Hate. Hate threatens human civilization abroad and now at home. How is it possible to hate so intensely that you could destroy thousands of your fellow human beings whom you've never even seen, who have never done anything to hurt you, who don't even bear you any ill will? How can civilization survive when hate rules so many parts of the world? Only when civilized people join together to fight hate and terror.

It's almost impossible to comprehend the horrors of September 11. The devastation is too massive; the coordination of the attacks too expertly managed; our security and intelligence failures too unfathomable. The planning was thorough, sophisticated and absolutely cold-blooded.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon demonstrate how asymmetric warfare can ravage the world's most powerful nation. Asymmetric warfare, a military term, is a disproportionately destructive attack by a weak adversary on a far more powerful country, using low tech methods that high tech surveillance doesn't detect. Stealth is essential. Martyrdom is invaluable. Military superiority doesn't matter.

On Tuesday morning, we saw how horrifyingly successful this tactic can be and how difficult it is to prevent. The terrorists didn't even need to bring their own explosives. They used our high tech, well-fueled aircraft as their bombs and our open society as their opportunity. How could we have imagined such a monstrous scheme?

As always after a catastrophe, we Americans are searching for answers, for ways to prevent its repetition. There are obvious lessons-greatly improved airport security, renewed human intelligence (spies), never underestimating fanatical or desperate people. And, there are deeper lessons to guide us as well.

For one, in our overwhelming military and economic superiority, we have become complacent and even arrogant. We pass through weakened airport security, happily not delayed as we race to catch our flights. We often think we can "go it alone" in the world because the rest of the world needs us more than we need them. We count on our geography to keep foreign terrorists out.

We must think again. We do not live in isolation. We are part of a much larger geo-political environment that often targets the United States as the enemy. In our interconnected and dangerous world, we need friends everywhere to help us find the criminals who attacked us and alert us to terrorists' plots in the future. Shared global intelligence is crucial to protecting America.

These multinational relationships are built and nurtured over time. To win the commitment and cooperation of other nations as we seek to find terrorists today and protect our homeland in the future, we must reciprocate. NATO's declaration that an attack on the United States is an attack on NATO countries is heartening in our time of grief and rage. We are grateful for the expressions of outrage and sympathy from even unfriendly nations. But, we need more. President Bush has indicated we would welcome ongoing support from the rest of the world. We must earn it.

Next, this tragedy has brought all Americans together, even those who deplore our policies or dislike the power we represent. The Muslim American of Egyptian or Palestinian or Afghani extraction is just as ardent an American as I am. For anyone to attack or condemn a fellow American because of religious persuasion or ethnic origin would be cowardly and anti-American. I hope we have learned our lesson from the enormous injustice we inflicted on Japanese-Americans during World War II. Our diverse citizens are all equally American.

Finally, we have learned once again that the men and women who work for our government at all levels are incredibly brave and deeply committed to helping Americans in need. One survivor of the World Trade Center reported that as frantic people were running down the stairs to save themselves, New York police and fire fighters were running past them up the stairs to save others. They gave their lives for people they didn't know. What a contrast to those who died to murder those they didn't know.