A COUPLE WEEKS AGO, my colleague Richard Starr had a genius idea: On the morning of September 11, one of the networks should re-air, in full, its original broadcast from a year ago.

Yes, there would be a few embarrassing moments as the anchors reported developments that we now know weren’t true. Yes, it would be painful–perhaps even hurtful–to people who lost friends and loved ones. Yes, it would preclude the broadcast of live memorial events that have been planned. But it would avoid sappiness and melodrama and, with any luck, help stiffen the national spine by reminding us that we are not recovering from a tragedy, we are engaged in a war.