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Guest Commentary: September 13, 2001
Seeking Justice for the Terrorist Attacks
Is Not a Law Enforcement Matter
The Honorable John McCain
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Tthe calendar and history rarely perfectly coincide. It was remarked that the 20th century really began in August of 1914 with the commencement of European hostilities.
It may, on reflection, prove to be true that the 21st century did not begin when that famous ball fell in Times Square, it began on September 11, 2001.
The world has now been introduced to a new and difficult struggle against terrorism, asymmetrical war, held along the fissure lines of culture, prosperity, and commitment to law.
I regret that the front lines of this new struggle have formed through the communities I represent in northern New Jersey and our neighbors in New York City. Last night, children waited at home for parents who never arrived. Spouses held dinner for husbands and wives who never came home. The battlefield of this new war was Manhattan and Jersey City and Fort Lee and Queens. We are all soldiers.
There is a temptation to accept that this new chapter in the war on terrorism in a new century is merely a continuum of the same. Perhaps the scale and the intensity is only different from Lebanon or Saudi Arabia or, indeed, the World Trade Center itself 8 years ago.
By definition, it is fundamentally different. The very scale of this attack and the premeditation of those involved suggest that the organizations or the nations that planned this attack intended to strike at the Government of the United States itself.
I offer these observations not because I differ from the President of the United States but because I offer my support and because I believe that, as a Congress and as Americans, we must all stand together in this moment when we are all tested.
But I do offer a difference in my observation. The arbiter of this act of terrorism will never be a jury. It is history. It is not those who were agents in the commission of this crime that we seek, but the organizations that are responsible.
At the outset, it must be made clear this is not a law enforcement matter. It does not matter who rented the cars or even who flew the airplanes. They are agents of others. I will find no satisfaction in their indictment, whether they are alive or deceased. It is those who wrote the plan, harbored the conspirators, gave them sanctuary within their borders.
It is not enough that we are pursuing a legal case against those who are responsible for this crime. It has become axiomatic to suggest an act of war has been committed against the United States. Those are our words. But our deeds are suggesting that we believe we were simply victims of a hijacking, that a murder was committed, a crime of large proportions but ordinary in concept.
We are missing the point. If those who committed this crime wore uniforms or had a flag or a capital, the response of the United States would be clear: This operation would be run from the military, not the Justice Department. It would be the Air Force, not the FBI, conducting operations.
I support the President of the United States, but I do believe, with all respect, we are not properly conceiving the magnitude of the moment. A fissure of history was reached yesterday, and in all of our sorrow and our grief, we are not yet seizing the moment.
It is my belief the President of the United States should come to this Congress and ask for a declaration that since September 11, 2001, the U.S. Government is engaged in general hostilities against a series of terrorist organizations; that in these hostilities, we will not respect the sovereignty of those nations that give safe harbor to those who committed acts against our country and our people.
I recognize that it is not possible with precision to identify every organization that was complicitous or involved. I also do not believe that it is necessary. Many of these terrorist organizations previously committed acts against the United States. Others are known to have planned such operations. Many have the intention of committing such acts. Together they represent a network that is a worthy and legitimate target of our hostilities.
Second, I cannot return to the people of New Jersey who have lost hundreds or, tragically, even thousands of citizens without explaining the role of the U.S. Government in their defense. The scale of what occurred in the last 48 hours may have been unpredictable, but the source and the means and the targets were not.
The American people have trusted this Government through our intelligence communities to defend our Nation and its people and our varied interests. This has not occurred. It is my belief that the President of the United States should form a board of general inquiry to review the actions of the U.S. intelligence community and the failures which led to this massive loss of life and compromise of national security.
It can never be enough to explain that the unforeseeable happened to the unprotectable because neither is the case.
Note: This commentary has been adapted from a statement Sen. Torricelli delivered on the floor of the Senate, September 12, 2001.
 How to contact Senator Robert Torricelli (D-NJ)
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