GlobalSecurity.org In the News

War would test stamina of Americans
From the White House to the hinterlands, Americans ponder retribution

By RICK MONTGOMERY

The enemies of the United States have long believed that ours is a culture of materialistic softies who lack the belly for an ugly, drawn-out war.

The Nazi brass believed it, once saying Americans were good only at making razor blades and refrigerators. The Japanese who attacked Pearl Harbor believed it, thinking the United States could not marshal the will or the weaponry to strike back.

And the terrorists who laid out the plot for last week's national nightmare have believed it for years, experts say. You might imagine their laughter -- wherever they may be laughing -- at knowing that all-day news coverage of the onslaught pre-empted the Tuesday premier of "Love Cruise," the latest reality show that promised to pit 16 men and women against each other on a cruise to Aruba.

To Americans who gravitate to silly things in good times, the reality-TV craze now seems a long, long time ago.

Last week put sterner stuff on display -- five-hour waits at the blood bank, higher-than-normal activity at military recruiting offices, rescue crews coughing up dust in search of firefighters and police officers who died in a heroic rush up the steps of a burning World Trade Center.

"The events of these last few days show there's a hunger in this country to serve" when calamity hits, said historian David McCullough. He wrote Truman and current best seller John Adams, books that explore earlier cases of epic American fortitude.

"Maybe some of us had forgotten what our strengths really are and always were," McCullough said. "I have every confidence in this country. It's because of past performance."

President Bush in his radio address Saturday told Americans to gird themselves for a new brand of struggle:

"You will be asked for your resolve, for the conflict will not be easy. You will be asked for your strength, because the course to victory may be long."

American stamina will surely be tested, said John Pike, director of the Globalsecurity.org defense policy group.

Not only is there the threat of the enemy fighting back at the airports, shopping malls, schools and sports stadiums of America, but "how will we know when we've won?" Pike asked. "I can't identify when we would turn this war off."

The lack of an end game can wear on American nerves. High public support at the start of the Korean War began to erode after reports of heavy casualties and little progress made by the Allies. The vague, bloody mission in Vietnam left Americans wondering why we ever went there.

Most Americans today say they are ready to alter their lifestyles, even sacrifice some of their personal freedoms, for a safer world, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released Saturday. Seven of 10 said they would be willing to arrive three hours early for a flight if tough security measures made that necessary.

A CNN Poll showed two out of three Americans supporting a ground war if one was needed to root out the terrorists responsible for Tuesday's attacks.

But would they be willing to fight those battles?

On Friday a Rochester, N.Y., high school senior named James Young became only the third person in that city to join the Marines since Tuesday. He told The New York Times he tried to persuade friends to sign up for service, but "they just wanted to get an education, get women and get drunk."

At the University of Pennsylvania, "I must say I don't have a sense of real outrage from students," said communications professor Carolyn Marvin. "Some in that age group try to step away from patriotism as a point of honor."

Still, some military recruiting offices nationwide were reporting two, three or four times as many phone queries than usual.

People who volunteered to serve after Pearl Harbor say they expect Americans to sign up if and when they are truly needed.

Bill Irons, married with a young son, left his job at an Omaha, Neb., bomber plant to join the Marines in 1943, in part because he didn't want to be viewed as someone hiding behind the deferments his employer had secured for the war workers.

He also believed in preserving the American way of life. A safe place for his family. Freedom to speak, freedom from fear. On those counts, "I don't think we've changed much," said Irons, 82.

Sarah Faeth was a nurse in her 30s at the University of Kansas Medical Center when duty called in 1942. "They were looking for as many nurses as they could get" to tend to wounded soldiers overseas.

"It was simple. If they needed me, I felt I should go," said Faeth, who lives in Overland Park. "We all thought then it was the right thing to do.

"Today I'm sure we'd do the same. I see young people in my family who aren't greatly different in that respect."

Some things about Americans -- and how outsiders view them -- never change, said Dennis Giangreco, a military historian and writer at Fort Leavenworth.

"Everyone thinks of the soft, flabby American as a new international idea, and it's not," said Giangreco, citing conflicts of the last century. "Americans tend to look at all sides of an issue. Cultures not familiar with the democratic process can look at that from the outside and see it as weakness."

In fact, "nothing motivates Americans like a clear, unambiguous attack," he said.

It takes a stretch for some Americans today to imagine the home-front sacrifices endured by Tom Brokaw's "Greatest Generation" in the 1940s:

Six-day workweeks, civil-defense blackouts, victory gardens, collection drives for copper, grease and tinfoil. Strict rations on soap and beef and nylons. Three gallons of gasoline a week? And, worst of all, the fear of the Western Union truck creeping down your street with telegrams that "regret to inform you...."

Much of the resolve and sense of duty from that era have assumed mythic status. The rationing, in particular, triggered political criticism and public outcry. If nobody enjoyed it, noted historian Giangreco, "there really wasn't much of a choice, was there?"

In the battle against terrorists willing to strike the United States and wipe out unsuspecting innocents, Americans may have little choice but to fight long and hard and to stand tall.

"There's nothing you can do to placate this enemy, but to just not exist," Giangreco said. "And who wants to stop existing?"

George Ross, 28, concedes that for his generation, war has seemed a distant, almost bloodless theater of smart bombs, laser wizardry and "Top Gun." Speaking perhaps for Americans of all ages last week, he said: "I've never seen anything like this in my lifetime."

But he says he is ready do whatever his country asks of him in the coming months and years.

"It's going to be a learning experience for all, but can we do it? Absolutely," said Ross, an Atchison County commissioner. "I looked at my two kids yesterday and thought, my God, they may not grow up to be adults if this terrorism keeps up."

Ross is a lifelong Democrat praying that the Republican Bush has a most successful administration.

"Right now, we're indivisible," he says. "This country is not to be messed with when we're backed into a corner."

To reach Rick Montgomery, national correspondent, call (816) 234-4410 or send e-mail to rmontgomery@kcstar.com.