For some of us, at least, the images and sounds of that day are seared into our memories.
A few of us, at least, recognize that the soldiers of Allah in the name of Allah, according to the teachings of the Quran, committed those murders.
And a few of us, at least, also recognize that our enemies remain ready to attack again. For example: Taliban Commander vows jihad against the whole world.
Perpetual Islamic "holy war" against the infidel (any non-Muslims). Weep for the West.
Some reading for today (Washington Post, September 3, 2021): My father was killed on 9/11. I still struggle to understand how he just disappeared.
A good and brave people led by the venal, the stupid, and the arrogant. 9/11 brought out the very best in those at the crash sites and those who volunteered, and it brought out the very worst in our "leadership."
ReplyDeleteDamn George Bush, Damn Dick Cheney, Damn Don Rumsfeld, and damn the rest of that criminal gang. Ignorance and arrogance is a deadly combination.
Damn the generals and government bureaucrats who lied to us for 20 years. Their toadying dishonors them.
May God bless those good men and women of all nations who fell prey to our government's horrible, colossal stupidity.
Amen!
DeleteA good and brave people led by the venal, the stupid, and the arrogant.
ReplyDeleteAs they say, 'Lions led by Donkeys'.
May the blessings you speak of, be heard and realized by those who have sacrificed.
Postscript - As I listen to W speak at Shanksville right now.....his pandering words really hit home, that while be honor and remember those who were lost on September 11th, 2001......there won't be a peep for the over double that number of Americans lost in Afghanistan due to our reactive foreign policy [not to mention the Iraq sideshow that was also spawned by 9/11].
DeleteNor the militarization and domestic surveillance continues unabated since that day.
We'll be yet again assaulted by garbage memes like 'they hate us for our freedoms'.....
Today is both humbling...and sickening.
CI... what you speak of is part of the continuing struggle of imperfect leaders. Are they aware of their shortcomings?
DeleteFew are I think.
But let's remember, all of us, that the decisions of the Bush/Cheney group and the lies that continued for those 20 years were propped up and supported by many of us.
All in the name of patriotism.
A question for the military guys here...
I know you guys are trained and expected to follow orders. I get that. So tell me, when you are following orders, be it Afghanistan, Iraq or Vietnam, how do feel about ppl back home protesting those wars?
I've got to believe many of you knew early on or during those conflicts that a lot of it was bull puckey.
How can protestors argue against these types of actions, still be seen as "real Americans" and get the narrative out to many in the US?
Or is our patriotic/political climate predisposed against protest against wars?
@Dave - My perspective, a robust anti-war movement is essential for a healthy society. We've seen the results of a downright anemic movement....not so much after 9/11 where the initial cause was righteous, but in 2003 - where it was a bit larger.....but the nation was still in the throes of the 9/11 hangover; freedom fries and all that other garbage.
DeleteI don't view anti-war folks as either unpatriotic or disrespectful on the face of it. I'm more angered by those who would lie us into war, lie to us as we end a war....or be generally cavalier about the sacrifice that Service-members and their families make.
The trick is to not let the charlatans and sideline cheerleaders determine the narrative and the definition of patriot and 'real American'.
CI, Fair enough... I mean, I grew up in a military family. The best day as a kid for me was when my brothers ship arrived in home port and he was safe. Like many, we flew our flags, stood when the color guard passed at the annual 4th of July parade and stuff like that.
DeleteBut our house was never an all in at any cost house.
And that's what worries me today. I think there are millions of Americans who no matter what, support, as it relates to war, what the government says, as long as it seems to mean more war.
And to argue against that is seen as some sort of mortal sin against the soul of America.
Toxic Patriotism I call it.
BTW... my brother served on the infamous USS Turner Joy.
I was an unquestioning rightwing flag waver back then. Funny what time and seeing stuff up close does to you...
DeleteI was deployed to South America in 2003 when Bush invaded Iraq. We were sitting around having drinks one evening, and the Army officers Capts, Majors and Lt Cols let their hair down and started seriously discussing the Iraq invasion. None of them spoke with contempt against Bush or the government, but they all agreed it was a gargantuan mistake and that the Army, the government and citizens would end up regretting it. I'll never forget that evening.
Silver... how does dissent in the ranks move from a group of guys pissed off around the water cooler into legit change?
DeleteOr does Capt Queeg always win out these days?
