Business was bad and Charlie needed something new to perk things up. He knew that his company wasn't the only one suffering. This was not a local issue, he felt; it was a matter of national importance and the nation needed strong leadership. Fortunately, it was there. Charlie found inspiration and strong direction in President Bush, a great leader who spoke with great sincerity and authority.

The leadership qualities were obvious in the president's unhesitating response to the threat of an imminent Iraqi attack with weapons of mass destruction. And Mr. Bush knew exactly where those weapons were located and when they were to be launched.

As it turns out, he was very wrong. But how would it look for a president to say he was misled by faulty intelligence?

Now, we know that after a four-month search, no illicit weapons were found. As a mark of his leadership and resilience, President Bush demanded that we keep looking, regardless of the cost in dollars and in soldiers being killed every day. Once again, President Bush refused to be sidetracked by trivia.

Despite encountering considerable anti-American hostility and gunfire and despite the president's early assurance that our troops would be welcomed with strewn flowers, President Bush kept pushing ahead, even if, repeatedly, he had to modify his message and pretend that yesterday's guidelines were never uttered.

This was true national leadership that Charlie could follow on a local level. So the promises that Charlie gave to customers, shareholders and staff could simply be ignored, just as we can pay no heed to the president's early assurance that "We have them on the run."

Yet we must continue the battle to protect our nation against the threats of international terrorism and the dangers to homeland security. Fortunately, though there may be a bit of delay, the task appears to have fallen to retired Vice Admiral John M. Poindexter, a great and strong leader, who was to develop a massive database of information on every American-including almost every aspect of personal and private information. The Senate has blocked funding for this operation, but nobody knows what the future will bring and we can be comforted in the knowledge that Poindexter comes with great credentials.

Now, it is true that Poindexter lost his job as national security advisor under President Ronald Reagan and was convicted of conspiracy, lying and destroying evidence-all as a result of his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal.

But, who among us comes with a scrupulously clean background? Thankfully, Charlie mused, we are blessed with strong leaders who, we are assured, will pull us out of our current mess.

Yes, the penalty is a daily death toll and massive costs. But war is war.

George Rostky (g_rostky@hotmail.com) is editor emeritus of EE Times.