Massachusetts Delegation Reacts to President Bush’s Address
By Sarah Sparks
WASHINGTON – Massachusetts members of Congress rallied to President George W. Bush’s call to arms in an address to a joint session of Congress and the nation last night, agreeing with the President’s ultimatum to Afghanistan, “They will hand over terrorists or share in their fate.”
“He set the mark high,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. “I think he weighed out the measure and did not shortchange the magnitude of this battle.”
With the number of those missing and presumed dead in last week’s terrorist attacks raised to more than 6500 people from 80 countries, the President asked for military, financial and intelligence aid from other nations to root out cells of the al-Qaida terrorist organization: “This is the world’s fight; this is civilization’s fight.”
“Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists,” Bush said to Afghanistan and the other nations of the world.
“The President’s speech was exactly what the nation needed,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. in a statement. “[It was] a message of determination and hope, of strength and compassion.”
Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., approved of the President’s “blunt and candid” explanation of the length of the anti-terrorist campaign and the need for a hard line against Afghanistan.
“I think the administration has done a good job of making this a concerted effort all over the world,” Meehan said. “He also made it clear that the Taliban have tortured and hurt its own people.”
Yet the members agreed that the President drew a clear distinction between the terrorists and the rest of the Islamic world in saying, “Those who kill in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. They are trying to hijack the Islamic faith.”
“I think he made the point pretty clear” that Americans must not blame or attack Muslims as a whole, Rep.John Tierney, D-Mass said.
“I think the leaders of the House will continue to keep that message,” Tierney said.
Kennedy agreed. “Congress and the nation will respond effectively to defeat the terrorists,” Kennedy said, “and we will do so in a way that preserves our ideals and protects the fundamental rights and liberties of the American people.”
Tierney said he felt the most surprising announcement was Bush’s call for the creation of a Cabinet-level position of the Office of Homeland Security and the appointment of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge to head it.
“It’s a concept that’s been having hearings for the last couple of years … It’s a surprise that the appointment was made tonight.” “It’s the right step. We will have more to do, but it’s definitely the right step,” Kerry said, adding that he thinks the plan to control terrorism on America’s home turf will be more effective “under one person who’s accountable.”
Kerry said he and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have also proposed that the administration appoint someone to oversee airport security around the nation.
Kerry said, “We must vastly reconfigure” our intelligence operations in terms of both investment and strategy, adding, “I think he (Bush) hit the right balance in preparing the nation for the challenge.”
Kennedy said he is confident “that Congress will join the President in meeting the nation’s other immediate challenges, including supporting the many victims of this tragedy, and strengthening our economy to help all Americans.”
