All more than understandable � but also the first invocation of God. In itself it seems not only harmless but understandable: where else do you turn when faced with the incomprehensible? Yet it lays some dangerous groundwork for the direction Bush intends to head, for there is nothing which is not justifiable when performed in the name of God � unless, of course, it is the actions of September 11.

On Tuesday, our country was attacked with deliberate and massive cruelty. We have seen the images of fire and ashes and bent steel.

What happened I will never condone as right � but it has been named an act of war by both �sides�, and I cannot disagree. The first step in any war is the re-creation of the enemy as not being human (unlike us). This is accomplished through specific, value-laden language applied selectively. �Cruelty� is a careful, value-laden word which is never applied to one�s own acts during war, only to those of the enemy � even when the two sets of acts are of the same nature. Additionally, the sheer visual �inhumanness� of the act is reinforced by invoking the media images seen by an entire nation.

Now come the names, the list of casualties we are only beginning. They are the names of men and women who began their day at a desk or in an airport, busy with life. They are the names of people who faced death and in their last moments called home to say, Be brave and I love you.

Those who died were human, even as you and me. They led normal lives. They expected to go to work and come home as indeed we all take for granted. And, like we all would, they faced their last moments with courage and dignity. They are worthy martyrs.

They are the names of passengers who defied their murderers and prevented the murder of others on the ground. They are the names of men and women who wore the uniform of the United States and died at their posts. They are the names of rescuers � the ones whom death found running up the stairs and into the fires to help others.

These people, people like you and me, faced their deaths with heroism. Yet this passage also subtly bends away from the average person and toward the specific sacrifice of those actively serving their country, who died while serving their country: first the servicemen, and then, in the next phrase, the police and fire departments. These deaths must be given more weight in warmongering, because they allow the refocusing away from the simple act of mourning and toward duty to country. In times of crisis, many seek not only answers, but also to be told what to do. This passage begins the move toward �My country, right or wrong� (although of course it cannot be wrong) � and thus the move toward the idea of duty to country through unequivocable support of country and condemnation of those who think otherwise as the �right� thing to do. Yet in any act of war, the bitter irony is that one of the first actions is always to take out the infrastructure of the target nation, preferably in the process of taking out its leader(s) at whatever �collateral� cost. The United States has done no differently in the previous conflicts in which it has been involved.

We will read all these names. We will linger over them and learn their stories, and many Americans will weep. To the children and parents and spouses and families and friends of the lost, we offer the deepest sympathy of the nation. And I assure you, you are not alone.

Once again drawing in the listener to their common humanity with those who died, reinforcing the �us�. How I wish it could have been left there!

Just three days removed from these events, Americans do not yet have the distance of history, but our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil. War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder.

�Responsibility to history�. Although Pearl Harbor is not directly mentioned � too many commentaries over the past several days noted that the only similarity is that of surprise attack on American soil � its symbol has been invoked, and with it the United States� traditional perceived role as the global bringer of justice against �evil�. The necessity for retaliation lies in two things: 1) the attacks must be �answered� � and are thus re-created as the sole provocation in this conflict; 2) answering these attacks will rid the world of �evil�. �Evil� is defined here, indirectly, as �war � waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder.� Yet these are all tactics the United States Foreign Policy Committee has directly endorsed in the past: in Chile, in Nicaragua, in Indonesia (remember the massacres of East Timor?); in the financing of both sides in the Iran-Iraq war; in the very training of bin Laden as a member of the Afghani mujaheddin to fight the good fight against the communist Soviet Union (James Bond fans, remember The Living Daylights (1987)? Hollywood, if not we ourselves, preserves an ironic view of history); and indirectly through the United States� unconditional alliance with Israel. I, too, do not hesitate to use the word �evil� with respect to the events of September 11 � but only insofar as I use the same word for any time people die, unnecessarily, for another�s gain or retaliation or �justice�.

This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others; it will end in a way and at an hour of our choosing.

The United States is peaceful only insofar as its conflicts have traditionally (since WW I) been fought on foreign soil. Ask any member of the American military just how many active deployments this �peaceful� nation was involved with even at the very moment of the Tuesday bombing -- to say nothing of active covert missions and actions condoned through alliance. This conflict did not begin on Tuesday, September 11, or even with the earlier WTC bombing. It will not end with a military action taken in Afghanistan.

