9/11

Today is 9/11.  Fourteen years ago - 9/11/01 - our world changed.  The almost 1400 year war between Islam and the "West" became front page news again, leading to fruitless wars, massive changes in both the perception and reality of civil rights in the USA.

I knew people who died in both the towers and Flight 93.  The people I knew had no connection to foreign policy, or any anti-Islam organization.  In fact, they would most likely have been more understanding of the plight of the Palestinians.  But, no matter  --  after all, radicals usually do not consider individuals, they are driven by "big ideas", and the actual lives of real people are only "distractions".

At the time of the attacks, I would have been happy to see Afghanistan (where, we were told, the attacks had originated) "turned to glass".

That was not to be  --  instead we began TWO, yes TWO, unwinnable wars, while our leaders told us to "go shopping".

At that point, any sane person had to know this was not going to end well.

It has not  --  and the dead of 9/11 have not been avenged in any way.

We are a lesser nation.  Prejudice and bigotry have, again, reared their ugly heads.  Both the left and right have spun off into la-la land, and we have used a huge amount of our resources on seemingly useless military action while people starve, our middle class disappears, and our education system flounders.

Now, it appears, there are folks who say our response to 9/11 was "an overreaction".  It was not an overreaction, it was just that we did not use our resources wisely, and used 9/11 to attack targets that had no connection to the attacks on the USA.

There's so much more to write   ----   but, since I'm now 76 years old, I'm going to let these matters go.  I'm afraid those who are now "coming up" really do not know history, nor do they actually understand the historical background that informs the current wars.

I suspect all you young folks will live in "interesting times".