In New York, a wait for the truth

It will take days, perhaps weeks, to determine whether a deadly attack Tuesday by a truck driver plowing into people on a riverfront bike path in New York City was a calculated madness organized at the highest levels of a terrorist organization or the act of a lone wolf.

Americans are at this moment focusing mainly on the victims, their families and the survivors, some of whom were seriously injured. But there is on the minds of most a gut-level fear that the attack might have been the work of terrorists inclined to engage in more such attacks and encouraged to do so by the Islamic State. This one, with eight people killed immediately and 11 seriously injured, was a horror indeed.

And, the driver – wounded but expected to live – allegedly left a note referring to ISIS. He was identified as an immigrant from Uzbekistan, a 29-year-old named Sayfullo Saipov, reportedly to have come to the United States legally in 2010. The attacker was reported to have shouted “God is great” in Arabic before he crashed.

Americans have seen attacks elsewhere, and to be sure there is no false sense of security that this country has won the battle against terrorism. This killer might indeed be part of the larger, organized campaign of destruction dictated by the Islamic State. But at this point, investigations will properly go down all roads and consider as well the prospect that this was the brainchild and the work of one demented individual.

The United States has, since 9/11, taken greater security measures than ever before, particularly in airports, and New York City has been vigilant, given its reputation as the heart of America’s business and cultural life. But in a free country, it remains a harsh but inescapable truth that there is no such thing as absolute safety. Those determined to harm other people for any reason or for no reason other than hate, can do so.

It’s important, however, for investigators to proceed in this case with an eye toward getting to the absolute reasons for the attack and to find out as much information as they can that might lead them to others with similar plans.

The diversity of the victims – one from Belgium, others from Argentina who were celebrating an anniversary of their school graduation, others students on a bus rammed by the driver of the vehicle of destruction — showed as one news report said the “melting pot” nature of New York. Indeed, America glories in its diversity, something that dates to the country’s welcoming of immigrants to Ellis Island, immigrants who grew families and made this a nation of immigrants and their descendants.

That is America’s pride, and it is not to be diminished by one horrific act by one person. Terrorism, whether defined as the act of one person working alone or an orchestrated effort led by someone named bin Laden, has no place in civilization here or anywhere else. And Americans, all those descended from people who landed on these shores in hope and ambition 100 or more years ago, will not rest until their can stand by that promise to their children.

This story was originally published November 1, 2017 at 10:40 AM with the headline "In New York, a wait for the truth."