Topic: War On Terror
September 11, 2009...Eight Years and Counting How our lives have changed since September 11, 2001by Raven West, J.D.
(libertarian)
Friday, September 11, 2009
On the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our country, every blogger and news anchor will be contemplating how this one event has changed our lives. This columnist is no exception.
On September 10. 2001 we were a strong, confident nation. We had pride in our country, we had joy in our work, we had love for our family and friends. We could go to directly to the airline gate to meet visitors, and we could walk though security without being treated like a felon.
Then, the planes crashed into three buildings and the ground, and suddenly everything changed.
Eight years after the destruction of the Twin Towers, it is still an empty hole in the ground. Eight years after we identified the leader of the terrorist "gang", he remains a free man.
Eight years of continued lives lost, billions spent on two wars we can not win, and we're still no where near peace.
There is no need for another attack. The terrorist do not need to blow up any other buildings.
They've succeeded beyond they're wildest dreams in doing what no other enemy of our country has ever been able to do; destroy the very foundation on which our country was built.
We've lost our freedom to travel by air without being stripped searched. We've our right to due process, to protection against warrant-less wiretaps and turned our beliefs of right and wrong have become blurred when it comes to basic human rights, including torture.
And what we are is angry. From tea party marches, to town hall chaos, to twitters, bloggers and nasty comments, and on every cable news program 24/7, we have turned our anger and frustration, not on those who attacked us, or those who lied to us, or those who have kept us in a war with no end, but on each other.
Eight years with no end in sight, and since it is "un-American" to demand an end to this ill- advised invasion, we turn our anger instead on issues that the media will pay attention to; Obama's birth certificate and Michael Jackson's early demise.
Imagine how strong we would be today as a nation, if we had used our resources over the past eight years to strengthen our borders and rebuild the Twin Towers.
When then President George W. Bush declared "mission accomplished" and that we would soon be back to "normal", he lied. We are so far from where we were on Sept 10, I'm not sure we'll ever be able to go back to "normal".
Our country is angry. Our country is frustrated. Our country does not believe anything our government says.
How many more lives will be sacrificed in this never ending war? How many more Sept 11 anniversaries will we be celebrating in front of an empty whole in the ground? How many more years will it take for us to return to "normal"?
Never forget? We've already forgotten.
On the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our country, every blogger and news anchor will be contemplating how this one event has changed our lives. This columnist is no exception.
On September 10. 2001 we were a strong, confident nation. We had pride in our country, we had joy in our work, we had love for our family and friends. We could go to directly to the airline gate to meet visitors, and we could walk though security without being treated like a felon.
Then, the planes crashed into three buildings and the ground, and suddenly everything changed.
Eight years after the destruction of the Twin Towers, it is still an empty hole in the ground.
Eight years after we identified the leader of the terrorist "gang", he remains a free man.
Eight years of continued lives lost, billions spent on two wars we can not win, and we're still no where near peace.
There is no need for another attack. The terrorist do not need to blow up any other buildings.
They've succeeded beyond they're wildest dreams in doing what no other enemy of our country has ever been able to do; destroy the very foundation on which our country was built.
We've lost our freedom to travel by air without being stripped searched. We've lost our right to due process, we're lost our Constitutional protection against warrant-less wiretaps and turned our beliefs of right and wrong have become blurred when it comes to basic human rights, including torture.
And what we are is angry. From tea party marches, to town hall chaos, to twitters, bloggers and nasty comments, and on every cable news program 24/7, we have turned our anger and frustration, not on those who attacked us, or those who lied to us, or those who have kept us in a war with no end, but on each other.
Eight years with no end in sight, and since it is "un-American" to demand an end to this ill- advised invasion, we turn our anger instead on issues that the media will pay attention to; Obama's birth certificate and Michael Jackson's early demise.
Imagine how strong we would be today as a nation, if we had used our resources over the past eight years to strengthen our borders and rebuild the Twin Towers.
When then President George W. Bush declared "mission accomplished" and that we would soon be back to "normal", he lied. We are so far from where we were on Sept 10, I'm not sure we'll ever be able to go back to "normal".
Our country is angry. Our country is frustrated. Our country does not believe anything our government says.
How many more lives will be sacrificed in this never ending war? How many more Sept 11 anniversaries will we be celebrating in front of an empty hole in the ground? How many more years will it take for us to return to "normal"?
Never forget? We've already forgotten.
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The views expressed in this
article are those of Raven West, J.D. only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Raven West, J.D. is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
You don't mention any names, so I am a little confused.
By "the leader of the terrorist 'gang'," did you mean George W. Bush? If that is the case, you are wrong. Bush, Cheney, the neo-cons, et al, were just the pawns in the hands of the true terrorists. Unfortunately, they are still at large and living in the U.S.A.
On the other hand, allowing terrorists to go unmolested seems to be a tradition as American as apple pie. What happened to the terrorists who ordered the blowing up of the Maine battleship? Or the terrorists who allowed the Germans to sink the Lusitania, or the ones who provoked the Japanese and then turned their backs to allow them bomb Pearl Harbor?
So, don't hold your breath. Unless we the people decide to take justice in our own hands American style, the true terrorist leaders will go unmolested as free men while our freedom is furhter eroded every day.
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