Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
J. Bryan HehirOctober 07, 2012

What was the appropriate response to the attacks of 9/11? Less than a month after the collapse of the World Trade Center, J. Bryan Hehir outlined the pastoral, social and policy responses necessary to meet the challenges of the post-9/11 world. Father Hehir called the policy response the most difficult of the three. "A measured response to transnational terrorism cannot be primarily a military response," Father Hehir wrote. "Deeper issues than the use of force lie beneath terrorist actions."

Read "What Can Be Done? What Should Be Done?"

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
TM Lutas
13 years 10 months ago
It is unfortunate that you are re-running a response to the horrific attacks of 9/11 that makes basic errors regarding the nature of the struggle instead of the taking the 10 years that we have had to research and reflect and improve on all of our responses and providing something that has benefited from our improved understanding of our enemy.

In those early days, it was not so obvious that these attackers not only were attacking the US but were attacking the very legitimacy of the effort to limit war to state actors. To a certain extent, they have succeeded in legitimizing non-state warfare again. Taking up the problem of non-state warfare, especially when we have a major GOP candidate who is championing it (Dr. Ron Paul's 2001 and 2007 bills on reinvigorating letters of Marque and Reprisal) is something that could not have been realistically covered in 2001 but would have been a timely effort in these days. Well, maybe next year.

The latest from america

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks with other members of the House July 3, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington after final passage of U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill. (OSV News photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)
“Deep cuts” to SNAP and Medicaid will “inflict real suffering on these families…. SNAP and Medicaid are not luxuries, they are lifelines for millions of children across our country.”
Kevin ClarkeJuly 03, 2025
It was one of the first times Leo has spoken unscripted at length in public, responding to questions posed to him by the children.
The Vatican has named the judges that will preside over the trial of disgraced Father Marko Rupnik.
For so many of us, Roger Haight marked off a breathtakingly wide horizon in which we, agreeing with him or not, could fulfill our mission for God’s people.