The triumph of American values

After 11 September America knows who the enemy is, says Mark Steyn. There can be no more polite fictions. Moral clarity and the Bush doctrine of pre-emption now govern world affairs

New Hampshire

September 11 was the day everything changed. Everyone said so, and some still do. This Wednesday, CBS’s special commemoration will be called ‘The Day That Changed America’. Fox, slightly less passive, has gone with ‘The Day America Changed’. But the best proof that nothing has changed are the networks’ day-that-everything-changed specials themselves. The other day I warned against the Dianafication of 11 September. But I was too late. Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Connie Chung and the rest of the all-star sob-sisters will be out in force with full supporting saccharine piano accompaniment. The most disturbing footage – the planes slicing through the building, 200 people jumping to their deaths, the thud of bodies landing on the lobby roof – will not be shown.