On the morning of September 11, 2001 I was awoken to reports of a plane flying into one of the towers in downtown New York. America was under attack and our planes were the ammo. At the end of the day a plane went down in Pennsylvania, another struck the Pentagon and two more had taken down the towers that comprised the World Trade Center. Each target, minus Pennsylvania, had a special symbolic meaning. The Pentagon is the center of our national defense system, hitting this building and having it crumble to the ground was to foresee the demise of our armed forces. The World Trade Center was the center of the world for capitalism and taking down these towers was symbolic of the fall of capitalism.Sadly thousands upon thousands of American lives were lost on this fateful day. Affecting the lives of millions across the country; from the families of the dead, to the rescue workers and on to the members of our armed forces thrust into war. Eight years later we are still feeling the direct effect from those attacks. Although it seems we have given up on our search for the man responsible for the attacks, our troops remain overseas. Instead they are in Iraq and Afghanistan waging war for the freedoms and liberties that were threatened by the attacks.
Now this post is not serving as a tribute or memorial, nor am I writing this to call into question the decisions made by our administration. Instead I am posting this to say what our national pride forbids us to admit. And what having to be 'politically correct' forces us to keep mum about. And that is that 9/11 was a success. Not because of all the lives lost, to the high-jackers and others responsible there were merely collateral damage. But because of what was attacked, the symbols, and the state of our nation today.
The Pentagon was attacked to foresee our armed forces' demise. Now think about when our nation's defense system has ever been so weak? Already in two wars, with a limited number of soldiers, what is can our nation do if another conflict arises? Would we as a public all suddenly become patriotic enough again to fight? If your answer is yes, then why aren't you overseas? Our troops need people like you now, seeing as thousands of lives have already been lost. The World Trade Center was attacked because of what it meant. Though not for the first time, it was the obviously the most successful attempt. Eight years later and mired in a recession that may as well be a depression and I can't help but think, wow. Wow those terrorists really did it, they shook the foundation of capitalism and helped in causing an economic crash to world's most powerful nation.
I am proud to be an American and after calling us the world's most powerful nation, I clearly believe in America. What I am not proud of nor can I believe is that eight years ago we let terrorists weaken our defenses and send our economy spiraling towards its current state.
1 comment:
I understand what you're saying, and to an extent I agree. My only argument is that your judgement is a tad premature for a couple reasons. It has only been 8 years, thus I believe it is still to early to judge the whether or not 9/11 was a successful operation for Al-Queda. For example, it was widely believed that Pearl Harbor was a success for Japan, and after 3 years, objectively it seemed to be true. Japan dominated the Pacific Ocean throughout much of the war.
But what won the war for the US ultimately was the home war effort, the ability to outproduce and rebuild on the homefront. And the men and women who were able to boost wartime production were heavily motivated by a strong hatred of the Japanese because of what happened at Pearl harbor.
What I'm saying is, Pearl Harbor stifled and stunned us for a minute, but what it really did was wake up a sleeping giant in industry and military efficiency. Everything that hurt us at Pearl harbor was revisited upon Japan 10 fold by the wars end.
So pearl Harbor was not a success.
The war on terror is not over. It is an unconventional war so it will take longer to distinguish that which we can quantify and debate whether it is a success or a failure. 9/11 dealt a crippling blow to our national security, economy, and even our piece of mind and instilled a fear of the Muslim world. but in the same way, I believe it may have awakened a sleeping giant. I could be wrong, most data we have ascertained tells us that the war on terror is closer to being a wash right now whether than a success or failure....but more time is needed to tell.
As far as 9/11 goes, it's a success in the Muslim extremist world for now, but it may not be remembered that way,...just like pearl harbor
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