I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. I won't debate terminology. Our public discourse has deemed the September 11th terrorists cowards. The act — unprovoked, malicious — against innocent people has the flavor of cowardice. Then again, if you give your life for a cause, however demented, are you a coward? I'll let others sift through the fine points in the rubble.
But if you really want cowards, check out their bosses.
Osama Bin Laden shuttles around Afghanistan protected by a debased, medieval regime, sending men to their deaths while he hides with his millions behind rulers who'll take to the bomb shelters when their starved, shivering citizens are at risk from American anti-terrorist efforts. They'll hide in safety plotting their next move while people who've never heard of George Bush will be at their own, personal ground zero. Innocents will die, but those who pervert their religion and sell out their people will prosper, then blunder on — because they hate us for being prosperous, generous, inventive, successful, creative and most of all, not them.
They, I submit, are the cowards.
Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont, and I'll see you next time.