obligatory rememberance post

Sully provides some thoughts on the matter and what we have gained, such as it is, from the 8 years since. I am in some agreement, in particular on the issues that have evolved over time, though not so much my mood afterward.

I saw the reaction of Americans as largely fear, with some anger or resolve for vengeance mixed in. But I was not given to feel fear. I knew I wasn't in any danger so there was plenty of time to reflect on what was happening, why, and importantly, what we should do now. I was fortified by a sense of solidarity and affection or respect that developed naturally in the raw and unforgiving atmosphere that follows a national tragedy. I often wish that these unified emotions would develop in the absence of gaping wounds on our psyche. This was compared elsewhere to the emotions of a funeral or a wake. Having been through a few of those in the past couple years, I'd say that's pretty much what it was like. People's eyes wander back to the carnage, the corpse in the room or the ghastly gutted shell of twisted metal, once in a while, and wonder what might have been or reflect briefly on what is lost and the fleeting passage of our mortality. But mostly they gather together and draw strength, hope, and love from each other. This is a great thing. It was even a fairly global thing as allies and even some foes from around the world gathered with us for a time in observance of this pain. But watching what happened afterward, it was obvious that it wasn't going to last and was going to be squandered.

I already knew security was an impossibility without a police state. So while I can understand the demand for safety, I knew it was impossible. Ben Franklin came to mind immediately. So watching new bureaucracies emerge with colour coded alert levels and ridiculous screenings at airports was not a fun experience. It looked to me like we had already lost the war when even basic liberty as travel was abandoned at the first sign of trouble. I was well aware that fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan was probably stupid, if not counterproductive and was free to speak out against it at the time. I had no problem with Afghanistan going in to try to find Al Qaeda and its training camps, perhaps to expel the Taliban. I have a huge problem trying to figure out how to have a workable nation-state there at our expense and effort. And I never understood the logic behind Iraq. It seemed pretty obvious to me that if even our allies were scratching their heads over our decisions perhaps we have some bad or unconvincing intelligence and thus a weak case for regime change.

I knew that torture was wrong under any circumstance, even the ticking time bomb that we were told it was to be used for. But other Americans went greedily along with it in the transition from fear to rage. Without suffering any serious fear to begin with, the feelings of rage and revenge seemed really misplaced. Particularly when they were being used to make policy. People should never be trying to make important decisions under duress and high emotion (this is why the living will consultation in health care is so important). The answers are almost always things we regret later.

And I long since knew that terrorism was in large part a threat best combated with intelligence and rule of law, bombs and guns only where necessary to strike decisively and with precision. I wrote on this about 2-3 years ago with attention to how a counter-insurgent campaign actually uses violence, and that's more or less where we are now. A bit late to the game.

Point is I think fear was a more powerful emotion than anger for most Americans after 9-11. And I think that fear was unjustified and provided us with a lot of bad decision making. We "reacted" too much to their movements instead of seizing the initiative and momentum that an wanton act of nihilistic destruction provided us in the international stage. I for one do not think people should be reminded of being afraid all the time. I think instead they should be reminded of how people acted on that day and the weeks after and look to those things as inspiration moving forward. I don't care for the fact that it took a major national tragedy to accomplish, but damn. People for a little while actually seemed like people.