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9-11: Look Before You Leap

by K.R. Constantine Gutzman

People understandably clamor for some response to the events of September 11, 2001. Devastating acts of war sear the souls of witnesses and the suffering alike. Yet history teaches that resorting to war often has consequences unimagined by policymakers.For the world's greatest power, the terrorist attack seems too much to bear. Professional commentators, and current and former government officials agree with citizens in the street: Military force must be employed, and overwhelmin

9-11: The New New World Order

by Anthony D’Agostino

Historians of international relations have to take note of times when history seems to take a U-turn, when all the signs are reversed, with the intractable problem of yesterday suddenly turning into its opposite--a solution to a new problem. These historical sea changes ruthlessly embarrass all who can't abandon their old assumptions. In the 1890s the British looked for ways to work out what they considered a"natural" alliance with Germany, which made sense to them in terms of their primary

Column: The American Taliban

by P.M. Carpenter

Satan has no need to spawn the Antichrist as long as Jerry Falwell speaks. Just as the reverend once said that “God’s ozone layer is doing just fine, thank you,” the Devil can say that a roll in the hay with Rosemary might be pleasant, but the result redundant. Falwell is doing just fine as an understudy Mephistopheles, thank you. By now, most Americans are probably familiar with Falwe

9-11: The Questions That Go Unasked

by Ron Briley

The last days have been difficult ones for me as a history teacher. While I still awaiting word regarding the safety of teaching colleagues and former students residing in the New York area, my current students ask how the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon could happen. Angry and frustrated, like many Americans, the students seek quick answers to a complex question. They stay glued to constant media broadcasts, which provide graphic pictur

9-11: Soon We Will Have to Ask Why People Hate Us

by Henry Ryan

That the American homeland is inviolable has been a basic tenet of U.S. policy, psychology and life for nearly two centuries. Yes, there have been scares and alarms. We feared, for example, that the Japanese would attack the West Coast in 1942 and that the Soviets would hit us with nuclear missiles during the Cold War. But those things never happened, and one can reasonably doubt that they ever would have. But the"safe America" tenet was demolished, al

9-11: Not a New Kind of War

by Stacy B. Haldi

In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a number of U.S. political leaders have said that the United States is now engaged in"a new kind of war." Is terrorism really a new kind of war? What, if anything, is new about it? In fact, the only thing"new" is that the United States has decided to treat it as war. What shocks us most about terrorism is that it targets civilians. That innocent men, women and children

9-11: Don’t Overreach

by Alexander O. Boulton

The Athenian ambassador gave the citizens of Melos a stark choice, become an ally with Athens in their war against Sparta, or be eliminated. It was already an old story, as old as civilization itself. Two great civilizations faced each other. Democratic Athens was already cosmopolitan and economically diverse, while their enemy Sparta clung to old ways. The conflict between old and new, between economic expansion and local conservatism has repeated itself a thousand times. During t

9-11: Look in the Mirror

by George Beres

"I has seen the enemy-- and they is us." That ungrammatical but insightful phrase may be familiar only to those old enough to remember a long-gone syndicated comic strip,"Pogo." It-- like the best of comics-- gave us a clear view of ourselves, often about character flaws we choose to ignore. It came to mind in the aftermath of the terrible human loss suffered in the terrorist bombings of New York City and Washington, D.C. A

9-11: What Can Be Done?

by Norman Markowitz

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the equivalent of a major World War II bombing raid was launched against New York and Washington. What Nazi saboteurs, who landed by submarine on Long Island and the Jersey shore, dreamed of doing, was accomplished as the President was hustled around the country, becoming visible only a dozen hours after the attack, no planes seemed to scramble to intercept the second World Trade Center suicide attack or the one on Washington, and the commander of the Joint

9-11: War May End the Primacy of Leftwing Culture

by Philip Gold

I spent the last week doing media, trying to help people make a little sense out of the military aspects of the current insanity. Maybe it did a little good. By academic training and first love, I’m an American cultural historian (Yale, Georgetown), and taught at Georgetown for fourteen years before moving to Seattle. Among my favorite courses there: “War and U.S. Society: 20th Century.” I’d like to share an approach from that course, then pose a question. In that course, we

