"Brilliant! Horrifyingly brilliant!"

Tightly cropped portion of Joseph P. Whistler's photo.

At 6:03 am PDT on September 11th 2001, this was my honest and immediate reaction upon seeing, live on television, the second plane fly into the doomed World Trade Center. The enemy, I marveled, had just perpetrated one of the greatest coups on the American psyche using our own technology, industry, and the open sky against us! For many, it really was falling!

And I was afraid.

Of and for the United States.

For instantly, as the heinous truth of the attack unfolded, I feared our public's myopic nationalism and response. An unthinkable human tragedy had just occurred, a human tragedy, but we would no doubt turn it American. All the while waving our banners, I worried, would we play right into the terrorist's hands instead? In our resultant quest, our godly "crusade", our phobic zealousness to root out evil abroad and within, would we be doing Bin Laden's bidding by turning on ourselves, our lives, and our freedoms? "What will be the true cost?" I wondered.

Sadly, the years, I feel, have proven my trepidation prophetic.

My second instinctive thought was, "They had better cordon off the airspace over Washington D.C. and enforce a 'no fly zone'!"

Thirty four minutes later, the Pentagon was hit.