Dan RatherHISTORY WILL not remember February 21 as it will September 11. February 21 will not become etched in our memory. We will not look back on this week and say that everything changed. But there is a connection between the two dates. On September 11, the United States found itself at war. And on February 21, we had one of those days that remind us just what war is.
As we worked to put together the evening news, we saw our lead story change three times due to breaking news. In a sense, though, it remained the same throughout: The War on Terrorism was the constant.
First came Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld's briefing and news conference at the Pentagon, where he discussed the US Special Forces raid last month on two sites north of Kandahar believed to harbour Taliban or al-Qaida forces. As it turned out, the 16 men killed by US forces in the raid were neither. They were fighters loyal to the Afghan interim government of Hamid Karzai.
Then, at about 3:30 in the afternoon, we got word that a US Army Chinook helicopter, one of those big, double-rotor birds, had crashed on its way to a joint anti-terrorist training exercise in the Philippines. On board were 10 US soldiers. From the beginning, it seemed unlikely that any on board had survived. None did.
Finally, roughly an hour later, came another big piece of bad news. Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter kidnapped on January 23 inside Pakistan, was dead.
The extremist group that claimed responsibility for the abduction, The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty, had sent a video documenting Pearl's murder to Pakistani officials. Even though the death of the 38-year-old father-to-be had been feared for weeks, the confirmation was no less shocking for having been in some sense anticipated.
It was a long day filled with stark reminders that the United States is engaged in a difficult war being fought on many fronts on often uncertain terms. It is a fight in which the line between civilians and combatants has been tragically blurred from the beginning.
Ever since television brought the Vietnam War into America's living rooms, those in this country who have never seen war up close have had a better understanding that war is far from the glorious stuff of legend and song. "War is hell" is something we all say now, not just the soldiers but any of us who have seen enough of the blood, terror and confusion to understand.
It is true. But maybe it is a truth at which we arrive too easily. Maybe our belief in war's brutality has lost some of its force for being so widespread. Like our understanding and official acknowledgements that this war will claim American casualties, it is a fact that is hard for us to truly grasp until bodies start coming home in caskets.
On September 11, 2001, we saw, as if through new eyes, the challenges that faced America and other nations in a dangerous world. We became a people on a quest for justice. We resolved to bear the costs of meeting these challenges and fulfilling this quest. On February 21, 2002, we were given a new awareness of just what these costs might be not for the first time and surely not for the last. As a nation, Americans remain steadfast in their resolve. But the personal costs of war are borne by individuals by families and loved ones at home. And this week, we saw a day when many paid the ultimate price.
Dan Rather is a television news anchor. Copyright 2002 DJR Inc. Distributed by King Features Syndicate
