How Will We Remember 9/11

 

HOW WILL WE REMEMBER 9/11

 

Surely, we will never forget the agonizing experience of seeing the Towers fall and bodies as well.  We will never forget the heroism of the firefighters and others who risked and lost their lives in rescuing people trapped in the burning fury.  We will never forget the mind-blowing, chilling, unforgettable demonstration that we are not free from violence from terrorists.

 

We will never forget how for a short time the country came together in unity to mourn the lives that were lost, to herald the heroes who fought the flames and helped survivors to live. 

 

However, an opinion column in the New York Times (9/12) by Laila Lalami reminds us of other things we dare not forget, because they have implications on what we do as a nation in the future. 

 

We have to recognize the unintended consequences of the war on terrorism which 9/11 precipitated, a war which went well beyond, in time and geography, what we set out to do in the beginning, which was to eliminate Al Qaeda. 

 

The attacks served as justification for the 20-year war in Afghanistan, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and the periodic bombing of Pakistan, Yemen, Syria and Somalia.  This led to the deaths of some 800,000 people, including 335,000 civilians and the displacement of an estimated 38 million people. 

 

Over the 20 years, we were constantly reminded that we were attacked on 9/11.  And we should have been reminded.  However, in what became a continually grieving state, the public was understandably more willing to accept what it might not have otherwise. 

 

Along the way, the reporting of the loss of civilian lives was stopped, intentionally.  That was wrong: hiding ourselves from Truth.

 

David Blight in his magisterial biography of Frederick Douglass writes a lot about memory and its uses.  He observes that Douglass understood that although all people crave stories, some narratives are more honest than others.  It is imperative that our stories of 9/11 are honest and comprehensive and that the lessons from it on what is within our capability as a nation and what is not, what is right and what is wrong, never be forgotten. 

 

Fourteen years ago, General H.R. McMaster wrote a stunning book about the Vietnam War aptly summarized by its title, Dereliction of Duty.  Its sub-title extends the indictment:  Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies that led to Vietnam.

 

I don’t know what General McMaster will write about the war in Afghanistan.  He served as National Security Advisor in 2017-18 until he was fired by Trump.  I do know that as late as August 2021, he felt it was a mistake to totally leave Afghanistan.  He felt we should sustain a presence and that by doing so we would be able to hold off the Taliban.  I’m skeptical.  They had already taken well over half the country.  They were feeding off the corruption in the government and the collateral damage the U.S. and its allies was doing to civilians.  It seems questionable whether we could have held off the Taliban with as few troops (2,000-3,000) as we had then.  We may have been able to preserve the government for some time in Kabul but not the country as a whole.