ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 19, 1996 TAG: 9607190037
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
THE PEOPLE in a little farm town in Pennsylvania waited to hear from their high school French club, booked for Flight 800 Wednesday from New York to Paris. Lacking official word of who was aboard, Montoursville lurched between mourning and the desperate hope that, somehow, their children missed the plane that exploded and plunged into the ocean.
Then the worst was confirmed.
Every disaster seems to yield a story of special poignancy, as reporters try to communicate and we all try to absorb the dreadful news.
For each of the 228 people aboard the TWA jumbo jet, there are families and friends suffering the same numbing agony that accompanies violent, unexpected, senseless death. Across the country, Americans grieve with them.
It is the nature of Americans, though, to turn grief to action, to look for the cause of a disaster and try to prevent it from recurring.
At its worst, this trait prompts people to jump to conclusions based on fear rather than facts, as many did after the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, when it was widely assumed that foreign, Islamic terrorists had done the deed.
Wednesday's airline disaster certainly seems like it was no accident. The odds are that it was perpetrated by terrorists. But other tragedies thought to be the work of terrorists have turned out not to be. The nation should heed President Clinton's warning against a rush to judgment before the facts are in.
At its best, Americans' determination to learn from calamities and turn them to action can prompt positive change. Thus, even as the cause of the plane's explosion remains unclear, evidence that points to a possible terrorist bombing should serve as a warning to improve security and safety measures.
Former Transportation Department Inspector General Mary Schiavo, who has been an outspoken critic of the Federal Aviation Administration, says her staff recently was able to penetrate security at some airports, even getting onto the tarmac and into the cockpits of planes.
Whether the Flight 800 disaster proves the work of terrorists or not, such a warning cannot be ignored.
And yet, another sort of response also is needed - to learn from calamity a determination not to react in some ways.
Yes, security measures should be upgraded and other steps taken to prevent recurrence. Intelligence gathering is crucial, as well as cooperation among law-enforcement authorities within and among nations.
But keep in mind, if this turns out to be a terrorist event, that terrorists hope for a reaction from those they would terrorize. Even as investigators grimly sift through the evidence, we should remind ourselves that airline travel remains comparatively, statistically safe.
And as President Clinton's national security adviser noted Thursday, as he and other senior officials continued their public schedules, ``If every time there is an incident that might have been terrorist or that was a terrorist incident (and) we stop our business, then the terrorists win.''
They shouldn't be allowed to win.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB