http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l%2Fcomponents
3,000 people dead in one fell swoop. Few words can accurately capture this tragedy. I can, however, think of a few words to describe what happened after. Unnecessary. Myopic. Self-destructive. Goaded by fear. Emotional. Wrong.
Ted Koppel put it quite well:
The lives of 19 men and a few hundred thousand dollars goaded us into spending one trillion dollars and four thousand more American lives on two wars that leave us overextended, less safe than before, and in a severe economic crisis. We're also more divided than ever.
The terrorists won. They put in a quarter into the American slot machine and hit the jackpot. The only way we can salvage anything from this is if we, as a nation, start treating each other with respect. The rampant nationalism needs to go away. The racism against Muslims needs to end. Catering to the wealthiest Americans and foreign nationals who do business here has got to cease. Make no mistake, our country was led astray by power hungry corporate interests and ethnocentric nationalists. It's time to set aside our petty differences and join the rest of the developed world in the 21st century.
3,000 people dead in one fell swoop. Few words can accurately capture this tragedy. I can, however, think of a few words to describe what happened after. Unnecessary. Myopic. Self-destructive. Goaded by fear. Emotional. Wrong.
Ted Koppel put it quite well:
Quote:
It did not have to be this way. The Bush administration's initial response was just about right. The calibrated combination of CIA operatives, special forces and air power broke the Taliban in Afghanistan and sent bin Laden and the remnants of al-Qaeda scurrying across the border into Pakistan. The American reaction was quick, powerful and effective -- a clear warning to any organization contemplating another terrorist attack against the United States. This is the point at which President George W. Bush should have declared "mission accomplished," with the caveat that unspecified U.S. agencies and branches of the military would continue the hunt for al-Qaeda's leader. The world would have understood, and most Americans would probably have been satisfied.
The lives of 19 men and a few hundred thousand dollars goaded us into spending one trillion dollars and four thousand more American lives on two wars that leave us overextended, less safe than before, and in a severe economic crisis. We're also more divided than ever.
The terrorists won. They put in a quarter into the American slot machine and hit the jackpot. The only way we can salvage anything from this is if we, as a nation, start treating each other with respect. The rampant nationalism needs to go away. The racism against Muslims needs to end. Catering to the wealthiest Americans and foreign nationals who do business here has got to cease. Make no mistake, our country was led astray by power hungry corporate interests and ethnocentric nationalists. It's time to set aside our petty differences and join the rest of the developed world in the 21st century.
Quote:
Could bin Laden, in his wildest imaginings, have hoped to provoke greater chaos? It is past time to reflect on what our enemy sought, and still seeks, to accomplish -- and how we have accommodated him.
“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”
-Sagan
“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”
-Sagan
