I remember where I was six years ago today. Jeff and I were just waking up to our talk radio alarm clock when the announcer asked the guy in the traffic helicopter how long he would be able to stay in the air. The helicopter guy said that all airports had been put on lock down. Jeff jumped out of bed, turned on the television, and we watched in disbelief as the plane hit the second tower. The rest of the day was spent dealing with the reality of what had just happened. It was amplified for me, because I was working at The Museum of Flight at that time. Our Museum was located in front of Boeing Field, and for the next two weeks the only planes that flew were military, or private jets donated by local millionaires to the Red Cross for supply flights back East.
I would like to sit here at this time and talk about positive things that have emerged out of this terrible tragedy, but I can’t, because not a damn good thing came out of this. We were united as a nation for a little while. One of the first flights I took after 9/11 was amazing. Strangers from every background you could imagine were making great conversation with others around them. I sat in between a young California State trooper and a traveling photographer, and enjoyed the talk. At the time, everyone needed it. We needed to know that those on our left or right were on the same page and willing to put forth the effort to re-assure their brethren that all was well.
Unfortunately, this unity that formed in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy was manipulated, abused, and stomped on by greedy politicians and corporate war profiteers who used our need to feel safe for their own selfish gain. Bush and Company won the election by playing to our fears, yet they have never done a thing since the tragedy to ease them. We are at war with a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, other than applaud it. We now have to practically strip down to our skivvies at the airport in order to take a flight. Mothers have to surrender their children’s formula or breast milk at the checkpoint or be delayed with seven kinds of hell. We have given the government the right to wiretap our phones and houses, hold us under arrest indefinitely, and violate most of our personal rights in the name of security. However, they have consistently failed to provide adequate security.
We are no safer now than we were six years ago, and the difference today is that we are in far more danger. The country we should have gone after with the terrorist mastermind who plotted 9/11 has been virtually untouched. The Taliban is still in power, and the poppy industry (i.e. heroin) is booming there. The country swallowing all of our military, money, and energy has become a cesspool of sectarian violence and has already turned into our next Vietnam. It has also served as fertile training ground for those who hate the U.S. to become more efficient at killing us. We are no longer seen as the world’s ally, we are now the bully in the schoolyard.
What is even more frightening is the fact that Osama bin Laden has never been caught, and will never be caught, not because our military is too incompetent to find him, but because our politicians need bin Laden. Without bin Laden they can’t get us to live in fear, surrender our freedom, or keep funding the war machine that makes them rich. Losing bin Laden would be losing that ‘bear in the woods’. He has become the boogeyman under the bed, the Snowball in Animal Farm. Even the latest video message, supposedly from bin Laden, looks like a farce perpetrated to keep us at ‘war with Eurasia, because we have always been at war with Eurasia.’
I wish like hell that 9/11 would have never happened, but it did. What I wanted to see come from it was the perseverance that I know this country is capable of and it did, for awhile. Now what I would like to see from us all is a quest for honesty, truth, and the determination to get the manipulators, war profiteers, and crooked politicians out of positions of power. Next 9/11, I would like to be able to write about the way our country pulled together, gave the government hacks a good kick in the ass, forced the re-investment into the infrastructure, and did away with the ‘bin Laden is watching’ myth. Next year, I truly believe we can kill Snowball and end the war with Eurasia.
3 comments:
Bin Laden's good for comedy value. He lives in a cave and he's dyed his beard? Distinctly odd.
I was watching an old movie when 9/11 kicked off. The movie was crap. I've always wished the movie hadn't been interrupted. Then it wouldn't have happened.
My daughter was on a tube on a school trip when the London bombs went off. I phoned her and her teacher took the mobile, listened to me, and turned the kids around and took them back to school.
Wow, you guys get/got up early. We were fast asleep, awakened by a call from my future mother-in-law.
I too can't believe it's been six years, we haven't caught Bin Laden, crippled the Taliban, or lessened the risk of a terrorist attack. Personally I feel LESS safe every time I fly. All the effort spent harassing nice guys with 3 oz bottles of liquid and tubes of toothpaste but not a one quart plastic bag could actually be spend finding the bad guys.
Some good has come of this though. The Republican party has proven that not only is it incompetent and corrupt, but it's out of touch with the people of America. People may be blind to other faults, but the main appeal of Bush vs. Gore or Kerry was "he's a guy like me" and clearly very few people feel this way. We saw the shift in the 2006 elections and we'll see a bigger shift in 2008 (not sure how many relevant offices are up for election this year). I suspect it will be a long time before "moderate" America can check the box next to "Republican".
No safer now than then? I'd say we're all less safe. And that's before you add in all the BS our govts use to keep us scared. Man, it's not great, that's for sure...
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