Our purpose as a nation is firm, yet our wounds as a people are recent and unhealed and lead us to pray. In many of our prayers this week, there's a searching and an honesty. At St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, on Tuesday, a woman said, "I pray to God to give us a sign that he's still here." Others have prayed for the same, searching hospital to hospital, carrying pictures of those still missing. God's signs are not always the ones we look for. We learn in tragedy that his purposes are not always our own, yet the prayers of private suffering, whether in our homes or in this great cathedral are known and heard and understood. There are prayers that help us last through the day or endure the night. There are prayers of friends and strangers that give us strength for the journey, and there are prayers that yield our will to a will greater than our own. This world He created is of moral design. Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance and love have no end, and the Lord of life holds all who die and all who mourn.

Again reinforcing the �us� � and again wishing Bush could have left it with this paragraph. And yet the focus toward crusade, toward doing God�s work, continues to be reinforced: �give us a sign�. Yet the signs are �not always the ones we look for.� This time the sign is a catalyst, a tragedy indicating that God�s purposes are not always our own. We must �yield our will to a will greater than ours.� We do not wish to embark upon a war of righteousness, but God demands it of us. �Dieu le volt!� Kill them all, and let God sort out the righteous � for �the Lord of life holds all who die.�

It is said that adversity introduces us to ourselves. This is true of a nation as well. In this trial, we have been reminded and the world has seen that our fellow Americans are generous and kind, resourceful and brave. We see our national character in rescuers working past exhaustion, in long lines of blood donors, in thousands of citizens who have asked to work and serve in any way possible. And we have seen our national character in eloquent acts of sacrifice. Inside the World Trade Center, one man who could have saved himself stayed until the end and at the side of his quadriplegic friend. A beloved priest died giving the last rites to a firefighter. Two office workers, finding a disabled stranger, carried her down 68 floors to safety. A group of men drove through the night from Dallas to Washington to bring skin grafts for burned victims. In these acts and many others, Americans showed a deep commitment to one another and in an abiding love for our country.

Once again reinforcement of our unity within our noble national character, a character of generosity, kindness, resourcefulness, bravery, service, sacrifice. Again, I would wish that it could have been left with this, without the determined contrast against �stealth and deceit and murder�. It also bears noting that the mention of �service� and �sacrifice� nearly always bridges a call for mourning to the call for war.

Today, we feel what Franklin Roosevelt called, "the warm courage of national unity." This is a unity of every faith and every background. This has joined together political parties and both houses of Congress. It is evident in services of prayer and candlelight vigils and American flags, which are displayed in pride and waved in defiance. Our unity is a kinship of grief and a steadfast resolve to prevail against our enemies. And this unity against terror is now extending across the world.

Franklin Roosevelt, president during WW II, is invoked directly. Prayer and the American flag are mutually linked to American pride and American defiance. The �kinship of grief� has now grown into �a steadfast resolve to prevail against our enemies�, who will later become the �enemies of human freedom�. This is also the first call for active global support (as contrasted with simple statements of sorrow and regret). Bush will return to this challenge for active support later.

America is a nation full of good fortune, with so much to be grateful for, but we are not spared from suffering. In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom. They have attacked America because we are freedom's home and defender, and the commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time.

Here for the first time (in this speech) the claim is made that the attack was specifically made on the United States as an attack on freedom: in effect equating the United States with freedom, with more than a suggestion that the United States is the world�s only �free� country. My own opinions on this come later, when Bush elaborates on this theme. For now suffice it to say that I do not agree at all with this assessment � but that it is a necessary one, if God�s will is to be equated with �freedom�.

On this national day of prayer and remembrance, we ask almighty God to watch over our nation and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to come. We pray that He will comfort and console those who now walk in sorrow. We thank Him for each life we now must mourn, and the promise of a life to come. As we've been assured, neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth can separate us from God's love.

This could so easily have been left as simple mourning and comfort. In the context of the previous passages, however, it becomes a statement not so very different from the motivations of the suicide-martyrdom of the pilots. Nothing can sever us from God�s love. No action which must be performed, �nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth�, can separate us from God�s love. We are assured of the �promise of a life to come�. We must carry out the will of God � reluctantly, mind you � but we must maintain the resolve and patience granted by God to see this thing through. We have already been assured that we are a peace-loving nation. Whatever we do now, the guilt is not ours. Our actions have been forced upon us by others � others who tried to separate us from God�s love, and failed, as they must always fail.

May He bless the souls of the departed. May He comfort our own. And may He always guide our country. God bless America.

Salaam aleiqum. Peace be with you. God�s peace and blessing upon all.

Introduction
Speech to the Nation, September 11
Address to a Joint Session of Congress, September 20
Afterword





� 2003 Kyle Altis

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