Gephardt- Nation's soldiers set for duty

AFFTON, Mo. -- Ashley Lipham is just 16, a high school junior in suburban St. Louis and keenly aware that her generation has never faced the prospect of war, let alone fighting one.

So when Rep. Dick Gephardt, her congressman and the House Minority Leader, stopped in to speak with her class Monday, six days after terrorist attacks on New York and Washington killed thousands, her question was admittedly one of innocence.

"We're scared," Lipham said. "How do we handle that knowing that maybe in a few years, we could be the ones fighting?"

Gephardt assured Lipham that another draft wasn't in anyone's plans, even as President Bush and his administration predict a long, drawn-out war against terrorists and the nations that harbor them. The country's professional soldiers, he said, are ready for duty.

"I don't think that's going to be expected of you," Gephardt said. "But you shouldn't be afraid and I know that's easy for me to say. But we can't live in fear. That's what they want. That is the thing they want."

Gephardt, who said he's been in meetings with Bush administration officials and members of both the House and Senate almost constantly since Tuesday's attacks, played the role of comforter Monday at Affton High School.

His message clear, Gephardt urged the students not to jump to any conclusions about who might have committed last week's attacks and remain committed to a school pledge rejecting violence.

'Inside job'

But above all, he said, students and Americans can't let the terrorists win by becoming a country that lives in fear. That's not something that will come easy, considering the nature of the attacks, Gephardt conceded.

"This was an inside job," Gephardt said. "They used our resources to attack us."

In response to one question, Gephardt said he admired how the nation's young people have rallied in support of the those killed in the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "I think there has been a resurgence in patriotism and I don't think it's going away anytime soon," he said.

It's a feeling shared by Ike Howdeshell, 17, a junior at the school.

"I just think that if we're united, I think we're going to be OK, but if we divide, we don't have a chance," Howdeshell said. "Terrorism won't win in the U.S., not when everybody is as strong as we are.

"You can just tell that everyone is willing to do something, even though we don't know the people in New York, we will help them because they are our brothers and sisters," Howdeshell said.

Avenging those brothers and sisters was on the mind of several students, including Jeff Edwards, 16, who asked Gephardt what he knew about the Bush administration's plans to retaliate against Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden. But Gephardt cautioned Edwards and the other students not to jump to conclusions about who is responsible for the attacks.

"We have a lot of evidence and a lot of experience with the bin Laden organization and we have a lot of reason to suspect that they were involved in this is some way," Gephardt said. "But we are not sure yet and before we act, we want to be sure. We want to know what we are doing, and who we are going after and why we're going after them."