To that end, I am going to ask Congress to pass what we are calling the Triumph of Freedom Act. And I am asking that it be passed unanimously to show our support not just for the dead, for those who died in these two horrible attacks, but for the living, those who care about protecting our future.
What is the Triumph of Freedom Act? It’s many things. Mostly it will guarantee that terrorists and terrorism will never get a foothold in our country. We will wipe them out with several bold strokes-and the first stroke will start now, with this Act.
The Triumph of Freedom Act means that we will be able to put any terror suspect’s DNA in a national data bank. This will be an enormous benefit to everyone, to all agencies fighting this sort of horrific crime.
We will be able to clamp down on and seize any assets found in Arab hawala transactions. Hawala is where cash is exchanged and funneled to terrorists.
We will be able to get business records without a court order in all terrorism probes.
We will be able to track wireless communications with a roving warrant.
We will be able to revoke U.S. citizenship of anyone we suspect of militant extremism.
We will be using volunteer civilian groups, trained and armed civilian groups, as terrorist deterrents.
We will be imposing a mandatory death penalty on all known terrorists and anyone known to aid terrorists.
Terrorists and known terror suspects will no longer have the same rights as the American citizens they are trying to destroy. We will no longer tolerate government policies that protect the very people who are threatening to dismantle our government.
Many more details will emerge over the next forty-eight hours. But what I would like to make clear to our friends and to our enemies is this: if we are struck, we will strike back and our strikes will be far more forceful, harder than anything you can possibly imagine. If we believe we are going to be struck, we will strike before you, and those strikes will be just as forceful. I believe this to be my mission as president of the United States: not merely to eradicate terrorists and terrorism but to eradicate the idea of terrorism.
This is a sad and tragic day. But it may also, sometime soon, be seen as a day of hope, optimism, and renewal because it is the day when we declare to people around the world that we are a free nation, under God, and that we will remain so long after our enemies have disappeared.
Thank you and God bless you all.
Justin Westwood spent that evening the same way most of the country did: watching the president’s speech and the omnipresent media coverage that followed it. There was disturbing and intimate film of the bombing-or rather its immediate aftermath-and, partly due to the excessive commentary, it was like watching a gruesome instant replay of the destruction at Harper’s. Interspersed with the painful footage were responses and declarations by various public officials. Senators and congressmen from both major parties were backing the president one hundred percent. The support of the American public was nearly as strong: instant polls were taken immediately after the speech and Anderson’s words received a ninety-two pecent favorable rating. Despite the president’s stated intent not to politicize his actions, the political ramifications were huge and immediate. Within an hour after the president’s speech, a record sixty-eight percent of Americans said they would be voting for Dandridge in the next election no matter who he ran against. Everyone in the government-from both parties-assured the nation that the Triumph of Freedom Act would pass handily. Everyone promised that this was a fight we would not lose.
The most forceful and impressive performance came from Ted Ackland, the assistant attorney general of the United States, who, according to political rumormongers, was very much in the running to be Phil Dandridge’s vice presidential running mate. Ackland was a handsome man, in his mid-forties, Clark Kent-looking with his horn-rimmed glasses and conservative suit and his lean, clearly chiseled body. Ackland was the most eloquent member of the administration, soft-spoken yet commanding, and when he elaborated on the T.O.F. Act-pronounced “tough”-as it was already being labeled, he was both convincing and reassuring. It was hard to dislike Ackland. He did not have the hard edges-or the controversial background-of Attorney General Stuller. Jeff Stuller made people ill at ease, sometimes even frightened them, including members of his own party. He was a man of stern religious upbringing and never wavered in his moral convictions, of which he had many. Pornographers were akin to murderers in Stuller’s book. Foul language was a violation of freedom of speech equal to words of treason. He was famous for never having danced, even with his wife, for dancing was not embraced by his Pentecostal religion, as it was considered frivolous and overtly sensual. The joke, often repeated in the print media, was that Stuller did not believe in sex-because it led to dancing. He was a stern man, with steely eyes and a steelier demeanor. His politics-as a two-term governor of Wisconsin and a one-term senator from the same state-were just as unwavering. He had, at various times in his political career, been branded as racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-civil rights. Stuller rarely responded to such criticism. He didn’t seem to even care about anything his detractors said. When Jeffrey Stuller spoke, it was clear that he did not believe he had ever been wrong or ever would be wrong.
Ackland was the perfect counterpoint to his boss. He was not linked to the religious right. He had never held an elected office and so had no traceable history of controversial votes or preferences. The speeches he’d made that had been on the record, as well as his performance as a Second Circuit judge, were considered moderate and reasonable. That combination of attributes-even his detractors sometimes referred to him as Ted “Tough but Fair” Ackland-made him a rising political star. There was talk that, if he wasn’t put on the national ticket, he might run for senator in his home state. But the smart money was on the assistant attorney general to get the vice presidential nomination. Dandridge, hard-nosed and humorless, was much in need of someone like the more congenial Ackland if he were to continue the Anderson legacy for another four years.
As the evening progressed, and as responses to the latest attack and to President Anderson’s speech came from around the country, Ted Ackland’s star began to burn even brighter. He spoke in a voice that was unafraid but not hell-bent on revenge. A voice fervently defending the new Triumph of Freedom bill, but also cognizant of its flaws. A voice that was strong but compassionate. In a world gone seemingly mad, his was a reassuring voice of sanity.
And more than anything, that was what the country was demanding right now: sanity.
In his living room, Justin Westwood was finding anything but sanity.
The TV was on-it was impossible to turn off; the violent replays and the constant commentary were a necessary link to the real world-but for Justin, the bulk of his attention was focused elsewhere. When he’d had his fill of sound bites and tough political talk, he’d begun to read through Chuck Billings’s notes. He wasn’t sure why Chuck had gotten them to him. Maybe just for safekeeping, as his cryptic cover letter had stated, but Justin suspected it was more than that. A lot more. There was something he wanted Justin to know. And judging from Justin’s visit from Special Agent Schrader this afternoon, something the FBI didn’t want him to know. So Justin figured he’d better plow through the scrawls. At first it was tough going. The beginning was rife with technical jargon, hypothesizing about various ways the bomb was built and detonated. Justin recognized several phrases from the conversation he’d had with Billings and was able to piece together enough to understand the makeup of the explosive device. There were several pages under the heading “Signature.” Justin couldn’t follow it all but he got the gist. Billings was analyzing the bomb’s quirks, the “tells,” as he called them in the notes. Chuck discussed the primary fragmentation and explained the importance of the use of jacks in that capacity. There were other tells, too, but none as important as the jacks. He stressed the uniqueness of that as a killing tool, noted that if they were used again in another attack, it meant, with great probability, that there would be a specific person in charge. Someone separate from the bomb carrier.