The first time I was able to truly absorb the reality of how horrific 9/11 must have been, was when I stood at Ground Zero while visiting New York City 2 months ago. I pictured the planes smashing into the towers and imagined how the scene must have looked like when they started collapsing. It gave me freaky chills and they were NOT nice. That was just my imagination so think about how it must have felt for the others who were there.
My heart goes out to all the victims’ families. I pray that nothing of 9/11’s magnitude ever happens again. I really do but maybe that’s just my wishfull thinking. Has Bush really been able to make America safer? How do you measure success in a war like this where the enemy has no country, no infrastructure or even an actualy base? The war on terror isn’t close to being over. In fact I think we’ve only gotten over with the warm up stage. Do you know why I think that? One word - IRAN.
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
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True and to the point as always, Drima
For some possible answers to your questions, check out shrinkwrapped.blogs.com - and especially http://shrinkwrapped.blogs.com/blog/2006/09/reasons_for_opt_2.html#trackback
A very interesting read.
Drima-
Thanks for the gentle words. I’m glad you were able to visit Ground Zero. I’m from the West Coast and never been East of the Mississippi, so I commend you for your efforts! I was watching the morning news that say (happened to be home from work, ill) and I witnessed the entire thing unfolding live. I’ll certainly never forget it. A recent poll indicates that a higher percentage of US citizens believe that our lives have changed significantly because of 9/11, than had believed it a few years ago.
Raccoon -
Thank you so much for that link to Shrinkwrapped. I read all of it, including Owen’s own blog post AND a commenter’s link to Robert Kaplan’s essay. Most thought-provoking. Much appreciated.
*watching the morning news that DAY* sorry!
Is the world much safer after Bush’s war on terrorism? Ask the children of Bagdad, the peasants of Afghanistan, the workers in Madrid and the bagagge handlers in London Heathrow. And don’t forget the Muslim community in Manchester!
“Bush’s war on terrorism” is a misleading monicker. This is not Bush’s war - this is the war of Islamists against everybody else. Bush just happened to preside over one of the states that were attacked and had the balls to do something about it.
Unfortunately, all too many people appear to be unwilling to understand this simple truth… right to the point when their heads are being sawn off with a dull knife, halal-style.
9-11 was horrific, as you say. What is almost more horrifying is trying to imagine the state of mind of people who could work and plan for months and years to kill thousands of strangers.
Imagine waking up every morning to consider what you will do today, to further the goal of mass murder. Pretty sickening, but there are still people who are doing that, and seem to think it’s OK.
America is safer in several ways: now we are alerted, and are fighting back; and we are looking at people and countries in new ways. We used to be more trusting, but now we do our own translations of things people say in languages other than English, and we are getting new ideas about who our enemies and allies really are.
I agree with you about the “warm-up stage”, unfortunately. People don’t want to be inconvenienced or to sacrifice. I expect it to get worse before it gets better. In Iraq we have seen people starting to inform on terrorists, and until that starts happening wherever they operate, the bombings will go on. Probably more Muslims have been killed by these guys than any other group, worldwide, and whatever their idiot rationale, they are a threat to Muslims most of all, both directly and indirectly.
Some Americans don’t think we have anything worth fighting for. We are learning who they are. Most people in the middle-east do dislike America, but I think much of that is because they are so abused and misinformed. To me they seem to be the most used and manipulated peoples, allowed no voice by the dictators and extremists. So I’m glad when people like you can see that we in the US are just people, like anybody else. I appreciate your efforts to be open-minded - it’s not easy for any of us.
Good questions.
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