If you’re like me, then you’ve already grown weary from the plethora of 9/11 stories that have surfaced for the 10th anniversary. So I’ll keep this one brief.
Terrorists win when the response they provoke does more damage than the initial attack. In this sense, America has lost, and is continuing to lose badly, ever since September 11, 2001.
Just look at what is happening in New York this weekend – security stops everywhere, fully automatic weapons menacing the street corners, an entire city on edge – it’s a veritable police state. That ain’t freedom, nor is it a state of being worth protecting.
And look at what the American military has been doing in response to the attacks: trillion dollar wars costing millions of lives, campaigns of terror all around the world, and an economy that is threatening to collapse.
All this from a single event, albeit a high profile one. And, apart from some superficial changes, America is no more secure than they were a decade ago.
So what happens the next time a bomb goes off… will American’s withdraw even deeper into their shell, selling off any remaining liberties in a desperate bid for the illusion of more security?
Or will the US population finally learn from their decade long folly see that the most effective way to deal with terrorists is with defiance – simply ignore them as best you can and go on living life to the fullest.
