9-11: A Decade Later

The question has become almost a cliché:

“Where were you on 9-11?”

Sadly, there is no need to qualify with the follow-up question: “Which year?” Although 9-11 happens every year, the force of a decade has not diminished the 9-11 of 2001, where not only the United States—but the entire world—was changed forever.

Here is a short tribute video:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDh_pvv1tUM

Everyone knows where they were—and exactly the specific things they did on that fateful day. Watching the 10th anniversary coverage has alarmingly brought to the surface the same emotions we experienced a decade ago. It is still difficult to view the footage of the twin towers coming down—and the uncertainty evident in the voices of all those news people whom we entrust daily to reassure us. No one was reassured on that day.

Perhaps it is true to say that we haven’t felt totally safe since.

So, what has happened in the ten years since the attack?

Although we used Al Qaeda as the reason for attacking two countries, intelligence experts have estimated the total “membership” of that terrorist organization to have been no more than one thousand—and likely much less at the time of the attack.

The entire force and might of the United States of America was deployed to find and destroy “weapons of mass destruction” (which apparently didn’t exist) and to destroy both the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Much of the former was wiped out within a month of entering Afghanistan—and much of the Al Qaeda destruction has been credited to targeted strikes by U.S. Special Forces, drone attacks and covert intelligence—as opposed to ground troops stationed within the borders of suspected countries harboring the bad guys.

Two wars still rage on. Thousands of lives—American men and women, civilians and non-combatants are the cost---so far. Billions upon billions of dollars. And there are those who state we are no safer now than we were in 2001.

It’s not unpatriotic to question the strategy—and response to 9-11. It certainly isn’t today, with ten years in the rear view mirror. I do believe that some of those who opposed this strategy a decade ago were accused of being unpatriotic. Unfortunate.

I sometimes wonder what the world would be like if we had decided NOT to strike back in the manner we did. If, instead of deploying tens of thousands of troops and engaging in the “shock and awe” campaign (remember that?), we had taken a more measured response, namely:

1) The aforementioned targeted Special Forces attacks-like the ones we employed to find and kill Osama Bin Laden, and
2) A focus more on the internal threats—not just airports, but bridges, rail and mass transportation, our water supply and electric grid (all of which except airports are said to still be extremely vulnerable)


Had this course of action been taken, the following landscape would be likely:

A) Saddam Hussein would still be in power—and would still be a threat to the world
B) Thousands of American families would not have an empty seat at the dinner table.
C) Our economy would likely not be in such fragile shape.
D) Our National Debt would be much smaller
E) Our internal security would be better—as resources employed for warfare would instead have been diverted to domestic security


Would we have been better off?

Hard to say, as we could never predict the behavior of Saddam Hussein. I can’t help but think that we would have been better off—and stronger as a country—to not respond in the way we did.

My oldest son was 12 years old at the time. Had there been a draft-as was the case in Viet Nam, it is amazing to think that the wars that came out of that one day could have resulted in his deployment to combat six years later. Here we are a decade later—and now, my youngest son—who was one year old on 9-11----could be a soldier should this pair of wars extend another seven years. Unbelievable as it is, that thought occurs to me often.

We cannot take back the events that have unfolded in the ten years since 9-11. We can, however, honor the lives of the victims of that terrible day—and all those who have given their lives since----by resolving to approach future attacks with a response that is measured and appropriate.

As the saying goes: “War never determines who is right, just who is left”.

God bless the victims of 9-11 and their families—and God Bless the U.S.A.



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