We all remember 9/11 differently, and we all draw our own lessons. Today, the New York Times, which was at the heart of the journalistic coverage of that horrible day (and its aftermath) 5 years ago, has a powerful editorial entitled simply "9/11/06." I strongly recommend the entire editorial. In the meantime, here's an extended excerpt (bolding added for emphasis):
The time when we felt drawn together, changed by the shock of what had occurred, lasted long beyond the funerals, ceremonies and promises never to forget. It was a time when the nation was waiting to find out what it was supposed to do, to be called to the task that would give special lasting meaning to the tragedy that it had endured.But the call never came. Without ever having asked to be exempt from the demands of this new post-9/11 war, we were cut out. Everything would be paid for with the blood of other people+óGé¼Gäós children, and with money earned by the next generation. Our role appeared to be confined to waiting in longer lines at the airport. President Bush, searching the other day for an example of post-9/11 sacrifice, pointed out that everybody pays taxes.
That pinched view of our responsibility as citizens got us tax cuts we didn+óGé¼Gäót need and an invasion that never would have occurred if every voter+óGé¼Gäós sons and daughters were eligible for the draft. With no call to work together on some effort greater than ourselves, we were free to relapse into a self- centeredness that became a second national tragedy. We have spent the last few years fighting each other with more avidity than we fight the enemy.
When we measure the possibilities created by 9/11 against what we have actually accomplished, it is clear that we have found one way after another to compound the tragedy. Homeland security is half-finished, the development at ground zero barely begun. The war against terror we meant to fight in Afghanistan is at best stuck in neutral, with the Taliban resurgent and the best economic news involving a bumper crop of opium. Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9/11 when it was invaded, is now a breeding ground for a new generation of terrorists.
Listing the sins of the Bush administration may help to clarify how we got here, but it will not get us out. The country still hungers for something better, for evidence that our leaders also believe in ideas larger than their own political advancement.
That last sentence really sums it up for me: a country hungering for "something better" after 9/11, for a call to shared sacrifice, for leadership beyond narrow partisanship or "political advancement," for a shared national purpose post-9/11. Unfortunately, we don't have any of these things, and that is terribly, tragically unfortunate. Instead, the nation is as divided politically as it has ever been, with no real plan for securing our nation against another such attack while simultaneously preserving the very things - liberty, justice for all - that make the nation worth defending in the first place.
Looking back and moving forward, what will we make of that day of infamy? What kind of nation have we become five years after? And what kind of nation will we become five years from now? Those are a few questions I believe worth pondering as we mark the 5-year anniversary of 9/11/01.
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
Over the last week, the White House has been vigorously warning the country what awful things would happen in Iraq if American troops left, while his critics have pointed out how impossible the current situation is. They are almost certainly both right. But unless people on both sides are willing to come up with a plan that acknowledges both truths and accepts the risk of making real-world proposals, we will be stuck in the same place forever.
I couldn't agree more.
2) I'm sure I won't hear you complaining about Rush Limbaugh's spewings on how if we weren't fighting "the terrorists" (as if they're monolithic) "over there" (Iraq, I presume), we'd be fighting them in the streets of Peoria. What a crock.
Wait, page forward.
But keep on pushing false information. It makes your thoughts look weaker.
"Last week it was revealed that a formal review by the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative agency, "had found no damage to the offices of the White House's East or West Wings or EOB" and that Bush's own representatives had reported "there is no record of damage that may have been deliberately caused by the employees of the Clinton administration."
W has really torn us apart.
Really good to remember on a day like today. How one man, the leader of the free world has done so much harm in so little time. W should stand for Whirlwind (or Tornado).
Long before 9/11, the White House debated taking the fight to al-Qaeda. By the time they decided, it was too late. The saga of a lost chance.
Now, read this:
...The proposals [Richard] Clarke developed in the winter of 2000-01 were not given another hearing by top decision makers until late April [2001], and then spent another four months making their laborious way through the bureaucracy before they were readied for approval by President Bush. It is quite true that nobody predicted Sept. 11â€â€that nobody guessed in advance how and when the attacks would come. But other things are true too. By last summer, many of those in the knowâ€â€the spooks, the buttoned-down bureaucrats, the law-enforcement professionals in a dozen countriesâ€â€were almost frantic with worry that a major terrorist attack against American interests was imminent. It wasn't averted because 2001 saw a systematic collapse in the ability of Washington's national-security apparatus to handle the terrorist threat.
What is the character of a person in a position of leadership:
Who listens to an urgent warning from his intelligence agency that Al Qaeda is planning an imminent attack on his country and responds "Okay, you've covered your ass?"
Who scrambles about and comes up primarily with self-serving announcements like "I am now a war president?"
Who puts on a flight suit in order to be a plane jockey landing on aircraft carrier that was held offshore going in circles so he could land on the flight deck under a "Mission Accomplished" banner and get his photo taken?
What are we to make of a leadership which pretends to fight a major war by insisting on a major tax cut (for the very first time in history)?
Such a person is not a true leader. He is a deepluy troubled adolescent, a weak character trying to appear strong, a fake afraid his fakery will be discovered. We have no leadership
Let me simply say, seeing the images on the Today show this morning after watching the (CBS!!) DOCUMENTARY last night about the NYPD and their responses and efforts, I was transported right back to that day emotionally. For like 5 minutes I was not able to not cry. Then, I finally realized that we are 5 years into it. Then I started to remember how, when the good graces, support and love of the World were ours, we (and I mean ALL of us) basically pissed on it.
I am so sad about what happened. But as the Times piece suggests, I am doubly sad about what the events of that day and the last five years have revealed to me about my country, the country I love so much.
We have so much "growing up" as a nation left to do.
So allow me to also say, I remain incredibly optimistic about our future, and firmly believe that Bill Clinton was right when he said these two things:
"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what is right with America."
AND
"The greatest days of this nation remain ahead of us."
So, in addition to my horror at what our response to 9-11 revealed to me, I also choose to remember the love, sacrifice, and inspiration that SO MANY people displayed after 9-11. People walking into fire stations for a month after with baked goods, blankets, toiletries....everything the firefighters needed.
So much of our amazingly generous, loving, and good were also on full display that day.
OK, I don't want to leave things on a pessimistic note.