The next generation

What will we resolve to do?

by Jerry Fraser

A rescue worker ass-deep in rubble in New York City said to the newsman Tom Brokaw, who was taking his first tour of ground zero, that with all due respect, this, the World Trade Center generation, was the greatest.

He was referring to Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation, a tribute to the America that waged the second world war.

With all due respect of my own I would respond to the worker, “Not so fast.” What we have is an opportunity — make that obligation — to strive for greatness. New York has clearly risen to the moment, but there are many moments to go, and we are only beginning to feel the effects of the attack of September 11.

In a reassuring speech September 21 to a joint session of Congress, President George W. Bush made clear he intends to rise to the challenge, but he did not diminish it.

Indeed. If military might decided wars, we would not be worried about the Taliban, who now control most of Afghanistan, because the country would be under British or Russian rule. The Muslim rebels who forced Soviet troops to withdraw in 1989 may have had US aid, but they also had home-field advantage in a mountainous and inhospitable land. And no doubt, with their backs to the wall, they had resolve.

Resolve is not something given to most of us on a moment’s notice, but it is not surprising that Brokaw found it in such abundance in the World War II generation. The Great Depression left Americans free but not entitled. There was no G.I. Bill to get them started or 401k plan to keep them going later on, and not even the window washers had safety nets. But that was okay; with time, everything would be all right.

Today’s cell-phone toting, ATM-wielding, stock-market watching American wants things to work out this minute, but I have a funny feeling time just slowed down. Resolution is not just breast beating, it is time consuming. It is costly.

Someone in The New York Times wrote that if we wanted to bomb Afghanistan into the Stone Age we would not have far to go. No doubt many Americans are untroubled by that notion, but then there is the issue of what it would accomplish. “Several countries have exhausted themselves pounding that country,” Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said.

No doubt a good strafing would round up the citizenry, but it is not clear to me what effect it would have on terrorists and other cave dwellers. Object lessons are important, but we need to reduce the dreadful capacity of terror groups. I have no idea how many terrorists are at large in Afghanistan, but I would not be surprised if there were more in the United States.

We can — and should — as Rumsfeld says, “drain the swamp they live in,” but what we need to realize is that when we have done so in Afghanistan we will just be getting started. And that assumes we don’t get mired there as others have before us.

It could happen. Many of us remember Vietnam, and how it ground away at this country, even from half-way around the world, at an ultimate cost of some 58,000 American lives and an unglamorous withdrawal. But many of us are too young to remember, and are likely to be much more enamored of might than of perseverance.

This is where resolve comes in.

The administration believes that Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden’s network, has tentacles in as many as 50 countries. Carpet bombing them all is out of the question (a good thing, as the United States is clearly one of them). Rooting them out of Western Europe, Egypt, and elsewhere will take intelligence, time, and money. And it would be delusional to think that Al Qaeda is the last word in terror in a world in which Saddam Hussein and Muammar al-Qaddafi lead nations.

This is where resolve comes in.

Americans are prepared to spend a great deal in the battle against terrorism. That’s good, but tax dollars could be the least of it. When the major airlines announced they were laying off scores of thousands, Boeing, which builds airplanes, was not far behind in announcing its own cutbacks. And that is just the first ripple. The nightly news is treating us to pictures of empty airports as if to say, “Two hour check-in, no waiting.” Most weekday travelers are on business, some of which is being postponed. But much of it will be lost. More layoffs. Another ripple.

This is where resolve comes in.

In World War II, America as a nation said, “Guns, not butter.” In prosecuting the war against Vietnam, President Lyndon Johnson said, “Guns and butter.” That makes for a much more palatable war. It is worth noting, however, that of Americans lost during the Vietnam War, none was slain on US soil. On September 11, we saw upward of 5000 lives lost, all on US soil. There is every likelihood there will be more. If not here, in Afghanistan or Syria or Uzbekistan or some other place far from home, against an unseen enemy who does not even fly a flag.

That is where resolve comes in.

The generation we have the opportunity to become must endure to prevail. Then we must remain optimistic enough — as the generation of our fathers’ was — to persevere in the quest for a safer, freer and more equitable world.

Jerry Fraser can be reached at cfraser@maine.rr.com.