“America You Lost, I Won!”

As Zacarias Moussaoui was escorted from the courtroom today following the jury’s verdict, he declared “America you lost, I won!”

“America you lost, I won!” What an odd declaration. But in a strange way he is right. He won. But not what he thinks he won. What did he win? Well, he won a place in history as the latest poster child of vile hatred. He won our deep appreciation for the criminal mind of a terrorist. He won our contempt for his contempt for life. He won the right to live the remaining days of his life in solitary obscurity, rather than die as a martyr. He won the right to an enemy that affords due process, a fair trial, and just results. He won our conviction that some people really are different from the rest of us. He won our resolve to continue the fight against his kind.

“America you lost.” In a way, he is right about that too. We lost. But not what he thinks we lost. What did we lose? Well, we lost 3,000 loved ones. We lost our innocence. For a while at least, we lost our divisions. We lost our belief that wars happen ‘over there.’ We lost our freedom to live our daily lives in blissful security. We lost our reservations about engaging this enemy. We lost our absolutism about civil liberties. We lost trust that some of our allies were up to the task. We lost the confidence of others in the face our own missteps. We lost our certainty in the rules of war. We lost hope in visions of a new world order. We lost all doubt that ordinary Americans can be heroes.