Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 21, 1995 TAG: 9504210097
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
As the official death toll mounts, Americans are rightly enraged by the car-bombing of a federal office building in that city's downtown. With the rage comes the challenge of channeling it in a direction which itself does no further violence to concepts of civilized life and civic order.
And when the initial reaction begins to wear off, and life goes on, the challenge for Americans will be to engage in hard thinking and decision-making about the security issues that the bomb attack has underscored.
The outrage stems not only from the number of dead and injured, or solely from the innocence of the children who are among that number. It stems also from the fact that the assault was against the U.S. government - was, in short, an act of war of sorts - at a target that was well within the nation's borders and of no known strategic import.
The terrorists' selection of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was designed, or so it seems, to suggest that nobody is secure, that the slaughter as easily could have occurred at the Poff Federal Building in Roanoke, or the U.S. Courthouse in Martinsville, or a thousand and one other places across this broad continent.
Speculation about the culprits has centered on Middle East-based radical Islamic organizations. If such speculation turns out to be accurate, Americans must resist any temptation to blame all members of an ethnic group or a religion for the misdeeds of a few. To do otherwise would be to adopt the same blind, generalizing hatred that motivates terrorists.
Similarly, America can hardly turn itself into a garrison state, keeping every office building in every city in a constant condition of maximum alert, without losing its character as an open society. To do so would be to give the terrorists much of what they seek.
This does not mean that nothing is to be done. The immediate job, of course, is to hunt down the culprits and prove their guilt. Regrettably, Americans, even in out-of-the-way places like Southwest Virginia, may have to accept an additional measure of inconvenience in exchange for heightened security at some public buildings. Redefining an appropriate balance between security and openness could be another of the tasks ahead.
And if links emerge between the bombers and a foreign state that sponsored, encouraged or tolerated them, new sets of issues arise. The crime would be a matter not only of domestic law enforcement but also of international law and diplomacy. What level of tolerance would warrant what level of retaliation? Under what circumstances might unilateral U.S. action be justified, or practical?
For all the nation's problems, Americans can take pride in a society sufficiently organized to have rescue systems that can respond as rapidly and professionally as did Oklahoma City's, and a law-enforcement system whose aim is to punish the guilty and not innocent children. America must not succumb to terrorists' designs to pull this country down to the level of chaos that prevails in too much of the world.
by CNB