Daniel Henninger wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal yesterday about national unity and the September 11th attacks:

In time even Pearl Harbor became more a symbol than the bloody reality that ultimately hurled American forces against a Germany that didn't attack us at Pearl Harbor. But time seems to pass faster today. The first Fourth of July after September 11 was a day of national unity, in sorrow but also in belief that the U.S. had to go on offense, over there, against the force that had hit us. Now there is no unity; September 11, the war in Iraq, pretty much anything George Bush does and even Afghanistan is a fair target.[...]

We've watched September 11 drift from unity of purpose to unhinged vituperation. The partisanship is easy to dismiss, but I believe the Bush team's deep disdain of a hostile opposition media has caused it to miss--until now--the need to organize a home front to support the remarkable sacrifice in Iraq. This failure may prove to be the one unforgivable thing.

I think that Republicans and Democrats are equally to blame. They fought over what September 11th victims and family members want.

I think what the Bush administration needs to do is to make it clear to the American people who we are fighting. We are fighting al-Qaeda terrorists who did attack us on September 11th. If we leave, we will, in effect, create another Afghanistan. We will create a nation in the heart of the Middle East that will house terrorists and give them the time to regroup and attack us again.

The Administration needs to tell the American people that the reason initially given for war has proved false, not because a thirst for war, but because of the intelligence they were given that Saddam Hussein was a threat. Now that we are there, we have an opportunity to bring hope to a region that never had any until now. Bush needs to tell the American people that this means a commitment that means many more years of sacrifice.

Democrats and Republicans need to come together like they did after the attacks. They need to stop the partisanship over who is right and who is wrong. The reality of the situation is this: If we do not win this war, the effects will haunt us for decades.

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