Remembering September 11th

Two towers fell, full of people, killing over 3000 civilians, police, and firefighters in the great American city of New York, changing forever one of the most distinct skylines in the world, and the lives of millions of people around the world. 

What lessons should we take away? 

It seems we might say that the original causes of this tragedy might, on the surface, be as simple as the hatred of wealth and success.  The hatred of freedom and the pursuit of happiness by those outside our borders.  This belief is naive at best, and the height of arrogance and ignorance at worst.    We have to remember what happened before 9/11/2011.  We have to remember our role in the world as a whole before we draw conclusions.  It is important to examine all of the historical facts, and the entire causal history of those two hijacked planes. 

Osama bin-Laden, credited with leading Al-Qaeda, responsible for the attacks on our country on that day was not acting with his own money.  Where did he get the resources?  One explanation was that he got part of his resources from a tyrannical regime in Iraq.  This explanation led us to war, and the deaths of thousands of American soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians.  We know now, much after the fact, that there were no verifiable ties between the Iraq government under Saddam and Al-Qaeda.  There were also no weapons of mass destruction to be found inside those borders. 

Where, then, did these resources come from? 

Back during the cold war, Al-Qaeda received capital and training from, guess who, the United States Government, and were instrumental in driving the Soviet Communists out of Afghanistan.  They received weapons training, insurrection training, and most of the training they implement today in their camps was brought to them by our own government. 

We can say that, simply, it was a small group of individuals that caused the destruction of the Twin Towers.  We would be wrong.  Sometimes the hardest thing to do is accept personal responsibility for horrible occurrences.  This is one time when we have to look inside our borders, and hold those accountable for the role they played.  To do otherwise is a disservice to the families of those who have died in the wake of 9/11, both domestic and foreign.  It is a disservice to those who are now starving and jobless because of the economic effects of the war, as well as the direct effects of war.

What do we do to prevent this from ever happening again?  Is perpetual war against 'Terror' really the answer to our problems?  It seems that war is terrorism, in many ways.  The invasion of foreign territories, the removal of families from their homes, the destruction of personal and public property, any of these things, were it my own home country, would cause me to fight back, why would we think that fighting terror will discourage terrorism rather than promote it? 

God forbid we engage in sound diplomacy, non-interventionism, and sound economic policies at home.  If we did that, our imperialist efforts would fail overseas.  Our wages at home would rise, joblessness would decrease, and overall violence around the world would drop immensely.  War doesn't stop terror, it causes terror.  Once, all we had to worry about were fanatics who had a grudge, either religiously or economically, against our country.  Now we have to worry about sons and husbands who have watched their families ruined picking up arms and fighting back. 
Despite promises to the contrary, military intervention overseas continues to be the norm, and not just in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
Unless the attitude ends, 9/11 will not be the last tragedy that we observe that occurs because of the American Imperialist ideals. 
Until we learn humility, and let others make decisions for themselves, both internationally and domestically, we will continue to suffer.

Judge not lest ye be Judged and found wanting.

I find us wanting. 

That said, my heartfelt condolences to the families that have suffered as a result of 9/11/2011.  Both on the day of, and in the years after.  They in no way deserved their fate, and were casualties in a perpetual war that was never fought in their best interest in the first place.  I can't imagine what it would be like to lose a brother or a father in such an event, but neither can I imagine what it would be like to lose a mother or a sister to an American missile or .223 round.  Neither tragedy is greater than the other, and any life is sacred.  War is horrendous, and helps none except the evil. 


In sadness,

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