Six years after

WASHINGTON — There isn’t going to be a scandal over broadband networking here; the technology is passé in this American capital.

In most hotels, including where I’m staying near the White House, foreign visitors are frustrated by the absence of Internet cafés. Locals probably figure that the investment isn’t worth it since wireless Internet connection is ubiquitous. Just sit in the park with your laptop and you can connect to cyberspace. High-speed wireless Internet service is free in many hotels — a problem for foreigners with earlier-generation laptops that are not wi-fi enabled.

Only a few weeks after 9/11, I was a visitor here, and my laptop connected to the Internet in my hotel room through dial-up. This rapid technological obsolescence must be borne in mind by those who are still pushing for a multimillion-dollar broadband network despite the ZTE scandal.

The Americans are even now looking at new technology that will leap past wi-fi and the current satellite-based access to cyberspace to make Internet connectivity faster, easier and more affordable. The technology can revolutionize Internet access for impoverished communities. It will also improve information-gathering and networking between the US government and its army of soldiers, diplomats and aid workers around the world, many of whose functions intertwine as America continues to wage its global war on terror.

The United States remains a nation at war. But six years after the attacks on Sept. 11, Americans have learned to live with the constant threat of mass annihilation.

Last Friday, on the eve of a long weekend to celebrate Columbus Day, there was a bomb threat at the Department of Labor. Locals have grown used to such threats. A tourist guide told me that years after 9/11, there were still too many bomb hoaxes here. This year has seen the least number of bomb threats, she said.

Ubiquitous wi-fi is just one of the many new features in this capital. The Americans are using their technological superiority to ferret out the enemy and preempt attacks in an asymmetrical war.

The long lines for airport security checks are gone, and immigration authorities are vastly more friendly to foreigners (okay, not to all). But separate x-ray checks for shoes and belts together with laptops are now standard security procedures before boarding. All visitors must leave biometric identification records at their port of entry, through fingerprinting and eye scanning.

Profiling, it seems, is unavoidable. One of the 12 participants in our five-week journalism fellowship, a Jordanian, was detained for two hours upon his arrival at Dulles International Airport here and questioned in detail about his visit — the only one to experience this in our group. He also had the biggest problem getting a US visa, followed by the participant from Zimbabwe.

I noticed signs at Dulles International informing passengers about “multi-faith chapels” where Christians, Muslims and Jews can spend moments in contemplation.

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The last time I was in this capital there was a huge, horrible gash in the Pentagon, flowers and letters for those who died in the attack were piled high on a grassy knoll across the road, and our meeting with several lawmakers was scrapped because an anthrax scare had shut down Capitol Hill.

Now structures and lives have been rebuilt, though things can never be the same again. Last Sunday as we looked across the Potomac from Arlington Cemetery, the Netherlands Carillon played the Star-Spangled Banner and it came off sounding mournful.

The view at twilight across the river was serene, although it would have been lovelier if the trees were showing fall colors. But freak weather, possibly due to global warming, is confusing the trees. It’s warmer here, believe it or not, than in Manila — humid and warm even late in the evening, and the high temperature is expected to persist throughout the week. The leaves are still green, and locals are speculating that when the cool of autumn finally sets in, the leaves will simply fall off without changing colors.

Americans have sufficiently gotten used to their state of war that they can focus on other things such as global warming. But the war still dominates national life and public debate, especially with the presidential election a year away.

Over the weekend US President George W. Bush was busy insisting that he did not condone torture as part of interrogation methods in the war on terror. As you can see, it’s not just the Philippine president who likes military secrets to remain a secret.

The Bush administration also initially fudged the body count among American soldiers deployed in Iraq. Our tourist guide recounted that the White House was forced to come clean only after journalists exposed the story. How did the journalists find out? Tourist guides who visited Arlington regularly noticed that the number of soldiers killed in Iraq who were being buried in the cemetery was far higher than the figures being released by the White House. The guides discussed the matter and decided to alert the press.

This is a society that takes good care of its soldiers and makes sure the war dead are not forgotten. Washington is dotted with memorials and museums dedicated to those who died in the many wars that built this nation: the war for independence, the Civil War, Vietnam, Korea, Iwo Jima.

The latest addition is the World War II Memorial, finished in 2004, where one of the more than 50 pillars represents the Philippines. Our guide was surprised to learn that the Philippines was a US territory during the war, and for half a century before that. This was not taught in their history lessons, she said.

9/11 also made the notoriously insular Americans look beyond the water’s edge and take notice of other cultures. Technology is helping along in this department, with cyberspace and cable TV turning the world into a global village.

History will judge whether the world has become safer six years after 9/11. But societies are learning more about each other, and gaining a better understanding of their differences.