9-11 2001 Part Three: The nation gears up for war

On September 14, 2001 President Bush asked Rumsfeld to open the cabinet meeting with a prayer. Not one to wear his religion on his "sleeve," Rumsfeld did open the meeting with a prayer. That prayer can be found in his book Known and Unknown.

On that same day a joint session of Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists:

authorizing the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the attacks on September 11, 2001. The authorization granted the President the authority to use all "necessary and appropriate force" against those whom he determined "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the September 11th attacks, or who harbored said persons or groups. The AUMF was signed by President George W. Bush on September 18, 2001.

Only one member of Congress voted against the Authorization: Barbara Lee of California.

Rumsfeld became increasingly uneasy with the war being called The War on Terror. He wanted it to be called something like The Struggle Against Islamic Extremists. He knew this was not going to need to be just a military war. It needed to involve all agencies of government, and all the people of the United States.

The conservative blogosphere has remained true to that goal.