THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 21, 1995 TAG: 9504210032
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
A weary rescue worker at what was left of the Oklahoma City federal building was asked his mood. ``All I want to do is go home and hold my kids,'' he said.
He spoke for a nation as this latest massacre of innocents unfolded. Suddenly an office building in the heart of America was bombed into rubble reminiscent of Beirut. Obviously, it can happen here.
The terror in terrorism is its awful randomness, its senselessness. What had children sitting down to a day-care breakfast done to offend anyone? Nothing. How could their parents have anticipated the danger? They couldn't have. But now we are going to have to get used to the idea that the kind of attack that has become an everyday reality in Europe, the Middle East and even Japan has come home to Main Street America.
The early nominees for villain in this case are Islamic extremists, for whom the bomb in the van is virtually a calling card. But whoever is responsible has clearly acted out of zealotry and hatred - not necessarily for anything we have done but for what they think we stand for, what we - in their minds - represent. The Great Satan.
The late Joseph Campbell once warned that there was danger as well as opportunity in a global village created by swift travel and instant communication. ``There were formerly horizons within which people lived and thought and mythologized. There are now no more horizons. And with the dissolution of horizons we have experienced and are experiencing collisions, terrific collisions, not only of people but of their mythologies.''
In some quarters we're hated for the traits we most prize - our openness, freedom and pluralism. In a bitter irony, it's just those traits that make us such an easy target for terror. An open society can't be as safe as a closed one where the borders are tightly clamped, internal checkpoints control movement and secret police watch every citizen.
We don't want to turn into that kind of nation, but we must get used to taking more precautions. Often it takes a crisis to galvanize this country to action. The World Trade Center bombing was shrugged off as an aberration; Oklahoma City won't be.
Access to public buildings is going to have to be made harder. Those entering and leaving the country should be checked more carefully. Metal detectors and security precautions must become more commonplace. And there's going to have to be more surveillance of dissident groups and efforts to infiltrate their ranks. Intelligence assets once deployed against communists must be redirected.
And one issue looms especially large - controlling the spread of nuclear weapons. In the news this week are plans by Russia and China to supply nuclear technology to Iran. Saddam Hussein wants nukes. So do a long list of rogue regimes and dissidents. That can't be permitted. Access to such power has got to be limited. People willing to demolish a federal building at random would be even more pleased to incinerate a whole city.
As so often happens, the worst acts of a few haters have brought out the best in many. They have rushed to Oklahoma City's aid with blood, sweat and tears. With luck and hard work, the mass murderers responsible for the carnage will be caught and subjected to the harshest penalty the law allows. With resolve, America will weather this attack and make it harder for the next to succeed.
Nevertheless, some of our innocence has been lost. Our sense of safety may never be the same. That's a shame, but it was said long ago and it is worth remembering now: Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. Because of Oklahoma City, we will be forced to engage in a tricky balancing act - more vigilant regarding threats to our safety, while equally eager to preserve our freedoms.
KEYWORDS: BOMBS EXPLOSIONS FATALITIES TERRORISM
OKLAHOMA CITY RELIEF by CNB