Watch the Backlash
by James Norton

Men with knives and box cutters have struck America with the force of a nuclear bomb.

And with the fall of the World Trade Centers, it's hard not to notice that American foreign policy has suddenly become a very bloody domestic issue.

Barbaric tactics have led to tragic circumstances: firefighters, office workers, police officers, military men and women lie dead or dying. A major New York City financial center and landmark lies in ruins. Americans are angry, and with good reason.

But as the body count rises, so will the tempers of the most brutally powerful nation on Earth. "Pearl Harbor" is on the lips of millions, as though the surreal images on our television sets are just a horrible sequel to a bad war movie. Action is being demanded, as America's "quiet, unyielding anger" builds in force and volume.

There will be a temptation to unleash a wave of assassination against the enemies of the United States.

There will be a temptation to give Israel a free hand to strike its Arab foes.

There will be a temptation to spend money on a missile defense system that could not have, in any case, averted Tuesday's tragedy.

But decisions that were immoral before the attacks remain immoral today. Decisions that are counterproductive to peace before the attack remain counterproductive today. And decisions that were extremely ill-advised before the attack remain similarly idiotic.

The men who hijacked four passenger airplanes and steered three of them into extremely sensitive targets did not do so on a lark. They were not "cowards," although they were certainly evil. In their minds, they were not striking against the "brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world"; they probably thought they were striking against imperialism.

But it's freedom that was damaged. America is now suddenly and deeply afraid. And rather than treading more lightly in a world we have bound up within our fence of influence, it's quite likely we will thrash around with considerably more desperation and force. As we do so, we will injure still more nameless and numberless foreigners, incurring still more terror — the ultimate and final weapon of a people rendered powerless by conventional means.

There is no doubt that the force behind Tuesday's attack is a blot upon the world. The United States has a duty — and the required fury — to dismantle it and destroy the pieces.

But as a nation, we can't allow fury to become the guiding principle of our foreign policy. We cannot allow a desperate desire for unity and vengeance allow us to let politicians — from either party — steer the United States down a path toward paranoia and war.

We are an easily exploited people right now.

In the dark days to come, we have a duty to support our government and our fellow Americans as they go about the difficult task of rebuilding and restoring the nation's security. But we have a more solemn — and far more diffcult — duty to safeguard America's diplomatic and moral future by speaking out against senselessly violent or belligerant decisions.

It will be difficult. But it will be worth it.

E-mail James Norton at jrnorton@flakmag.com.