light, gave her the Heimlich four times, but as I could see in the light at the exit, she was still choking and absolutely terror stricken -- as was I. I began to wonder if I had the stones to do an emergency tracheotomy with a pocket knife, and why I no longer carried one -- terrorists were the answer to that one, as all my knifes were long since confiscated by airport security. I knew that nothing could stand between me and my daughter's survival -- not broken ribs and not the frightening idea of making a hole in her throat. With one last titanic squeeze I gave her the Heimlich one last time, and she projectile-vomited all over me. It was the happiest sensation I think I've ever had. She was still terrified, and her chest was sore for days, but the little one was safe and sound. We returned to the movie, but she was afraid to laugh for fear of choking again.

Where was the “oh sh**” factor then? It didn't happen, because I'd mentally rehearsed what I'd do in that moment. Had this happened before everyone was educated on how to do the Heimlich maneuver, that story would have had a tragic ending.

Here's why I think our own leaders suffered the “oh sh**” factor:

• The president continued reading to first graders for nearly ten minutes after the Flight 11 impact.
  
  
• After the first plane hit, the south tower was not evacuated. People returned to their desks and didn't live to regret it.
  
  
• Despite the FAA knowing that a coordinated hijacking was going on, no fighter jets made it to the hijacked flights on time. At supersonic speed, fighter jets could have either forced the hijacked flights down, or destroyed them before they could be used as air-fuel ultra-high energy missiles.

The inertia of the “oh sh**” factor paralyzed the U.S. government in the heat of the moment. The sins of our government happened long before with our lily-livered approach to taking down terrorists.

Unfortunately, having gotten a taste of victory on September 11, the Islamic militants will escalate. The next one will be a nuclear, biological or chemical attack. Why do I make it sound obvious? Because the Islamic militants covet it so much, and they've proved that what they envision, they can make reality. So far in this war, it has been the terrorists who have the advantage of imagination. Today, in America, the term “WMD” is now derided as a mere lie allowing us to topple the Iraqi government. But within half a decade, it will have a different connotation.

How will the bad guys accomplish a nuclear, biological or chemical attack?

Let's turn to a fiction writer for that answer. Imagine if you will an airfreight carrier's freight handlers being conspirators. If a FEDEX or UPS hub were compromised, components of nuclear weapons could be brought into the cargo holds of cargo jets, perhaps packaged in briefcase-sized boxes. Cargo jets could then be compromised by saboteurs. When they took off, the hijackers would wait to take them over until they neared their target cities, then they would enter the cockpits through the avionics bays. A cargo jet heading for JFK Airport in New York would only turn from its glide slope in the last moments of the flight, and then turn toward Manhattan. The assembled nuclear weapon, worked on during the hours of the flight, would be triggered. A half-megaton hydrogen bomb detonated over New York would make the fuel-air explosive kamikaze attack of 9/11 seem minor. In addition to the physical damage, the economic center of the world would be gravely injured. A nuke detonated over Washington would leave our government helpless and scattered. But New York and Washington would not be the only targets. This time, the hurt will be visited upon the heartland and the west coast. Memphis -- Chicago -- Denver -- Cincinnati -- Houston -- San Francisco -- Los Angeles -- and Seattle. Ten 500-kiloton bombs. Ten cities in radioactive ruins. What will the post-nuclear-attack America be like?

We should vow that we'll never have to find out.

How can we fight terrorists like these while preserving the Constitution?

That answer, again, from a fiction writer. We should use the tactics of the enemy against him. Terrorists have triumphed using cells. Each is isolated from the others, and each has little or no command-and-control from centralized authority. And each is funded, given a mission but not the specifics of how to carry out that mission. And therefore, one of them succeeds.

Imagine, then, funding for American cells of volunteers. These cells' mission would be to strike and kill key terrorists by any means they can think of -- any means. The only official connection of these cells to the government would be the funding. Cells could arm up with the latest weapons, ammunition and James Bond gadgets. The budgets for these cells would be hotly debated, but also highly secret. A black program like no others ever conceived. Released to do whatever the cell leaders saw fit, however they saw fit, the cells would be the ultimate weapon. They would be accountable only for the ultimate success on their own timeline. No politicians, no Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee, no bureaucratic meddling or turf battles between the State Department, the FBI, CIA, DIA, NSA or Homeland Security. And no harm to the Constitution of the United States as the Executive Branch worries about overstepping its authority by imprisoning enemy combatants or spying on cell phone calls domestically.

Is that an episode of "Mission Impossible," a bad first draft of a thriller outline, or a recipe for success against men willing to do anything to harm us and destroy our way of life?

I can't help but wonder what our way of life would be like with ten cities in ashes. Is that just a crazy nightmare? Or recognition that a handful of militant anti-American Islamics killed more of us on a September morning than the Russians did in four-and-a-half decades of the Cold War?