CounterPunch
Special Report:
9/11 One Year After
September
7, 2002
Looking Back
on September 11
by David Krieger
As we approach the first anniversary of the terrorist
attacks of September 11, it is worth reflecting on how little
has been accomplished and how much has been lost in the past
year. We have demonstrated that our military machine is powerful
and can smash poor countries farther back into the stone age,
but we are not capable of finding Osama bin Laden, nor of putting
an end to terrorism. We have demonstrated that civil liberties
can be curtailed in the effort to combat terrorism, but our airports
seem no safer today than they were on the day of the terrorist
attacks.
We have an administration committed to
perpetual war, an administration busy seeking new targets for
attack. We have a new doctrine of "pre-emption," one
that the Bush administration is pushing to engage in "regime
change" in Iraq, with little regard for the consequences.
In the past year, the Bush administration has become even more
disdainful of international law than it was previously. The  administration seeks cooperation only
on its own terms, and primarily for our wars on terrorism, on
drugs and on the Bush-designated "axis of evil." When
it comes to arms control and disarmament, sustainable development
and environmental protection, and support for human rights, the
Bush administration is AWOL.
Some wonder how September 11 may be remembered
in American history. I think it is likely to be remembered, at
least shorter term, as the day that Americans were forced to
face their own vulnerability, the same vulnerability that most
of the world experiences daily. It may also be remembered as
the day that opened the door to Orwell's 1984 becoming the American
reality the day that the Bush administration assumed the role
of Big Brother. September 11 may be remembered as the day that
initiated a headlong thrust towards trading our civil liberties
for vague promises of security, and the day we received in return
only the prospects of a permanent state of war.
Longer term, how posterity will remember
September 11 will depend entirely on our ongoing response to
it. If we continue attempting only to seek out terrorists to
pound with our military force, the events of September 11 will
mark a turning to ultimate disaster, to the undermining of global
security and the security of the American people. September 11
brought out an immense display of American nationalism and flag-waving,
and the anniversary of the attacks will undoubtedly bring out
more of the same. This hyper-nationalism and its militaristic
manifestations are dangerous reflections of our national insecurity.
Following September 11, the world was
at first tremendously sympathetic to America for our loss, but
that sympathy has by now mostly been replaced by apprehension
and anger. The administration's reliance on military force, its
undermining of international law in treaty after treaty, and
its failure to provide leadership toward a more peaceful and
equitable world have demonstrated arrogance and disrespect for
the world's people. If the United States does not change its
policies and use its enormous power to build a more equitable
world, there are likely to be more tragedies like September 11
in our future.
If, on the other hand, the events of
September 11 were to result in Americans realizing the need for
our leadership to achieve a new cooperative global order, rooted
in international law, to solve the vast array of critical problems
in our world such as poverty, environmental devastation, human
rights abuses and the threat of weapons of mass destruction then
these terrorist attacks will be remembered as a terrible but
critical wake-up.
Judging from our approach to date, there
are few signs that America has awakened to the need for this
kind of positive leadership. We have not yet begun to explore
diplomatic and cooperative paths to change, nor the deeper question
of why the attacks occurred. Rather, we have become more isolationist
and unilateralist, more focused on ourselves to the exclusion
of the rest of the world.
The "regime change" that is
needed most in the world is not by war in Iraq, but by peaceful
means in the United States. This regime change, by means of the
ballot, would bring far more security to the American people
and the people of the world than toppling Saddam.
The American people are challenged as
never before to bring an end to terrorism by supporting policies
fulfilling the promises of democracy and dignity for all in our
troubled world. This will require not only regime changes, but
also sea changes in our thinking and actions. It must begin with
ordinary citizens having the courage to speak out clearly, forcefully
and repeatedly about the dangerous militaristic and authoritarian
direction that our country is taking under the Bush administration.
David Krieger
is president of the Nuclear
Age Peace Foundation. His most recent book is Choose
Hope, Your Role in Waging Peace in the Nuclear Age from
Middleway Press. He can be contacted at dkrieger@napf.org.
CounterPunch Special Report:
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David Krieger
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Peter Linebaugh
Levellers and 9/11
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The Trouble
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Tom Stephens
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September
6, 2002
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