Just a month after 911, Ireland, former president of NOW, complained
about President Bush's "guy talk." Her quote was featured
last week in the Wall Street Journal's "Best
of the Web."
She said, "Guy talk may be speaking in black and white of good
and evil." She said it included descriptions, such as "Osama
bin Laden, wanted dead or alive." She said there was too much guy
talk from "rich, white, able-bodied and apparently straight men."
And thank goodness for that. Guy talk has been our most potent weapon
for fighting terrorism since 911.
Prior to 911, you see, America avoided guy talk of any kind. It was
the era of the new-age sensitive male -- the Clinton era. We disdained
harsh language like the words Reagan used in the '80's. How could a
president be so boorish as to call the Soviet Union "the evil empire?"
No, the Clinton era was a progressive one. We chose our words carefully
then to avoid offending anyone. We didn't know the meaning of "is"
because we used language to obscure, not clarify, our alleged goals
and ambitions.
So when fundamentalist Islamic terrorists attempted to blow up the World
Trade Center in 1993, we didn't consider it an act of war. We considered
it a crime, just like mugging or car theft. And as terrorists struck
other targets around the world during that period, we didn't respond
with force and fury; we targeted them with the limited legal and diplomatic
means available to us.
And it's true that the Bush team took eight months to develop a new
strategy to flush out bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Though their approach
promised to be more comprehensive and results-oriented, the plan did
not reach the president's desk until it was too late.
The truth is that before 911, there were only a handful of people using
guy talk in reference to Al Qaeda. One of them was Sen. Bob Kerry, a
former Senator from Nebraska. Last week, during the 911 hearings, he
used guy talk again.
"I keep hearing the excuse we didn't have actionable intelligence,"
he said to Madeline Albright, who said the Clinton's people's hands
were tied. "Well, what the hell does that say to Al Qaeda? Basically,
they knew, beginning in 1993, it seems to me, that there was going to
be limited, if any, use of military and that they were relatively free
to do whatever they wanted."
Which is exactly right. Through our pre-911 actions, here is what Al
Qaeda heard us say: do whatever you want. Sure, a few of you might get
caught and get tied up in court. Or maybe a few missiles will be launched,
in the dead of night, at empty buildings or abandoned terrorist training
camps. But your losses will be minimal and America lacks any will to
fight.
And so they struck us hard on 911.
It's true that we need to put politics aside and pinpoint all the reasons
we allowed 911 to happen in the first place. We need to overhaul our
strategy and approach to make sure 911 never happens again, and we've
been working on that. But whatever we do, one thing is certain: guy
talk better be a big part of our plan.
We used guy talk on the Taliban. We said they better turn over bin Laden
or we would take them out. Used to our empty words, they blinked and
we took them out.
We told Saddam Hussein he either complies with U.N. resolutions or we
were going to take him out. He blinked and we took him out.
We told Mommar Khadafi his only future was to come clean. He heard us
loud and clear.
Maybe if we had used more guy talk before 911 - maybe if we had backed
our words with actions as we have since 911 - the World Trade Center
would still be standing.
Maybe. All I know for certain is this: Hey, Patty, guy talk works.