True Turkey
The bounties and glories are still here.

By Peter Ferrara, an associate professor of Law at the George Mason University School of Law.
November 22-25, 2001

ust ten weeks ago, it didn't seem that this Thanksgiving would be particularly thankful.

But today we can celebrate bounties and glories many of us doubted we still had.

The past ten weeks have seen a truly breathtaking string of military and diplomatic victories. For that, we can be thankful for the inspiring leadership of one of the most underestimated leaders in history.

Within a few days, the Bush administration had identified the culprits behind the September 11 attacks. Within a couple of weeks, they had amassed a worldwide coalition to support a counterattack — not of vengeance, but to ensure that it would never happen again.

With great wisdom, they identified the fatal flaw in the Taliban — their lack of popular support in their own country. In one of the masterstrokes of military history, the counterattack was actually led by the Afghan people themselves.

As a result, American forces seem to have suffered virtually no combat casualties during the entire operation.

Moreover, the military strategy behind the operation was so flawless that — with negligible U.S. casualties — the government that sheltered, endorsed, and supported the terrorists fell in less than ten weeks, before Thanksgiving (indeed, before Ramadan). In the process, the people of Afghanistan were liberated from a brutal, highly oppressive, fascist regime.

Along the way, we rediscovered old friends. Bush again was so wise as to let British Prime Minister Tony Blair take a leading position for the alliance on the world stage. This helped to demonstrate the broad-based moral appeal and foundation of the U.S. counter-operation.

But it has not been just the British. All of western Europe, even the French, has been vigorously supporting us, supplying troops and supplies, freezing assets, and moving against terrorist cells.

Momentously, we made crucial new friends as well. Bush brilliantly used the crisis to achieve a historic rapprochement between the U.S. and Russia — one that holds the potential to harden into a major alliance with sweeping international implications.

There are still important sticking points in the budding relationship, and it has opponents in both countries. But Putin's decision to allow the U.S. to use former Soviet republics still closely allied with Moscow as a base of operations north of Afghanistan was a watershed in relations, and enormously beneficial to the U.S.

Bush was brilliant as well in emphasizing that the allied operation was a war not against Islam, but against extremists misusing Islam for nefarious ends.

This has had important domestic as well as international implications. After Bush spoke in a mosque condemning retaliation against Muslims in the U.S., domestic attacks against them dropped by over 50 percent.

Finally, showing how truly charmed Bush's leadership has been, eight Western hostages held by the Taliban escaped unharmed in the confusion caused by the allied military offensive.

Bush did exactly the right thing by refusing to tailor U.S. policy out of concern for their fate. This eliminated their value for their Taliban captors, and encouraged the carelessness that allowed their escape.

But something more momentous even than all this has happened as a result of September 11. America's moral structure has revived, and the entire nation has become far more united than it's been for at least 55 years.

Suddenly, policemen, firemen, and rescue workers are again our heroes. Patriotism is no longer a dirty word, the flag no longer a target of protest.

Instead, flags are now ubiquitous, and patriotic songs are sung with feeling and gusto in stadiums and on stages across the land. Even rap stars on MTV could be found singing "God Bless America."

Those who volunteer for military service are again — quite rightly — revered. Those of us with the most, in some of the most prosperous precincts of the country, should be among the first to thank their lucky stars that these boys are willing to risk their young lives to defend our freedom and prosperity.

Moral relativism is dead. Every American now knows that there are indeed such things as right and wrong, good and evil, and that it is not just a matter of how you personally feel about it.

Bush brilliantly helped to foster this moral revival by rightly referring to the terrorists as the "evildoers." Some pundits just do not seem to understand that by using this language, he is rallying the nation to the moral base for our cause.

The tragedy of September 11th is still overwelming. But it is because of the horror of that day that we must act as we have, so that they did not die in vain. At far too horrible a price, their sacrifices unified and revived the entire United States of America, and our truly noble, continuing experiment in human freedom and self-governance.

To honor their sacrifice, let us not allow this unity and moral reawakening to be a fleeting moment. Let us all, each and every one, pledge to speak out against those who will inevitably come back and seek to divide us again for political, financial, or personal gain.

Ours is not a perfect nation, and because we are all human, it never will be. But let us also keep the courage to speak out about the moral truths and wonders of America, the spearhead of human liberty and prosperity across the globe.