, having failed to reach their targets. The best revenge might be to deny those and others we capture the martyrdom they seek.
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