Volume 54, Number 4 (2001) Autumn

WHY WE FIGHT. At 9:03 a.m., a hijacked airliner strikes World Trade Center Tower Two in New York City, as Tower One (right), struck eighteen minutes before, burns. Thirty-seven minutes later, a third hijacked airliner will strike the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.; at 10 a.m., a fourth will crash in Pennsylvania. At 8:30 that evening, President George W. Bush will speak to and for the nation: “Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. . . . Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror. The pictures . . . have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. . . . A great people has been moved to defend a great nation.”

On 20 September the president informed the world how it would do so: “Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign. . . . It may include dramatic strikes . . . and covert operations. . . . We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them . . . until there is no refuge. . . . And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism.”

The Naval War College’s new President, Rear Admiral Rodney P. Rempt (whose President’s Forum begins on page 7), has mobilized the institution to support the nation’s new war, with special studies, faculty task forces, symposia, and scholarship. An example of the latter is our lead article, by Professor Ahmed Hashim. Also, Robert Harkavy’s geostrategic study, though written before the events, speaks directly to issues that must now be squarely faced.