by Vito Petitti
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 was the day our country was finally pushed too far.
My Navy Reserve unit contacted me yesterday to confirm my whereabouts and to ensure that my colleagues and I are standing by for recall to active duty, if necessary.
Our sea bags are packed, but at the same time most of us are relieved to be near our families for now, and to know that they are safe.
Meanwhile, the investigation and rescue efforts continue, and information about the deceased and injured -and about the survivors - has begun to trickle in.
This is also a time of slowly unfolding facts regarding the perpetrators and their methods. They were clever, that’s for sure. Clever and pathetic. They preyed on the daily routine of the innocent and law abiding. My friends and I are willing to work long hours and travel great distances, if called upon, to help put an end to these utterly evil human beings and their organizations.
My family is safe, if a little numb. Many people are saying that they’ll look at the world in a whole new way, but I must tell you it’s the way I’ve seen the world for quite some time now. I’m not actually surprised that there are people in the world capable of doing these things, nor do I have any doubt that there will be a breathtaking effort to find them and deal with them. There will definitely be some payback, but really, what kind of payback could possibly be enough? Even if we rounded up a dozen people or more who planned the attacks, a long, expensive jury trial just isn’t going to be quite enough this time, is it? I don’t think so.
This is all so awful because of the futility. What possible good could have come out of this for the persons responsible? Even with language and cultural barriers, how could anyone possibly feel as though anything had been accomplished by knocking down some buildings and ending innocent civilians’ lives? How can they not know that world commerce and capitalism will simply continue to flourish? That our American lifestyle will go on? Can it really have been worth 10,000 lives or more just to temporarily interrupt things a little in the USA?
I hope these events will at least have the effect that we’re finally going to get deadly serious about attacks on Americans here and abroad. A few arrests and eventual prison sentences won’t cut it this time. No more fooling around with just the thugs themselves who actually strap on the bombs, etc. Now we need an all out war against sovereign states that harbor, train, and provide other support to them as well.
It’s also time to take another look at the balance between rights of privacy and security. I, for one, am ready to allow our government more discretion when it comes to electronic surveillance and rules of evidence, if it means we’ll be more capable of detecting indications and warnings of imminent activity...and swifter justice against criminals.
To me, good security does not imply looking over our shoulders as if paranoid and afraid. It has to do with enhanced awareness and controlling our environment. We have it within our power to pick up the pieces and go on; but it’ll be as wiser and battlehardened Americans with the resolve to do what’s necessary. We’re survivors. But we’re going to do much more than to just survive. We’re going to prevail. And it’s definitely time now to get serious.
Vito Petitti is a senior intelligence officer in the Naval Reserves and has been assigned to the Navy’s Antiterrorist Alert Center and to the Defense Intelligence Agency. As an instructor at International Training, Inc., he trained military and law enforcement personnel in antiterrorist evasive driving tactics, surveillance detection, and executive protection. He is now a writer and lives in Southern California with his wife and three children. Petitti also writes a column titled “Protective Measures”. Contact: http://www.protectivemeasures.com
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