Of course, the response was overwhelming as it should be. It was indeed the only response that was appropriate. If you believe people are put in place for a specific time you almost have to believe that George W. Bush was President on that fateful day because he was prepared to make the hard decisions that would be necessary over the following years.
I had many differences with Bush on policy issues (like bailouts for instance), but will forever defend his handling of our response to terrorism. I read about a reporter who was on Air Force One that day telling about the President calling the Vice-President after they were in the air. He quote Bush as saying, "Dick, we're going to find out who did this and we're going to kick their ***." That sentiment echoed throughout the vast majority of Americans that day.
The terrorists thought we'd launch a few cruise missiles in their general direction and call it a day. That was the image they had of America. They didn't have it because someone told them that's who we were. They had it because that's what we'd demonstrated about ourselves over the previous 8 years or so.
It's further proof that the best way to avoid confrontation is to convince those who would attack you that the response to any provocation will be swift, fierce and prolonged. Should we forget that (as I believe the current administration is) we risk inviting those who would love to destroy us to try again.
As is often the case, what may be the best word on the subject comes from Ronald Reagan:
We are especially not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states run by the strangest collection of misfits, Looney Tunes and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich
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