Recently I saw a meme on Facebook about Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon and the White House (of course, the last one never made it, the plane used being brought down about an hour east of Pittsburgh). The meme noted that, at least that day, we were “unified” as a nation regardless of race or ethnicity, religion or social class, that we were all Americans.
But we need to remember one thing: Such “unity” from the start was contrived. And, as things turned out, the attacks later proved to be preventable.
We now know that the terrorist attacks resulted from an intelligence failure on the part of the administration of George W. Bush, most notably Condoleezza Rice of the National Security Agency. We know this because the Clinton Administration had compiled over the years a lengthy dossier on al-Qaeda, the organization that carried them out, and, upon leaving the White House, handed it to Bush, who ended up dropping the ball because of his singular focus on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who, he said, “tried to kill my dad.”
Indeed, the Weekly Standard magazine published a piece suggesting a link between al-Qaeda and Saddam, so we sent troops into Iraq based on that. Trouble is, anyone with even a cursory knowledge of politics in that part of the world understood that Saddam and Osama bin Laden were mortal enemies, and the part of Iraq out of which al-Qaeda was supposedly operating Saddam didn’t even control. (Afghanistan? Well, that was understandable, because that's where bin Laden was possibly hiding out.)
We also need to remember that what happened in 2001 was in fact “finishing the job.” The first WTC bombing took place just months after Bill Clinton was inaugurated, so, according to Al Franken's book “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them,” Clinton had not one but two counter-terrorism measures passed — over the objection of his Republican critics — and foiled a dozen or so al-Qaeda attacks during his time as president, including a planned blowup of the Los Angeles airport at midnight on 12/31/99, in the process.
Further, such would have never happened had Al Gore been president, as James Carville, in his book “Love and War” that he wrote with wife Mary Matalin, noted that Gore was “anal” about such matters — which would have been good because had Gore or any other Democrat been president we'd have never heard the end of it, from right-wing talk radio to the politicians out for blood and likely calling for impeachment. So in that context, that display of “patriotism” after 9/11 couldn't have been but partisan.
A few have published a meme that Muslims committed the acts, insinuating that Islam is by definition evil and should be subjected to unusual scrutiny. It should be noted, however, that President Trump's ban on Muslims entering the country wouldn't have stopped this, as all but four of the hijackers immigrated legally from Saudi Arabia — which is not on the list of countries from which folks couldn't come in, likely because he has business dealings there.
This is what happens when you try to seek some sense of unity without addressing things that are wrong. Yesterday, the 18th anniversary, a number of people posted memes saying, “Never forget,” which I understand. But that would also apply to how we got there in the first place.
But we need to remember one thing: Such “unity” from the start was contrived. And, as things turned out, the attacks later proved to be preventable.
We now know that the terrorist attacks resulted from an intelligence failure on the part of the administration of George W. Bush, most notably Condoleezza Rice of the National Security Agency. We know this because the Clinton Administration had compiled over the years a lengthy dossier on al-Qaeda, the organization that carried them out, and, upon leaving the White House, handed it to Bush, who ended up dropping the ball because of his singular focus on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who, he said, “tried to kill my dad.”
Indeed, the Weekly Standard magazine published a piece suggesting a link between al-Qaeda and Saddam, so we sent troops into Iraq based on that. Trouble is, anyone with even a cursory knowledge of politics in that part of the world understood that Saddam and Osama bin Laden were mortal enemies, and the part of Iraq out of which al-Qaeda was supposedly operating Saddam didn’t even control. (Afghanistan? Well, that was understandable, because that's where bin Laden was possibly hiding out.)
We also need to remember that what happened in 2001 was in fact “finishing the job.” The first WTC bombing took place just months after Bill Clinton was inaugurated, so, according to Al Franken's book “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them,” Clinton had not one but two counter-terrorism measures passed — over the objection of his Republican critics — and foiled a dozen or so al-Qaeda attacks during his time as president, including a planned blowup of the Los Angeles airport at midnight on 12/31/99, in the process.
Further, such would have never happened had Al Gore been president, as James Carville, in his book “Love and War” that he wrote with wife Mary Matalin, noted that Gore was “anal” about such matters — which would have been good because had Gore or any other Democrat been president we'd have never heard the end of it, from right-wing talk radio to the politicians out for blood and likely calling for impeachment. So in that context, that display of “patriotism” after 9/11 couldn't have been but partisan.
A few have published a meme that Muslims committed the acts, insinuating that Islam is by definition evil and should be subjected to unusual scrutiny. It should be noted, however, that President Trump's ban on Muslims entering the country wouldn't have stopped this, as all but four of the hijackers immigrated legally from Saudi Arabia — which is not on the list of countries from which folks couldn't come in, likely because he has business dealings there.
This is what happens when you try to seek some sense of unity without addressing things that are wrong. Yesterday, the 18th anniversary, a number of people posted memes saying, “Never forget,” which I understand. But that would also apply to how we got there in the first place.
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