9/11/11

Image via WikipediaChances are you're already done with every media outlet putting their spin on the day when four hijacked planes took aim at New York and Washington, killing 3000 people in the process.  A day for which there is still no name, just a date.  September 11, 2001.

Well, here's one more.

Since that day ten years ago. this country has become the Not-So-United States of America.  Politically, economically and socially everything has been split down radically different paths with no one daring to venture down the middle.

In New York, where the World Trade Center once stood, the place they call "Ground Zero" is a construction site soon to be filled by a memorial and a new tower that its backers believe will be terrorist-proof.

Orwellian terms became part of the language.  Police, firefighters and paramedics are referred to as "first responders".  National security is now "protecting the homeland".  Soldiers became "troops", and so on.

Because the hijackers were believed to be of Arabic descent and worshipped Allah rather than God, Muslims living in this country have been victims of a witch hunt reminiscent of the early Cold War years.  The only thing missing is a publicity-seeking politician with a list in his hands.

Two wars have been (and still are) fought in the name of 9/11, sending thousands of soldiers home in body bags for reasons that are no longer valid.  Yet government, the news media and Corporate America insists that we call them "heroes", even though they don't really deserve the honor.  They weren't defending our freedom so much as they were invading another country on the basis of lies.  Just like they did in nearly every war since 1945.

The men who sent the soldiers into harm's way, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, have been largely unrepentant in the tactics allegedly used in fighting the War on Terror (some of it illegal, but never really proved) since leaving office.  Bush's successor Barack Obama has continued some of those policies, even though he had said he would not.

It's true that there hasn't been another spectacular attack on the United States since September 11, 2001.  Al Qaeda isn't what it used to be since the murder of Osama bin Laden last spring, though they are rumored to be planning new attacks.  The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down, even if it doesn't seem like they really are.  And intelligence and law enforcement have gotten a lot better at capturing terrorism suspects, though there are some that slipped through the cracks.

However, Homeland Security officials tell us that the biggest threat comes from the "lone wolves", the Lee Harvey Oswald-Timothy McVeigh types who have a major beef with government and want to take as many lives as possible to prove their point.

Meanwhile, the government constantly reminds us to "be vigilant" of suspicious activity.  "If you see something, say something", the signs say.  Well, we'd like to help, but what is there to be vigilant about?  And just what do you mean by "suspicious activity"?  Sorry, but that information is classified.  Go back to whatever it is you were doing.

All the signs of paranoia are there.  Concrete barriers in front of government buildings, shopping malls and other public places because somebody tried to enter the front door using a vehicle containing bombs.  Airline passengers, young and old, searched from head to toe because somebody tried to hide explosives inside his shoes and underwear.

So who really is winning the war on terror?  If the terrorists' goal was to destabilize America after 9/11, then they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.  They didn't have to create fear, divisiveness, a stagnant economy, and rendering the Constitution as worthless as the paper it's printed on.  The Americans did that all by themselves.  And that's why, ten years after planes crashed into skyscrapers and the Pentagon, the terrorists are winning.