By: The Times and Democrat Staff
September 11, 2011 5:45 am

THE ISSUE: Remembering 9/11 OUR OPINION: As we remember, let us recognize what makes us strong

On a Sunday soon to be 70 years ago, America's "day of infamy" came in the form of a surprise attack on U.S. naval forces at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The attack by the Japanese launched America into World War II. The nation mobilized and vowed complete victory over an aggressor seemingly determined to see America play a secondary role at best on the world stage.

Ironic it is that the modern "day of infamy" was 10 years ago today, a Sunday morning. As with Pearl Harbor, the attacks by Muslim terrorists using hijacked airplanes came early in the day on Sept. 11, 2001. As with Pearl Harbor, many, this time in the millions, watching on television the aftermath of a plane striking one of the World Trade Center towers in New York, refused to believe the incident was an attack. Surely, no one would undertake such a mission against the United States, though as in the days, weeks and months prior to that fateful day in 1941, there were warning signs. All doubt was erased 10 years ago when a second plane struck the other WTC tower, a plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington and still another hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 people died. The nation was under attack.

Sept. 11, 2001, is a day that all those old enough to remember will always have etched in their life's chronicle. Knowing what you were doing, what you were thinking, what you feared is very real a decade later.

Throughout the past weeks, newspapers and other media have focused on looking back at 9/11. Locally, we've focused on what has changed in 10 years, from preparedness to attitudes.

Not surprisingly, Americans on that day in 2001 vowed revenge. Our leaders were out front in promising those responsible would pay. Much water has gone over the proverbial dam since that time, though America can say that the mastermind of the attack, Osama bin Laden, has been found and killed. But the fight against international terrorism that forever changed life for Americans goes on. There are those determined that America as we know it and what she stands for will not survive.

On this day, we see it fitting to look at three primary themes that emerged from 9/11 - themes that illustrate why we will win the day.

Quoting the National Security Network:

"We pay tribute to those we lost and all those who serve - whether in our armed forces, as first responders or as citizens building up our communities - by learning the lessons of what has worked, and what has not, over the last decade. We can be proud, as a nation, of our resilience, our institutions and our values. And we can resolve to strengthen our institutions and prize our unity in diversity going forward - and in so doing, defeat terrorists' aim of sowing fear, disunion and overreaction."

1. Commemorate, consider and reconsider. David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker, writes that, "for all the recent moments of promise, this 10th anniversary is a marker, not an end. It is a time to commemorate, consider, and reconsider. A decade later, we pay tribute to the resilience of ordinary people in the face of appalling destruction. We remember the dead and, with them, the survivors, the firemen and the police, the nurses and the doctors and the spontaneous, instinctive volunteers, the myriad acts of courage and kindness. A decade later, we also continue to reckon not only with the violence that bin Laden inflicted but with the follies, the misjudgments, and the violence that, directly or indirectly, he provoked."

In his later statement, Remnick references the controversies of the post 9/11 era, from domestic surveillance of questionable legality to holding "detainees" who faced "enhanced interrogation" and "waterboarding." The methods of fighting terror remain a sharp dividing line among Americans 10 years after the attacks of 9/11, but debate should not be mistaken for lack of determination to make terrorists pay the appropriate price for their plots and practices.

2. National resiliency is an American strength. Richard Ben-Veniste, who served as a 9/11 commissioner, recently wrote in USA Today, "Ten years after 9/11, we have made ourselves safer and more vigilant. It is time (for) ... a more mature national resiliency that deprives the terrorists of the disproportionate climate of fear they seek to create. Simply put, terrorism is aimed at creating terror; the best antidote is a nation that refuses to be terrorized. While we must not let down our guard, neither should we allow ourselves to be manipulated into excessive or counterproductive reactions to such events."

3. America's strength is in its institutions, values and citizens. The National Security Network writes, "While it is tempting to say that ‘9/11 changed everything,' that tragic day really taught that our time-tested values and institutions are among our chief weapons against terrorism. The government's counterterrorism efforts should continue to be nimble and unyielding. We will continue to need a whole-of-government approach. But ultimately it is the determination not to terrorize ourselves or fall victim to the politics of fear that deprives terrorists of a victory and deters would-be attackers. Securing the nation cannot come solely from the top down - it must be built from below by individuals, communities, companies, local and national government - building the future and honoring the memory of the past."

As we remember on this day, not only those lost on 9/11 but those lost in other attacks and those killed and wounded in fighting the battles and wars against terror, there should be no mistake about an American lack of resolve. Yes, the national politic seems to pit American against American over issue after issue, but Americans will remain united against threats to our union. Indeed it is our institutions, values and citizenship that give us an edge over enemies such as bin Laden. That must never change.

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