Today is the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. I’d have written something original for the occasion, but unfortunately everything I said last year is still true. Nothing has changed. In fact, things might be getting worse. The most self-interested of our politicians continue to use 9/11 to scare the shit out of a lot of nice, poor people, and the tactic might just convince them to vote against their own best interests for another four years.
What appears below is a slightly updated and amended version of what I wrote one year. I hope that next year I can say something different when I reflect on the eighth anniversary of 9/11.
Seven years ago, nineteen members of the international terrorist organization al-Qaeda–fifteen of them from Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates, one from Egypt, and one from Lebanon–executed a coordinated series of suicide attacks on American targets using hijacked commercial airplanes. According to official reports, events transpired in this way: American Airlines Flight 11 was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, at 8:46 a.m. local time. Almost seventeen minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 was flown into the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Twenty-two minutes later, the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. At 10:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in an open field near Shanksville, PA–150 miles away from Washington–after passengers aware of what was happening on the ground fought to regain control of the plane. Twenty-five minutes later, the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. And, finally, at 5:20 p.m, the 7 World Trade Center building collapsed.
All told, the attacks were responsible for the deaths of 2,994 people, including the hijackers. An additional 24 persons are listed as missing and presumed dead.
In the seven years since this tragic and horrifying event took place, September 11th, 2001, has been mis/used to justify a number of troubling things, including the global “War on Terror” (which former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski credited with promoting a dangerous “culture of fear” in America); the Invasion of Iraq (even though it has been clearly demonstrated that Saddam Hussein had no connection to the event and that his country had no weapons of mass destruction); and the passage of the U.S.A. Patriot Act (which undermines Articles I and IV of the Bill of Rights, and threatens other basic human rights and civil liberties).
Looking back at this event now, I feel sad. We have allowed egregious things to happen in the name of September 11th, 2001–whether they really had anything to do with it or not. We’ve been careless with the memories of those lost on that devastating day. We owe them something better than this.
I remember thinking at the time that September 11th, 2001, might force us all to think more seriously about communication, retributive-versus-restorative justice, and the effects of certain foreign policies. It seems that the opposite happened. We put things in even simpler terms (“they’re evil-doers,” “they hate freedom,” and so on), and waged war against a vaguely described enemy. Rather than sit with our feelings and questions and go from there, we went the impulsive, aggressive, and self-interested route. Furthermore, we allowed some of our supposed leaders–those with extremely dubious motives–to hide behind “9/11″ and its emotional charge, and manipulate us into dangerous, compromising situations.
Things need to change. We can do better. We have to do better.
