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Guest Commentary December 22, 2001
Establish Commission on Terrorist Attacks
The Honorable John McCain
After Pearl Harbor and President Kennedy's assassination, the President and Congress established boards of inquiry to investigate these tragedies and recommend measures to prevent their recurrence.
The terrorist attacks in New York and Washington represent a watershed in American history – the end of an era of general peace and prosperity, and a terrible awakening to the threats against our people that lurk within, and beyond, our shores.
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The terrorist attacks in New York and Washington represent a watershed in American history – the end of an era of general peace and prosperity, and a terrible awakening to the threats against our people that lurk within, and beyond, our shores.
To prevent future tragedies, we need to know how September 11th could have happened, and explore what we can do to be sure America never again suffers such an attack on her soil.
I believe President Bush and his team have responded forcefully, admirably, and with a sense of purpose in this time of trial. But neither the Administration nor Congress is capable of conducting a thorough, nonpartisan, independent inquiry into what happened on September 11th, or to propose far-reaching reforms needed to protect our people and our institutions against the enemies of freedom.
As we did after Pearl Harbor and the Kennedy assassination, we need a blue-ribbon team of distinguished Americans from all walks of life to thoroughly investigate all evidence surrounding the attacks, including how prepared we were and how well we responded to this unprecedented assault.
It will require digging deep into the resources of the full range of government agencies. It will demand objective judgment into what went wrong, what we did right, and what else we need to do to deter and defeat depraved assaults against innocent lives in the future.
This is no witch hunt. Our enemies would be strengthened if their attacks caused us to turn on ourselves, consumed not with the malevolence of our foes but with our own failings.
We are a proud nation, a strong nation. However horrible, September 11th reminded us of our love of country, our fierce patriotic pride. It highlighted the distinctive accomplishments of our civilization, and the sacrifices we will endure to defend it against evil. It made us stronger.
That said, if there were serious failures on the part of individuals or institutions within the government or the private sector, we have a right to know, indeed a need to know. But to work, this must be a learning exercise, without preconceptions about the inquiry's ultimate findings.
The commission's members should include leading citizens not now holding public office, but with broad experience in national affairs. The commission should have an adequate budget, a top-level staff, and ample investigatory resources -- including subpoena power, if it is needed to uncover the truth.
To be effective and legitimate, the commission should be given a broad mandate to discover facts and recommend corrective actions. It should be given time to proceed with care and deliberation. It should have the stature and significance afforded by its grave mission of telling the whole truth about September 11th, and telling us what we need to know to protect against future tragedy.
To be credible, this inquiry must be independent from ongoing government operations, but it must of necessity draw on the resources of government. The commission's conclusions and recommendations will have enduring meaning only if they are valued by those of us who can set them in motion -- the President, the Congress, and all concerned Americans.
Our best defense now lies in pursuing our enemy overseas, and working here at home to adapt to the challenges of this new day. We can rid the world of terrorism's scourge. But it will take time, and our campaign will likely inspire further, desperate tests of our resolve.
More Americans may die before we are through. In this moment when we enjoy peace at home, even as brave Americans risk their lives for us overseas, let us marshal our resolve to defend our homeland, not merely through force of arms, but through reasoned introspection into how September 11th happened, what we've learned, and how we can apply those lessons to the defense of the American people.
More than two years ago, the bipartisan Hart-Rudman Commission on National Security envisioned a time when terrorists and rogue nations would acquire weapons of mass destruction and "mass disruption."
"Americans will likely die on American soil," the Commission warned, "possibly in large numbers."
That time has come. The worst has happened. But it must not happen again. We hope history will judge America well for her response to September 11th -- the incredible bravery of so many Americans, and the measures we have already put in place to prevent future acts of catastrophic terrorism.
This commission is an integral part of our response to the attacks of September 11th. Its mission is urgent. The American people clearly share our sense of urgency about protecting our country. I hope our proposed commission can channel that sense of urgency into a mandate for reform of the way we defend America.
John McCain is a U.S. Senator (R-Arizona). The above column has been adapted from a speech Sen. McCain delivered on the floor of the Senate, December 20, 2001. To contact him, Click Here.
The above column has been distributed by PoliticsOL.com.
