NEW YORK MAGAZINE’S MARK HOROWITZ sends this column on defeatism in the war on terror. He also gives me permission to reprint it in full here and to solicit your suggestions for additional items:

May 22, 2002 — “There will be another terrorist attack. We will not be able to stop it. It’s something we all live with.”
– FBI director Robert Mueller, to the National Association of
District Attorneys

IF FBI director Robert Mueller had been in the Green Bay Packers locker room at half time during the first Super Bowl instead of Vince Lombardi: “Boys, we’re gonna get beat and beat bad, and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.”

* If Mueller had delivered the statement to the troops on the eve of D-Day instead of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Men, no matter how well we plan this thing, half of you are gonna die anyway. I wish there was something else I could do. Good luck.”

* If Mueller, not Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, had commanded the 101st Airborne in Bastogne: “To the men and officers of the division: The krauts have got our nuts in a vise. As of 0300 hours, it’s every man for himself.”

* If Mueller had been elected president in 1932 instead of FDR: “We have nothing to fear . . . except this damned depression, which is probably going to destroy everything we hold near and dear.”

* Mueller, if he was at the Battle of Mobile Bay instead of Adm. David Farragut: “Damn! Torpedoes! There’s too many of them. I’m out of here.”

* If Mueller were aboard the Chesapeake instead of Capt. James Lawrence: “Give up the ship!”

* If Mueller delivered the Second Inaugural instead of President Abraham Lincoln: “If the last drop of blood drawn by the lash is answered by one drawn by the sword, the price would simply be too high. It’s time to negotiate.”

* And if Mueller wrote Teddy Roosevelt’s speeches: “Walk softly, and maybe no one will notice you.”

Mark Horowitz is articles editor of New York Magazine.

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