This week, five years after the tragedy of 9/11, must be a time of remembrance, of mourning those who were lost and of sober reflection upon what has happened to us as a nation. In those first few days after the terrorist attack we came together as a nation but, I am afraid, that sense of common purpose and common humanity was replaced quickly by far different emotions: fear, partisanship, and, on some parts, a belief that even tragedy could be exploited for political gain.

In the five years since 9/11 our country has engaged in a war in Iraq that most of us believe was ill-conceived, falsely justified and incompetently planned and executed by those who occupy high political office. Tens of thousands of Americans, allies, and innocent Iraqis have died in the past several years.

Today, Iraq is plagued by sectarian violence, and the Taliban are regaining strength in Afghanistan. Most Americans do not feel safer at home or abroad. Instead, our country is gripped by fear of unknown and unseen terrorists. Travel has become difficult and daily life is no longer what it was just a few years ago.

The sense of hope and belief in a positive future for our country and the world seems much diminished. Trust in government is at a new low. Government secrecy is at an all-time high. Fundamental legal rights are under siege. Americans argue more but listen to each other far less. Is this what our country should be? Is this a fitting memorial to those who died on 9/11 and thereafter?

During World War II, the great leaders of the Western alliance – Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Charles De Gaulle – all told their citizens to be brave, to combat not only fascism but fear. The “greatest generation,” as it has come to be called, fought a long and, at times, desperate war, but did not give in to fear.

Speak to any Londoner who lived through the Blitz and they’ll tell you that they refused to be cowed by Nazi bombs and missiles. Of course, they made changes in their lives to protect themselves, but they refused to give in to fear and their leaders praised them for it.

Can those of us today who must live in this new 9/11 world not do the same? I think that it is time for Americans to stop being afraid. And it is time for the government to stop using fear as a political weapon. Should we be cautious? Yes. But don’t be afraid. Is governmental secrecy necessary in some things? Yes. But not to excess.

Must we change some of our laws to cope with the war on terror and its new strategies? Yes. But we must not accept wholesale abandonment of those liberties which we hold most sacred. And we must have true dialogue about what is necessary. This war – and I believe that it is a war, though different from earlier wars – cannot succeed if Americans are so busy fighting with each other that we cannot fight together against our external foes.

We abandoned partisanship in the early days after 9/11. It is time for us again to come together and have a national dialogue about 9/11 and the war on terror five years after. We must talk openly and without bitterness about what our nation can do about new threats and how far we are willing to go legally, militarily, and politically to win this war. But we must do so together, bravely, and thoughtfully. Only then do we have a chance of truly being victorious.