On the morning of September 11, 2001, a total of four planes crash landed into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington and a field somewhere in western Pennsylvania with nearly 3000 dead. That includes the hijackers and passengers of those planes, as well as those who worked inside the buildings. Since no one had a fancy name to describe what happened that day, it became known to history as a date: September 11 or 9/11.
In the confusion and emotion of what just happened, President George W. Bush sent troops to Afghanistan with the intention of capturing Osama bin Laden (the man held responsible for the attack), and for removing the Taliban government there. In March 2003, Bush decided to also invade Iraq on the basis of intelligence that said the country had more "weapons of mass destruction" than its leader Saddam Hussein was letting on.
Twenty years, four presidents (two from both parties), two wars, two disputed elections, mass shootings, a deadly pandemic, protests in the streets over police brutality, and general mistrust of government and the media later, America is at peace everywhere in the world except for within its own borders.
Iraq was left in the rearview years ago. Afghanistan is next, following the pullout of American troops and others desperate to escape the wrath of the new Taliban government, who took advantage of President Joe Biden's deadline of August 31 to quickly take over Afghanistan without much of a fight. What's left are the country's remaining citizens watching helplessly as life for them is forcibly set back at least a thousand years.
But man, wasn't it worth it to leave behind a no-win situation where the Americans' focus shifted from capturing and killing bin Laden (in Pakistan) to propping up a week government that resulted in thousands of American soldiers dead and apathy at home as the war dragged on? Well, OK. Time will tell on that one.
After America was attacked, it was widely assumed that the country would rally and come together in the spirit of patriotism. Instead, all 9/11 ever did was to divide it. Pick your side. Black Lives Matter vs. the Police. Republicans vs. Democrats. Gun reformers vs. the NRA. Truth vs. Alternative Facts. CNN and MSNBC vs. Fox News. The Big Lie vs. settled election results. To mask or not to mask. The COVID vaccine vs. bleach and horse medicine. Roe v. Wade on the ropes. Those who believe climate change is happening vs. those who think it's just weather. And so yawn.
On September 11, 2001, the terrorists who crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in western Pennsylvania had no idea how successful their mission would be. They couldn't have known that the United States would become, in two decades, a country full of divisions politically, socially, economically, and anything else you care to name. Those who have died due to war, terrorism, crime and disease have become nothing more than collateral damage in the struggle to prove who's right.
We need to call a truce. Before another 9/11 happens.
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