Monday, September 11, 2006
I don't need to be reminded of 9/11; I remember
I’m not going to watch television today. It will all be about 9/11. I am burned out on 9/11.
I don’t need to be reminded of what happened that day.
Our nation was forced to face the reality that we were just as vulnerable to terrorism as any other nation on earth.
I don’t need politicians pontificating on the tragedy. Too many politicians have used the events of that day to further their own political careers. Some have found that the politics of fear have enabled them to influence the public. They have been able to enhance their position by warning the people that only they can protect them.
For a long time the public bought it. They responded as anticipated as each threat warning was issued. But you can only go to that well so many times before it runs dry and the public is left with a parched taste in their mouth.
I am reminded of how unified this nation was just following 9/11. The people supported the efforts to root out the terrorists. They backed the government as it went after the terror groups in Afghanistan.
I never understood the urgency of Iraq. We had that country contained. We could afford to smoke out any weapons of mass destruction. The government was impatient. A pre-emptive war was launched on—what I and many believe—was shaky information. The WMDs were gone. Saddam had been bluffing. They had apparently been gone since after the first gulf war.
There was nothing in Iraq to connect it to 9/11. The assertion that there was has not been substantiated.
What has happened in the five years since 9/11 is an increasing skepticism in the word of our government. I choose to use the words of President Reagan when he said “Trust, but verify.” I long to trust our government, but I feel this need to verify. There have been too many instances when our leaders have been wrong.
They misjudged the WMD issue; they misjudged the reaction of the Iraqi people and therefore totally misjudged the number of troops that would be necessary to be essentially an occupying force. They didn’t prepare our troops properly. Stories abound of parents paying for body armor for their sons and daughters in Iraq because the military didn’t have enough. Or of stories of soldiers tacking on steel plates to their vehicles because they weren’t armored properly to guard against explosives.
To top it off our Secretary of Defense quipped that “You go to war with the army you’ve got; not the one you want.”
We went to war when we wanted to. It was pre-emptive. We didn’t have to. We could have been better prepared.
Thousands of people died five years ago today. Thousands of soldiers have now died in battle fighting in the Middle East.
I don’t need shows on television to remind me of the tragedy. I remember. I will always remember. Right now I don’t need to be reminded what has happened since.
I don’t need to be reminded of what happened that day.
Our nation was forced to face the reality that we were just as vulnerable to terrorism as any other nation on earth.
I don’t need politicians pontificating on the tragedy. Too many politicians have used the events of that day to further their own political careers. Some have found that the politics of fear have enabled them to influence the public. They have been able to enhance their position by warning the people that only they can protect them.
For a long time the public bought it. They responded as anticipated as each threat warning was issued. But you can only go to that well so many times before it runs dry and the public is left with a parched taste in their mouth.
I am reminded of how unified this nation was just following 9/11. The people supported the efforts to root out the terrorists. They backed the government as it went after the terror groups in Afghanistan.
I never understood the urgency of Iraq. We had that country contained. We could afford to smoke out any weapons of mass destruction. The government was impatient. A pre-emptive war was launched on—what I and many believe—was shaky information. The WMDs were gone. Saddam had been bluffing. They had apparently been gone since after the first gulf war.
There was nothing in Iraq to connect it to 9/11. The assertion that there was has not been substantiated.
What has happened in the five years since 9/11 is an increasing skepticism in the word of our government. I choose to use the words of President Reagan when he said “Trust, but verify.” I long to trust our government, but I feel this need to verify. There have been too many instances when our leaders have been wrong.
They misjudged the WMD issue; they misjudged the reaction of the Iraqi people and therefore totally misjudged the number of troops that would be necessary to be essentially an occupying force. They didn’t prepare our troops properly. Stories abound of parents paying for body armor for their sons and daughters in Iraq because the military didn’t have enough. Or of stories of soldiers tacking on steel plates to their vehicles because they weren’t armored properly to guard against explosives.
To top it off our Secretary of Defense quipped that “You go to war with the army you’ve got; not the one you want.”
We went to war when we wanted to. It was pre-emptive. We didn’t have to. We could have been better prepared.
Thousands of people died five years ago today. Thousands of soldiers have now died in battle fighting in the Middle East.
I don’t need shows on television to remind me of the tragedy. I remember. I will always remember. Right now I don’t need to be reminded what has happened since.
# posted by Richard Polk @ 11:03 AM 
