I think I’ve got my blood pressure under control, finally. Maybe now we will get some real leaders in key positions, people who understand that you can only win or lose, but you cannot opt out of the struggle. Here in Washington some dolt from the Pentagon reassured local radio that his building had gone on the maximum-security alert, “Code Alpha.” A few minutes later he was under attack.

I love that “Alpha” business, so highfalutin, so emblematic of everything that’s gone wrong for so many years.

I wonder if Colin Powell will advise the president to show greater understanding of the terrorists’ legitimate complaints.

There are lots of questions that need answers, and a few things that W. needs to do right away. The obvious question is Who Did It? And it would be nice to think that our misnamed intelligence services are capable of figuring it out. I have my doubts. They should ask Laurie Mylroie, author of The Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein’s Unfinished War Against America, who for years has been collecting the evidence showing Saddam’s involvement in the first bombing of the World Trade Center, all overlooked by the spooks.

The second question is How In The World Did They Do It? And just asking that question tells you that our airport security system isn’t what it should be. We’re going to have to do a lot of guessing on this one. Did the terrorists smuggle weapons on board? Did they take them through the metal detectors, or did they have accomplices on the ground who placed them on board? Or did they simply break into the cabin and kill the crew (with their hands, with garrotes, or whatever) and take control? Or what?

The third question is Why Didn’t the Pentagon Shoot it Down? The likely answer is, because it happened so quickly, by the time they figured it out it was too late. Which should be a monster wakeup call to the military over things like protecting Taiwan.

And the fourth and final question: Now What? W. must hold his people accountable for this massive intelligence and security debacle. Tenet and the head of the counterterrorism unit must go. The head of FAA security must go. It’s silly to fire the new head of FBI, he was only just sworn in, but the head of their counterterrorism unit must go. In truth, they should not wait for the axe, they should resign at once, out of the utter shame of this humiliating catastrophe. But nobody does that any more, so the president must act.

Second, the president must, at long last, undo the idiotic Executive Order forbidding assassinations, that pious piece of paper from smug Jimmy Carter that has hamstrung our counterterrorist efforts lo these many years. If we identify the commanders of this operation, they should be killed. If we identify a regime that supported it, it must be destroyed, removed from power, and held up as an example to anyone else who dares think along similar lines.

Finally, someone should remind the president that we are still living with the consequences of Desert Shame, when his father and his father’s advisers--most notably Colin Powell and Brent Scowcroft--advised against finishing the job and liberating Iraq. And the president should show the world that he is cut from different fabric, by immediately moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and removing the pettifogging restrictions on the Iraqi Resistance, thereby taking the fight directly to Saddam on his own territory.

If he does that, he will show his antiterrorist people that the rules have changed, and we are serious. If he doesn’t, they will cover their asses with legal opinions forbidding them to act effectively.