EDITORIAL: The American public needs to be prepared for the long haul if we’re going to defeat terrorists
We must be prepared for what may come next in "the first war of the 21st century."
After watching in horror as the twin towers of the World Trade Center crumbled last week, many are calling for a quick response as a show of strength.
But we must be prepared for this new kind of war. There will be precious few targets worthy of bombing raids or landing armies. Instead, the targets will be camps, financial accounts and Web sites.
A show of strength will be to wait, and we have to be prepared to do that.
Experts tell us the terrorists have been slowly insinuating themselves into the populations in many countries, waiting quietly until the day they are ordered to make their attacks.
We have to be prepared that these hidden "cells" have yet to unleash their hatred and may do so in the future. Federal and local law enforcement investigators will work very hard to prevent any further damage, but even a solitary madman is capable of causing great harm.
Fighting this war will require new kinds of soldiers, as well, and we have to be prepared that our sons and daughters and husbands and wives may be called into service.
Following the bombing, thousands of local and area residents gave blood and money to help those injured in the Sept. 11 attack. Should another attack occur, we have to be prepared to go back and give again.
And this new war will move forward in ways that will often be unseen and unannounced by world leaders, and we have to be prepared for long periods of quiet.
This is not another retaliatory response like the one carried out in 1996 after the bombings of American embassies or after the attack on the USS Cole in Bahrain. This is not another warning to a government supporting terrorism such as the bombing raid on Libya in 1986.
This is a war and wars last years and wars get messy and wars are complicated.
We must be prepared. Terrorists strive to disrupt the lives of citizens in order to affect governments. We must be prepared not to let that happen.

