Was it just me, or was the publicity about the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks even more pronounced than in past years?
Though recognition of the date has been evident every year on that fateful day, it just felt like observances, Facebook posts and broadcast and print coverage were ubiquitous.
Sept. 11, 2001, just like Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s words about Dec. 7, 1941, is a day in history “that will live in infamy.”
Regardless, many of the stories, features and posts exhorted all citizens to “Never forget.” Judging by the omnipresence of recognizing the 18th anniversary, remembrance really shouldn’t be a problem.
Oh, to be sure, there are those who will say the younger folks don’t really have a clue about 9/11. That’s a matter of disrespecting history, which many dismiss as an academic subject that has too many dates to memorize.
Many people discuss what they were doing or where they were when the news broke about the Twin Towers in New York. I became particularly frightened when I learned about the Pennsylvania plane crash and the attack on the Pentagon, wondering if this was like a disease spreading across the nation.
I was very simply doing my job at J-Ad Graphics when I received a phone call from Caledonia reporter Ruth Zachary. She told me about the World Trade Center.
I hear tell President George W. Bush’s initial reaction was that he believed that was a really terrible airplane pilot.
But living in Michigan, there wasn’t a whole lot any of us could do about the tragic developments.
My understanding of that day was that our first collective reaction was fear that quickly turned into anger and a desire for revenge.
Which brings me to what I think we Americans should have done then and should do on the anniversary of the worst single-day attack on U.S. soil.
Of course, we should “never forget.” But it’s even more important to learn from what happened and why. This is where history and logical detective work are most needed.
It seemed to me that our desire to strike back at the perpetrators in anger was stronger than our attempt to find out why this happened.
“My love is stronger than my fear of death.” — Marty Robbins, “El Paso,” 1960.
The question of whodunnit was very badly handled. I found that out years later when I was substitute teaching and asked social studies students how many of those 19 nuts who hit the Twin Towers were from Iraq. The question was never answered correctly — zero.
Even worse, when I opposed invading Iraq in 2003, those who disagreed asked me, “Have you already forgotten the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks?”
Among those 19 nuts, 15 were from Saudi Arabia and four from Egypt. All were Muslims who hated the U.S., mostly because of its support for Israel.
I don’t recall the U.S. declaring war against Saudi Arabia or Egypt as a result of the events of Sept. 11, 2001. And I’m still not certain about the role of Osama bin Laden in planning and executing the attacks. I don’t think we collectively were sure about it either.
No matter. We almost immediately sent our troops to Afghanistan, where bin Laden supposedly was living in caves. He wasn’t caught up with until 10 years later, in Pakistan.
And why was he executed and then buried at sea? I would have liked to have him put in a prison and questioned until the cows came home. And why was his execution and burial so secretive?
Though Saddam Hussein certainly was a very bad man, I fail to see why we had the right to capture him and then have him hanged. We look the other way when other dictators and bad guys do awful things.
To this day I am not sure we have learned any valuable lessons from Sept. 11, 2001. We’re still in Afghanistan, where mighty armies go to die, and we had a disastrous wrongheaded military campaign in Iraq, overthrowing a country’s government that had nothing to do with 9/11.
About the only results from our response have been making Muslims hate us even more and Americans hate them even more.
I am aware there are many fundamentalist and evangelical Christians who really do want a war to end all wars, Armageddon, between Christians and Muslims all over the globe. My greatest fear now is they may be granted their wish.
