Remembering 9/11

With the fifth anniversary of 9/11 bearing down upon us, I thought I’d get in my two cents before the day actually arrives—something for you to ponder while you watch the spectacle that will be this anniversary.

The media will be in a frenzy that we haven’t seen, oh, since John Mark Karr was arrested a few weeks ago. We all see how well that turned out.

My own employer, Radford University, is hosting a conference on Sept. 11 about Homeland Security. Banners hang on campus today reading, “Remembering victims. Protecting survivors.”

A friend of mine made an astute observation raised from this phenomenal article by Thom Hartman. My friend said, “I wonder if they had banners to commemorate the Reichstag fire that said 'Remembering victims. Protecting survivors.'” Good question.

Hartman's article raises the point that after a terrorist attack on the German Reichstag in 1933, Adolf Hitler decided it was time to start a war on terrorism. As Hartman writes in his shrewd article:
“Within four weeks of the terrorist attack, the nation’s now-popular leader had pushed through legislation—in the name of combating terrorism and fighting the philosophy he said spawned it— that suspended constitutional guarantees of free speech, privacy, and habeas corpus. Police could now intercept mail and wiretap phones; suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without specific charges and without access to their lawyers; police could sneak into people's homes without warrants if the cases involved terrorism.”

Hitler soon began referring to Germany as “The Homeland” and constantly mentioned its need for security. For his efforts in fighting terrorism, Hitler won Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1938. A pre-emptive invasion of Austria was eventually launched, and soon the world got the pleasure of seeing the “shock and awe” of the German blitzkrieg. That little war on terror worked out really well, didn’t it?

I have lots of problems with this “celebration” of the anniversary of 9/11. Certainly Sept. 11, 2006, reminds us of a tremendous event in American history. The tragedy associated with 9/11 is indescribable, and I still feel much sorrow for the families who lost loved ones on that day. But so many people have tried to use 9/11 for their own political or financial gain that the integrity of the tragedy has been lost.

And what do we really know about the true events of that day? Conspiracy theories still abound. Films such as Loose Change claim heavy U.S. government involvement. Will we ever know the full truth? Probably not, and therefore it seems unwise to trust that our government will protect us from a similar tragedy to that of 9/11 and or to celebrate that same government in its actions thus far.

In addition to my ponderings about the conspiracy theories and after seeing just how poorly our government has reacted since 9/11, I also become squeamish knowing that in our capitalistic society, we look to make money from tragedy. Look at all the events and TV coverage (including movies and specials in addition to news, all of which will bring in big advertising dollars) and decide if you are comfortable with the exploitation of 9/11 for financial gain. Did you know that CNN.com plans to replay its coverage of Sept. 11, 2001, all day on Monday?

It’s all just so disturbing.

In his review of the book “Watching the World Change: The Stories Behind the Images of 9/11” Garrison Keillor writes, The mainstream media seized upon inspirational and patriotic images, such as the picture of the three firemen; thus began a sort of mythification of the day into which George W. Bush and Rudolph Giuliani entered, bearing spears and shields. Photography assisted in that. Photography couldn’t convey the failure of national defense and intelligence, or the failure of the city of New York, even after the 1993 bombing of the trade center, to coordinate police and fire communications, a failure that cost many lives that morning, or certain tragic choices in the design of the towers. You need prose reporting for that.”

Unfortunately, our media has failed us and little prose reporting has come. Blind patriotism has oozed from our newspapers and broadcast news. Our mainstream media outlets banged the drums for war leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The media failed to ask the important questions or challenge the assertions of the Bush administration. And where are we today?

The violence in Iraq continues to escalate. Afghanistan is getting worse. Terrorism still exists. And we live under an arrogant government and a presidential administration filled with hubris that has continued to fail on its promises. There were no WMD. Iraq was not connected to 9/11. We have don’t have Osama bin Laden—dead or alive. Our troops were not greeted as liberators. The mission has not been accomplished. The war is not paying for itself. It hasn’t lasted six weeks or even six months. We’ve lost nearly as many troops as we lost civilians on September 11, 2001, and Iraq has lost 15 times as many civilians as the U.S. lost on that fateful day.

All we have are memories of a tragic day in our history, questions about why it was allowed to happen, and concerns about how our government has reacted since.

A heartfelt thank you goes out to the law enforcement officers, firemen and others who risked their lives—many losing their lives—in an effort to save others five years ago. Deepest sympathies continue to go out to those who lost family members on that horrific day.

And let’s all remember the words of President Dwight D. Eisenhower who said, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”