NYPost

BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY

October 23, 2001 -- President Bush is pulling no punches in his effort to get Osama bin Laden.

After last month's attacks on New York and Washington, Bush unleashed the CIA to "do whatever is necessary" to capture or kill the terrorist chieftain, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

"The gloves are off," a senior official told the paper. "Lethal operations that were unthinkable pre-Sept. 11 are now underway."

If true, it's none too soon.

Indeed, the most heartbreaking news is that U.S. agents had located bin Laden last spring, but neither the CIA nor the military was equipped to take action. If they had, well . . . Sept. 11 might be just a date on the calendar.

By now, it's no secret that squeamishness from the left led the nation, in effect, to handcuff America's intelligence forces - from President Ford's ban on political assassinations to rules against using "dirty" sources to woefully inadequate funding. All to disastrous effect.

The mood changed on Sept. 11.

Although the ban on assassinations never applied to terrorists or to wartime situations, Bush's order makes it crystal clear that the CIA is not only allowed to conduct covert action to kill or capture bin Laden, but that it must give such efforts the highest priority.

Plus, under the Bush directive, the agency will get $1 billion in new funding and the help of the military and other U.S. security forces to get the job done.

And, Bush has reportedly said, the CIA shouldn't be deterred by the risk of failure - even if it hurts the agency (and Bush) in the polls.

Call that leadership.

Bush knows quite well that some countries won't like America's new aggressive approach.

That's just too bad.

To his credit, he couldn't give a fig about the inevitable foreign carping.

America will do what it has to do.

Bravo for that, Mr. President.

This, after all, is a war that - alas - must be fought on the terrorists' terms: sneak attacks, covert action, deceit (where necessary) and, of course, assassination.

It's the only way to fight terrorists.

And the battle must be fought on the terrorists' soil: America can't win through defensive actions, such as tightening security at home, alone - important as such measures are.

It can only prevail through an aggressive offensive campaign. With 5,000 Americans dead, hundreds of billions of dollars in damage and an ongoing bioterror attack, what sane person could deny that bin Laden - and his network and his supporters - must be eliminated?

Bush, thankfully, understands that.

And, we suspect, so does the rest of America.

To paraphrase Vice President Cheney, the doves have all flown away now.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001