9-11: The Cavalry Is Back!

by John Barnhill

Bring on the Indians; the cavalry is back. A couple of months ago we were all sitting around waiting for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to reinvent the military for a peacetime environment. Guess what: September 11 and homeland defense have put the troops back in the saddle. Since we stopped demobilizing after wars fifty years back, we've kept our troops mostly out of sight, let them do their day-to-day work in our backyard but with a privacy fence between them and us. Now they're ever

9-11: Pearl Harbor, Not

by W. Scott Thompson

There is enough reason for outrage, resolve, and grieving without blowing this week's outrage out of proportion. Yes, it was the worst terrorist attack in history; yes, it was a horrendous blow to America's sense of security; and yes, we will and must punish the perpetrators.But it was not a Pearl Harbor. That event was linked to, and pulled us into, an open world war in which millions had already died and in which fifty million, not yester

9-11: National Unity Without National Blindness

by James Grossman

Today, just before noon, Chicagoans ambled somberly toward outdoor public spaces to mourn and reflect. As I stood in Washington Square Park, a small park on the city’s north side adjacent to my workplace, my thoughts migrated from New York to the Middle East, from Washington, DC to the fountain ten yards away. Distances seemed magnified, perhaps because in Chicago we have been fortunate enough to experience this week’s events only through the m

9-11: What Historians Can Do to Help

by Robert Cook

On 28 January 1981 the new Secretary of State, Alexander Haig, remarked at his first news conference,"International terrorism will take the place of human rights in our concern because it is the ultimate abuse of human rights."Now, twenty years later, and two days after a coordinated terrorist attack on the citizens and symbols of America, we may be on the verge of a profound appreciation of General Haig's remarks.What we as citizen

Column: St. Clair, Little Turtle, Little Crow, and Little Six

by William Thompson

The events of September 11 are unprecedented in so many ways, yet they call out for a search for any historical parallels and lessons--perhaps unlearned, perhaps yet to be learned. The recent tragedies do not represent the first time that the United States's interests and people have been attacked on our own soil. They do not represent

9-11: Readers Comment on the Day of Infamy

by HNN Staff

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 9-13-01 Once we have discovered who is responsible for this cowardly attack, its time to unleash the FULL arsenal of the US military on him, and any country that is hiding them.We are the strongest nation is the history of the world, its time to put it to use! The whole world is behind us, nobody wants to be on the other side. The world knows our power and how weve been restraint until now. It's time to unleash the beast! Clay Jordan

9-11 HNN Editorial: The Price of Naivety

by Rick Shenkman

Do you remember where you were when you heard the news? Of course you do. This is one moment in time you are never likely to forget. We are in a new world. For many young people the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are likely to be the most important events to take place in their lives for decades to come. What the assassination of President Kennedy was for Baby Boomers, the September 11 bombings are to the next generation. For the past decade we h

9-11: History Is Being Made

by Christopher Phelps

I have experienced varying states of feeling that other people around the world seem to have felt as well -- disbelief, helplessness, horror, sadness, flashbacks to my own premonitions on airlines, instantaneous desire to shelter my children, memories of my various periods lived in New York, worries for acquaintances, general horror.I have great outrage at the attack on innocent civilian life, which I not only oppose on rational grou

Column: We're Unified--Now Let's Hope We Get the Right Bastards

by P.M. Carpenter

On August 20, 1998 President Clinton lobbed $100 million worth of Tomahawk cruise missiles on a Sudanese chemical plant and reputed Afghan terrorist camp in retaliation for two U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa. The effect came just 13 days after the cause.In return for the White House decisiveness that most Americans repeatedly

9-11: Please Remember Dallas

by Rick Shenkman

This is the latest issue of Bill Kristol's magazine. It arrived through the mail Tuesday just in time to coincide with the bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The cover features in bold print the headline,"Farewell to American Greatness." Though unintentional, it is music to the ears of terrorists. Bill Kristol is the victim of what must be the mo