NYPost

Dick Morris

ANTHRAX ATTACKS: LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE

October 30, 2001 -- SINCE Sept. 12, approximately 230,000 Americans have died. About 40,000 died of heart disease, 14,000 from lung cancer, 4,500 died in car accidents (3,500 of those deaths involved drinking). 2,000 were murdered. 3,000 committed suicide.

And three died from anthrax. A total of 14 have been infected.

Any murder, especially at the hands of a brutal terrorist, is cause for mourning. But the obsession with anthrax that has gripped Washington is more than any terrorist, foreign or domestic, could have hoped for. To force the House of Representatives to close its doors and to make all of official Washington panic must have exceeded the perpetrator's wildest dreams.

We would do well to remember what FDR said: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

The recriminations, second-guessing and finger-pointing that the anthrax terror has spread throughout Washington is just what we do not need when we must unite in the face of a truly deadly foreign terrorist foe.

Whoever is sending out these lethal letters has us running around in circles with our political, public-health, investigative and intelligence establishments tripping over one another. The media, itself under assault, is magnifying the confusion in official Washington and giving the nation an impression of a government under siege.

Bioterrorism is a deadly risk. It is one of the new fronts we must open to defeat the terrorist and frustrate his plans. But we need a sense of proportion. We cannot let a few letters and a handful of deaths, however outrageous and tragic, distract us from our central mission - to protect a free society from terrorist tactics.

Tom Ridge and his effort to shore up homeland security should seriously follow up the investigative leads in the anthrax attacks. But we also need him to work on new aircraft designs, bomb and metal-detection technologies, new security for public gatherings and a host of other issues just as pressing.

Meanwhile, the defeatists, doubters and doves are beginning to poke out their heads and second guess, like armchair generals, our military moves. The likes of Sen. Joseph Biden worry aloud that our bombing campaign cannot long continue without alienating the Islamic world. The news media undermine public confidence in the military action and criticize those who are far more knowledgeable and have much more information than we do. One can sense the war's momentum melt away as the initial bravado and enthusiasm fades away, and we face a long and difficult battle.

But there is one saving grace - the people of the United States have far more maturity than their leaders give them credit for. They are not panicked. Unlike the House, they show up for work each day and they understand that this war will be a long one. They grasp that all will not go smoothly. They expect and will accept casualties. They realize that bioterrorism is new and anticipate that it will sow confusion in official circles as we try to grapple with an unprecedented and largely unanticipated threat.

American public opinion can be very, very stubborn. Far from being malleable, voters hunker down and stand firm when they have reached a fundamental conclusion about important issues.

We are prepared for a long, drawn-out engagement and are willing to see it through. The memory of the World Trade Center disintegrating and the haunting vision of men and women jumping out of windows will sustain us for the long journey ahead.

Let the government make mistakes, misjudge threats, fail to take timely action, err in the face of new challenges. We expect all that and will forgive it. The one thing we will not tolerate is being lied to. Trust us with your mistakes. Admit your human error.

This is new ground and we expect our leaders to stumble and fall as they learn to traverse it. Just have enough confidence in us to tell us the truth as best you can discern it.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001