I've been stunned by the number of "leaders", generals and admirals, who suddenly get a spine once they get their retirement or leave high level posts in the WH, Pentagon or some other place.
Why not resign and step forward, in the moment?
The Trump Admin is only the latest example. If those "leaders", bolton included, really believed Trump was the anti Christ they wrote about in their books, why didn't they say it earlier. Otherwise, shut up.
Same for military types in uniform. No one during Vietnam knew it was all BS? Same for the Middle East. Not a single upper level leader stood up as it was happening to say it was all BS.
Sure, they had differing opinions as to how to do the same, but not a one said "it's all wrong."
And by your account, people did know how bad it was.
Are the systems, in the WH and the military just designed to go along? It seems like that.
And so here we are... in my opinion, awaiting another 9/11 of some sort.
Toxic Patriotism I call it.
DeleteGood term. I liken some strains of reckless patriotism as pornography, at least the visual aspects....also closely related to virtue signalling.
But I suppose one can always say though that patriotism lies in the eye [or heart] of the beholder.
Why not resign and step forward, in the moment?
Everyone is replaceable. Most of us are hypocrites in one form or another. Since a month or two into the Iraq surge, I concluded that we had absolutely no business being there, being privy to how the surge was being sold to the American public v. the reality on the ground in Baghdad. That conclusion never wavered, even after I made more money deploying into harms way as a Contractor. I got to continue to work with and help Coalition Service-members come home safely [mostly].....and I knew that if I quit, I would just be replaced. So I'm still at it.
Cogs in the machine taking individual stands, won't change a thing. The evolutionary change has to come by electing prudent and rational national leadership.
Both major parties have shown us that they're not capable of that....for myriad of mostly self-aggrandizing and enriching reasons. Vote out the bastards who continue the status quo.
There are really solid, asymmetric thinkers in the DoD [civilian and uniformed]. Politicos would do well to listen to them, instead of lobbyists, pollsters and donors.
But pigs will fly enroute to serve bacon to the Taliban before that ever happens.....
Everybody below the rank of 2-star general can't change the system.
Delete2-stars and above could, if more of them were willing to throw their stars down on the table in front of SecDef or the president and call bullshit.
The most expert studier of the military people and culture, Charles Moskos, observed that soldiers in the thick of it aren't fighting for flag or country, they are fighting for their fellow soldiers.
I was not a door kicker, but I traveled and worked in indian country in Iraq and Afghanistan engineering, installing and repairing radio technologies to improve coverage. Even if I thought the wars would never be won, I was gung ho knowing when somebody keyed that mike for a dustoff, I was making sure they could connect to someone on the other end.
Afghanistan's Golden Age: The Land Where Women's Rights Were At Par With Western
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylScuPfTb_A
I understand that most Afghans are under the age of 30. Most have not experienced living under Sharia. Now we leave them, especially the women, to live if lucky to a life of hell. To say nothing was accomplished is cutting the effort short. I had relatives who visited Kabul back in the 1970's. It was a tourist mecca....westernized... I hope the youtube plays. A pox on us, sorry guys but that is how I feel.
Never forget.
ReplyDeleteI remember the early arguments from the rest of the world, especially from Europeans, the children of centuries of failed empire builders. Europe, where you can see small-scale terrorism frequently. Europe, where a war has started on its soil every twenty years on average since Philip of Macedon took up a spear. Europe, where some 45 wars have been fought since World War 2. They all said, in their own way, that we overreacted to 9/11.
ReplyDeleteI say bullshit. We never even considered popping a nuke. We should have. 20 years is more than enough time to clean up fallout. It only took 4 years to clean up the bodies and debris of Hiroshima. Nagasaki a little longer.
Overreact? Imagine what we'd do if we hated somebody enough to perennially send a generation to war for the past 2400 years?
Interesting though experiment, but what center of gravity would be worth the ramifications of employing a nuke?
DeleteIf you'd jump the shark immediately and say Mecca.....the obvious response at some point after, would be a similar event at the Vatican.
We've definitely been stuck on stupid since shortly after 9/11, but doubling down on that wouldn't help.
Well, we'd have to search among our nuclear peers to find which of them condones the use of religious para-national terrorism, and nuke them first. The world has been exposed to the English language long enough to have no rational basis for not eradicating their culture and replacing it with ours.
Delete