Military

DATE=09/21/01

TYPE=U-S EDITORIAL DIGEST

TITLE=FRIDAY'S EDITORIALS

NUMBER=6-12469

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=YES

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: A large number of major daily newspapers in the United States are commenting about President Bush's speech Thursday on the terrorist attacks last week in New York and Washington. Other topics include the plight of the Afghan people; the need for allies in the fight against terrorism; and rescuing the U-S airline industry. Here is _____________ with a closer look and some excerpts in today's U-S editorial digest.

TEXT: The Seattle (Washington) Times, says that the president -- speaking to a joint session of Congress . . .

VOICE: ...grabbed America by the shoulders ... and stood us up and asked the country to be itself. Without a phrase out of step, (Mr.) Bush described to the American people the road ahead, a hard road, without certainty other than the certainty of survival and eventual success. It was a fine hour, without question his finest...

TEXT: The New York Times calls the address "(the president's) most important speech."

VOICE: ...Mr. Bush accomplished everything he needed to do ...He was as strong and forthright as the nation could have wished, while also maintaining a calm that must have reassured other nations that the United States will be prudent as well as brave.

TEXT: The Washington Post calls the speech "A Call to War," and says the president was "clear and confident." For the Philadelphia Inquirer, the speech, given "at the cusp of history" ... was "... full of eloquence and resolve, (as Mr.) Bush issues (the) Taleban a firm warning." In Michigan, the Detroit Free Press sums it up this way: "Tough talk. Well done."

In Illinois, the Chicago Tribune is also pleased.

VOICE: His bearing, and his message, could not have been more resolute. Those nations of the world that harbor terrorists will cease, or they will share in the terrorists' fate.

TEXT: In California, the San Jose Mercury News assesses the remarks as "reasoned resolute, (as Mr.) Bush prepares (the) nation for a long and difficult struggle...Ohio's largest paper, the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer sees the remarks this way.

VOICE: If civilization as we know it is to survive, the world must triumph against the murderous forces of terrorism. President ...Bush laid out for the world last night that start message of the struggle to come. It was an address ... that made a crystalline case to friend and foe alike for the reasons the United States is about to go to war.

TEXT: The San Francisco Chronicle says the president exuded strength, but it also notes what he did not say.

VOICE: He hopes to draw battle lines across the globe between nations ... fighting terrorism and those that are promoting or coddling it. Can that mission be accomplished without a broader war against nations such as Iraq, Syria, and others, which are believed to be at least indirectly assisting terrorism? (He) did not say.

TEXT: In Texas, the Dallas Morning News suggests the president, himself, passed an important test with the address.

VOICE: Seen by some as a young untested president, George W. Bush left no doubt Thursday evening that neither he nor the nation will falter or tire in a brave campaign to save the world from the evil of terrorism. ...As Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and his father did before him, Mr. Bush found himself needing to rally the nation on the verge of a war.

TEXT: The president said the fight is not against Islam, which he called a peaceful religion, or against any people except terrorists or those who support them. The Chattanooga (Tennessee) Free Press takes up that point, lamenting the fate of the poor, starving, drought-strickened Afghan people.

VOICE: The United States is at war against terrorists -- not against Afghanistan or innocent Afghans who are caught under an oppressive government that has been harboring Osama bin Laden and other terrorist gangsters. ... We hope it will not be necessary for the United States to undertake ground operations to root terrorists out...

TEXT: The Dallas Morning News says it will be very important for the United States to have and keep its allies. It also mentions the French newspaper Le Monde which last week ran what the Dallas paper calls a remarkable front page editorial headed: "We are all Americans.

TEXT: In his speech, Mr. Bush announced plans to provide financial help to airlines which have been especially hard hit by the terrorist attacks. Many newspapers, including the Madison Wisconsin State Journal, support that idea.

VOICE: The airline industry is so important to national security and economic vitality that it is in the national interest to provide federal aid to U-S ... carriers, in a tailspin following the September 11th terrorist attacks.

TEXT: The Des Moines (Iowa) Register agrees the airlines have suffered disproportionately, but adds: "...Congress should be careful about yielding to current nationalistic sentiment and to the airlines' every demand.

/// OPT /// The Washington Times calls for the reopening of Reagan National Airport, the only major airport still closed for security reasons, and the Los Angeles Times ponders tighter security restrictions at Los Angeles International Airport than even the federal government ordered. /// END OPT ///

U-S-A Today says the F-B-I's success in searching for suspects also illustrates a weakness.

VOICE: As the massive F-B-I investigation uncovers more details of the scope, complexity, and long-term planning behind the ... attack, it is revealing an equally massive failure in the nations' counterintelligence efforts. ... How could so many terrorists operate for so long in the U-S piecing together a complex attack plan without detection? ... (Remember) experts... have repeatedly warned that (our) intelligence system, built during the Cold War, was ill-suited to counter the modern terrorist threat.

TEXT: However, as law enforcement seeks extended powers, civil libertarians fear the U-S constitutional provisions protecting personal liberty will be eroded. Kentucky's Louisville Courier-Journal frets that even Attorney General John Ashcroft. . .

VOICE: ... concedes...the administration's proposals alter the always delicate balance between civil liberties and society's need to be protected from danger. A rush to judgment would run serious risks of placing unwarranted restrictions on individual rights.

TEXT: There is also more condemnation of attacks in the United States by angry citizens against people who may somehow look Middle Eastern. The Saint Petersburg (Florida) Times exhorts readers to "Stop terrorizing fellow Americans." Quoting President Bush, the Times editorializes:

VOICE: Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don't represent the best of America ... and they should be ashamed of that ...behavior..."

TEXT: That concludes this sampling of editorial comment from Friday's U-S newspapers.

NEB/ANG/JWH