Remembering Sept. 11

The third anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is a time for solemn remembrance of the 3,000 who were killed. In the wake of a commission report that highlights the missteps before the attacks and the need for reforms in the intelligence community and elsewhere after them, it is also time for re-evaluation of how the United States is waging the war on terrorism.

The United States launched this war after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Sept. 11, however, did not mark the beginning of this war; it is a midpoint. Terrorists have been attacking U.S. interests for decades – recall the taking of U.S. hostages in Iran in 1979, the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983 and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

In recent years, such attacks have become more frequent, larger and more dispersed around the globe. In the past year, terrorists have blown up commuter trains in Madrid and suicide bombers struck the British Consulate, London-based HSBC Bank and two synagogues in Istanbul. In the last month, they have bombed buses in Israel and crashed airplanes in Russia.

Last week, hundreds of people, including many young children, were killed when terrorists took over a school in southern Russia. Earlier this week, they bombed the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing nine people.

What all of these attacks have in common is that the perpetrators are acting against what they view as unwarranted interference with the autonomy of their people. The attackers in Russia want that country’s army out of Chechnya. The Palestinians want Israeli settlers and tanks out of territory they consider theirs. The Sept. 11 terrorists were fueled not by a hatred of Americans’ freedom or their way of life, but by what the leader of al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, views as American meddling in the Middle East, whether in the form of military bases in Saudi Arabia or the U.S. financial backing of Israel.

The State Department’s Patterns of Global Terrorism report counted 208 terrorist attacks, with 625 dead, worldwide in 2003. The number of “significant attacks” – those involving large numbers of casualties or major property damage – was at a 21-year high, according to the report. There were 175 significant events in 2003, compared with 138 in 2002.

Although the war on terrorism is clearly escalating, the United States remains muddled in its response. Soon after the Sept. 11 attacks the United States attacked Afghanistan, driving the repressive and militant Taliban from power and temporarily disrupting operations orchestrated by Osama bin Laden. Two years later, the Taliban has regrouped and is regaining control in some parts of Afghanistan. Mr. bin Laden remains at large.

Then the United States invaded Iraq, despite a lack of evidence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction or ties to al-Qaida. With federal money in short supply, spending $87 billion (so far) in Iraq and cutting taxes have hampered true terrorist fighting activities.

Not only are more resources needed to battle terrorists, but a new system of gathering information about their activities needs to be put in place, according to the 9-11 Commission. That group called for the creation of a director of national intelligence to oversee the 15 agencies – and their budgets – that are now involved in information gathering. Bills that incorporate different versions of these reforms have been introduced in Congress, although the Pentagon, which now controls 85 percent of the intelligence money, is fighting efforts to diminish its intelligence role.

As the 9-11 Commission makes clear, the United States remains in grave danger of more attacks. While remembering what happened on Sept. 11, attention and resources must be focused on what remains to be done to prevent another tragedy.