It has taken Bush himself some time to come to terms with the enormity of the threat to the U.S. that Tuesday's attacks represent. That shouldn't be surprising; after all, those in the government who had been warning that sophisticated terrorist attacks on the U.S. were unavoidable -- from former Sens. Warren Rudman, R-N.H., and Gary Hart, D-Colo., who headed up the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century, to Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., and Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., the chairmen of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees -- had their words fall on deaf ears. Few of us seemed to understand, before Tuesday, how fortunate the United States had been in avoiding international terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.
But even after Bush understood the enormity of the attacks, he was still minimizing the impact on the U.S. and the scope of the need to respond. Later on Tuesday, while Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was on CNN calling the attacks "clearly an act of war," Bush was still speaking of retaliation as if the U.S. would be on a single law-enforcement mission, saying in a taped message from a Louisiana Air Force Base that the government "will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts."
He wasn't alone in his initial response. "We're going to find out who did this, and then we're going after the bastards," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on CNN. "It's that simple."
But, of course, it wasn't that simple, as Vice President Dick Cheney revealed Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press: "On the morning of the attack, with a plane headed for the Pentagon, President Bush gave the order "that if the plane would not divert -- if they wouldn't pay any attention to the instructions to move away from the city -- as a last resort our pilots were authorized to take them out."
That didn't happen, but Bush's order exemplifies the horrifying complexities in America's new war, and what it means that battles against terrorists have to be fought on domestic soil. The enemy we are fighting is often faceless. The terrorists do not reside in one particular location but are spread out in cities across the country, and across the globe, aided by various states and financiers. Whatever action the U.S. takes will almost certainly provoke further acts of terrorism committed against Americans and our allies.
Bush began to acknowledge at least some of the nuances of this new world during his third comments after the attacks, in his Tuesday night address to the nation. After stating that "the search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts," Bush pointedly noted, "We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."
And by Wednesday morning, Bush's language had gotten even more bellicose. "The deliberate and deadly attacks which were carried out yesterday against our country were more than acts of terror," Bush said to his national security team in the Cabinet Room. "They were acts of war."
For the first time, Bush began hinting about a long-term struggle, about using "all our resources to conquer this enemy," and "rally(ing) the world. We will be patient, we will be focused, and we will be steadfast in our determination. This battle will take time and resolve. But make no mistake about it: We will win."
Later that day, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer was asked about the use of the term "war" on Wednesday. What changed? Fleischer was asked.
"The president will share his thoughts with you as his thoughts develop as a result of the conversations he has with the security team," Fleischer said, "and as he thinks this matter through in his mind, and shares information with the public."
Bush shared more than information with the public this week; he was sharing his emotions as well, and those also play a role in helping Americans come to terms with how sobering, even shattering, these attacks have been. First came sorrow, then anger, then steely resolve.
At his first press conference Thursday morning, Bush seemed to still be taking in the enormity of the crisis. After a reporter asked him where his heart was, Bush choked up and drew up to the precipice of tears. He turned away from the assembled reporters for a moment, lowering his head. When he turned back, his eyes were brimming. "Well, I don't think about myself right now," Bush said. "I think about the families, the children. I am a loving guy, and I am also someone, however, who has got a job to do -- and I intend to do it."
By Friday, at the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance Service at the National Cathedral, Bush seemed less sad and emotional and more angry and resolute, saying that "our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil."
No small thing, to rid the world of evil, but there it was. Our new task. "War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder," Bush said. "This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing."
Later that day, at the site where the World Trade Center towers once stood, at the corner of Murray and West streets, Bush spoke to police, firemen and rescue workers. He began speaking through a bullhorn. When the audience began shouting that they couldn't hear him, Bush shouted back:
"I can hear you!" Bush said. "I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!"
The crowd cheered. "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" There was something proud and cathartic in the cheering, but there was underneath it something disconcerting, too. This is a war that will assuredly get bloodier and uglier. While the photo of the three New York City firefighters hoisting an American flag atop the WTC seems to echo the famous shot of Marines raising the flag over Iwo Jima, there's one crucial difference. The flag over Iwo Jima was raised on Feb. 23, 1945, after the deaths of 6,825 Americans in the 36-day battle for that island, less than seven months before the end of that war. The FDNY flag raising marks our latest war's dawn, not its sunset.
Next page: But was Churchill always honest?