My 911 Anniversary Lament

The anniversary of the 911 attacks is laser focused on the 2,977 killed, over 6,000 injured and the economic loss of the World Trade Center and its businesses. There is no mention of the hundreds of thousands killed, including 8,366 U.S. military and contractor personnel, and millions maimed or displaced by senseless wars against Afghanistan and Iraq that kicked off the War On Terror. These wars ushered in the era of perpetual war which added more millions of dead, injured or displaced in Libya, Syria and Yemen. It would be more appropriate to use the 911 anniversary to confront the horrendous path of murder and mayhem the U.S. embarked upon to satisfy our collective thirst for revenge.

But rather than focus on the perpetrators and their support system coming out of Saudi Arabia, the U.S. pivoted to exploit the 911 attacks to remake the Middle East in its image at the point of a gun. The road to Iran, we were propagandized, led straight thru Afghanistan and Iraq. But nineteen years after waste and defeat in both countries, we refuse to leave. We’re essentially at war with Iran, assassinating their top general and imposing crippling sanctions that kill just as ruthlessly as bombs. It would not take much of a miscalculation on either side for an all out shooting war to begin.

We should use the 911 anniversary to confront these issues. We should honor the victims by striving to get out of the perpetual war business. Besides the 8,366 killed and hundreds of thousands damaged in body and mind, we’ve squandered trillions in treasure better used to solve monumental problems at home like pandemic and resulting economic collapse.

That’s what comes to my mind on each anniversary of 911.