On September 11, 2001 the world as we knew it changed. It was the day that no american ever expected to see in their lifetimes. An attack on multiple sites at a massive scale on American soil. The country of the free and the brave was given a black eye, beaten down and left on the ground crying. The attack, perpetrated by
al-Qaeda, turned our own planes into missiles that went straight into the leadership of our military in the Pentagon and our financial power house in the world trade center. Almost
three thousand lives where lost that day. It was more than the lives taken in
Pearl Harbor and once again it had awaken a sleeping giant.
The attack change the blundering Bush administration from a
vacationing President to as he called himself a "
War President" with War in his mind. It also changed the American psyche forever. It made terrorism something that no longer happened in other places but could happen to them at anytime. That fear was then played up by the Bush administration to make sweeping changes to our government and country. The administration led the country into two wars. In October 2011 with support from various NATO nations we invaded Afghanistan with the purpose of finding Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda. Later the administration started making the case to invade Iraq and according to Bush's Treasury Secretary,
Paul O'Neill, the administration was intent in removing Saddam Hussein from power prior to the terrorist attack on 9/11. The administration claimed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and wanted to use them on the United States. In an
address to the nation on March 22, 2003 President Bush stated "our mission is clear, to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people." According to an
article by Joby Warrick of the Washington Post WMDs or biological weapons where never found.
The administration also took this opportunity to create a new behemoth of an organization to rule all other intelligence agencies. The Department of Homeland security was born out of this chaos, not to mention the growth of what the Washington Post investigation called "
Top Secret America"where over 850,000 people have top security clearances and large corporations are involved in this new business for profit. The
patriot act was also created during this time and it gave those agencies broad scope in powers that allowed them to eaves drop on all American citizens.
The administration used the terrorist attack to push this country into a war on terrorism. The reaction and response to the terrorist attack was overkill. It created fear and suffering not only in this country but through out the world. The intent presented to the public was to make america safe from terrorism.
There are various people that believe the war with Iraq was worth it.
James Phillips Senior Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Heritage Foundation stated that "...the Iraq war was a risk worth taking".
Abraham Sofaer George P. Shultz Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution stated "...the war was worth the cost, for one reason above all: It freed the world of a dangerous, determined, and irrational leader..." CBS News national security analyst
Juan Zarate believes that we are much safer now in this new world than what we were in 2001. He believes we have better intelligence sharing and cooperation around the world. He states "the proof is in the pudding we've disrupted plots". The
9/11 Commission 10 year report card in conclusion states "Today, our country is undoubtedly safer and more secure
than it was a decade ago."
This is America's longest war and it hasn't succeeded in making America safer or stopping terrorism in the world. As the
Tenth Anniversary Report Card: The Status of the 9/11 Commission Recommendations states in the conclusion of their report "We have damaged our enemy, but the ideology of violent Islamist extremism is alive and attracting new adherents, including right here in our own country". According to a
recent study conducted by a collaboration of Universities and the Iraqi government there have been 500,000 deaths in Iraq alone. Think about how many of those family left suffering blame their condition to United States rash decision to go to war. We are no closer to winning this war on terror. We have provided the necessary anger, frustration, hate needed for disenfranchised Muslims to join in bin Laden's Jihad for years to come. In the process we have lost 8,400 precious soldiers and over
50,000 of those brave souls have sustained injuries. We have
spent 1.7 trillion dollars in the war in Iraq alone and now a Harvard study projects that in the decades to come the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan war will reach
4 to 6 trillion dollars. The wars during the Bush administration created ill will towards America. Committed billions of dollars into destroying a country and then trying to rebuild the same. All the while American citizens where losing their jobs and homes and where constantly being stressed out with warnings of possible terrorist attacks. America is worst off now than it was prior to the wars.
