Remembering September 11, 2001

It was a day to remember. Still is. More than 3000 lives were lost, mostly American, some foreign visitors or workers on special visas. All innocent. All with private lives. All part of the world. And now the next one.


We marshalled our resolve, cleaned up the sites of the violence. We rebuilt where once buildings stood. We repaired the Pentagon facility as though nothing happened. A field in Ohio now has a somber memorial. The Twin Trade Towers were replaced with a monumental single tower. A memorial now rests on the site of the downed towers.


Yes, we remember. That day. And what has happened since that day.


Our nation responded with resolve. We did not cower and faced the world community as one.

Emotions affected us then and now. In government circles emotions created new programs, new defenses, new protocols, stricter travel screening, and many international policies were altered as a direct result.


A war was begun. In Afghanistan to root out Osama Bin Laden, and his stalwart crew of desert rats. It took years, but we finally found him in Pakistan and killed him. We waged war in Afghanistan and found much to do there, not much of which had anything to do with 9/11. But Americans took on tasks not included in the original call to action and made hash out of the entire mission. Sad but true.

The legitimate government proved illegitimate to the max and greedily absorbed our 100’s of billions of dollars in aid for the wrong purposes. The Taliban grew and prospered and remains today the primary power of the land. We lost the war. France lost it’s war there too, many years ago. Just as Russia lost its horrendous war more recently. Egotists to the core, America thought it could do better but never understood – still doesn’t – what the culture of the place has as power to trump our extravagant military might. Sometimes missiles and guns don’t make much of a difference.

Sometimes the little things of daily routine change the course of history. Very true in Afghanistan.

Derailing those efforts was the nonsense mission of toppling Haddam Hussein in Iraq. We made a mess there and still don’t understand the political power of triple headed religious culture in the region. So, that effort was a failure as well. There is more to show for our money, lost military lives and horrendous disabled bodies of our military force, but remember that maybe a million or more Iraqi’s lost there lives, their homes, their families, there everything.


At least $2 trillion of our taxpayer money was spent for very little. There are those who argue a third trillion dollars should be added to the total. And still the infamy of our policies live on in the region accomplishing very little.


Yes, I remember 9/11. There are two events to recall. First is the hideous attack on 9/11/2001; second are the costly follies good people mistakenly authorized for world peace. They didn’t succeed. Neither did we. World peace seems more elusive these days.


Time to try a different approach, don’t you think?


September 12, 2019