9/11 Redux
I was riveted to the TV. It is always interesting how boring life really is. Every day the same stuff is on the news, not much of great import happens. But then there was 9/11.
I woke up, turned on Today, and heard the slightly-more-confused-than-normal voice of Katie Couric attempting to explain that a plane crashed into the WTC. OK, I thought, no big deal. But as I tended to the morning routine, the second tower was hit, and we all knew this was no accident.
I watched the towers burn, and knew that lives were being lost. But it was simply unimaginable to us at the time that the towers would collapse, and when the first one did, I stood there, stunned, unable to move away from the TV. The next days were a constant stream of analysis as we watched it unfold over and over, as we discovered the horror of those who had died. The thought that skyscrapers could collapse was simply unbelievable. Surreal shots of people on the streets of NYC running from the dust cloud played against engineering debates, political accusations, and shots of sad family members posting pictures on phone poles.
It seemed like a different world then. We were innocent. We had not been attacked on our soil like this in my lifetime. We were free, proud, and certain that our government valued civil liberties. After all, that is why we proudly proclaimed ourselves Americans back then. I felt patriotism for the first time in my life that September, as I saw trucks waving flags and praising unity. We were going to find who did this, and we were going to make sure it didn't happen again. For the first time in my life, Americans stood together. We were going to find Osama.
Where is Osama?
I sit now in Iraq, as someone intimately connected to our so-called war on terror. I know what I do here has no relation whatsoever to 9/11. I know that Saddam was a convenient target, one easily reached, a figurehead for cultures and religions that we could never quite grasp. Day by day we see our freedoms back home disappear in random checks, pat downs, profiling, and the draining of our economy.
Where is Osama?
We build databases now. That is what we have become. Everything, everyone is suspect. You are now suspect. I have personally been pulled aside by the police and subjected to interrogation for taking pictures in a public place. Yet we follow like lemmings, wherever the 'terror' flag is waved. Every evil, Orwellian governmental fantasy is now possible, and we remain completely oblivious. How many times has some drooling idiot gotten on TV to proudly proclaim "I guess a little delay is OK if it makes us safer." Yeah, right. Have you seen what they do with those scans of you that they take at the airport?? You know, the one where they can see your genitals? You are a coffee break joke, buddy.
Where is Osama?
Billions. Can you even grasp that? Billions upon billions. Border security that doesn't work. Immigration laws that are useless. Services lost, endless budgets that are sacrificed for this war on terror. We have now seen the end result of the maceration of democracy: we cannot respond to the real threat of natural disasters. The families torn apart by 9/11, the families that have lost their own to car bombs in Baghdad, and the families of the bloated floating in the streets of New Orleans all share a common thread: your tears will never be dried by this government.
Where is Osama?
We sit here in Iraq amidst the thousands of air conditioners trucked in to keep our American foreheads cool, amidst the fully-loaded Chevy and Ford SUVs that we could never afford to drive back home, eating steak dinners, deriding the amount of money being thrown at this war. I have overheard some laughing in earnest at the American taxpayer for their ignorance. The official term is "daily burn rate." You don't want to know.
Where is Osama?
Saddam goes to trial next month. I am sure it will be a time of more violence here in Baghdad. Yes, we have managed to topple a sovereign government after constructing a plausible-only-to-the-stupid case against them. We are now the terrorists. We spread treachery and deceit, waving it right under ole red, white, and blue. We have managed to anger the entire world, and make no apologies for our arrogance. We are America, after all. We are the cowboys. We are coming to a country near you.
Where is Osama?
We lost sight somewhere of Osama, the real threat. Or maybe we didn't. Maybe we really didn't care. In the confusion, we transmuted truth for political expediency. That seemed much easier.
Where is Osama?
We seem no closer to providing stability to a nation verging on civil war. We cannot give Iraq democracy. It cannot be transplanted no matter how much we spend. That is what GW can never understand in his stammering, swaggering mind. Democracy is earned. Democracy comes from within. Democracy is the essence of the people. Iraq is not there yet. Some doubt they ever will be.
Democracy is everything that America now is not. And, by the way, where the hell is Osama?
I woke up, turned on Today, and heard the slightly-more-confused-than-normal voice of Katie Couric attempting to explain that a plane crashed into the WTC. OK, I thought, no big deal. But as I tended to the morning routine, the second tower was hit, and we all knew this was no accident.
I watched the towers burn, and knew that lives were being lost. But it was simply unimaginable to us at the time that the towers would collapse, and when the first one did, I stood there, stunned, unable to move away from the TV. The next days were a constant stream of analysis as we watched it unfold over and over, as we discovered the horror of those who had died. The thought that skyscrapers could collapse was simply unbelievable. Surreal shots of people on the streets of NYC running from the dust cloud played against engineering debates, political accusations, and shots of sad family members posting pictures on phone poles.
It seemed like a different world then. We were innocent. We had not been attacked on our soil like this in my lifetime. We were free, proud, and certain that our government valued civil liberties. After all, that is why we proudly proclaimed ourselves Americans back then. I felt patriotism for the first time in my life that September, as I saw trucks waving flags and praising unity. We were going to find who did this, and we were going to make sure it didn't happen again. For the first time in my life, Americans stood together. We were going to find Osama.
Where is Osama?
I sit now in Iraq, as someone intimately connected to our so-called war on terror. I know what I do here has no relation whatsoever to 9/11. I know that Saddam was a convenient target, one easily reached, a figurehead for cultures and religions that we could never quite grasp. Day by day we see our freedoms back home disappear in random checks, pat downs, profiling, and the draining of our economy.
Where is Osama?
We build databases now. That is what we have become. Everything, everyone is suspect. You are now suspect. I have personally been pulled aside by the police and subjected to interrogation for taking pictures in a public place. Yet we follow like lemmings, wherever the 'terror' flag is waved. Every evil, Orwellian governmental fantasy is now possible, and we remain completely oblivious. How many times has some drooling idiot gotten on TV to proudly proclaim "I guess a little delay is OK if it makes us safer." Yeah, right. Have you seen what they do with those scans of you that they take at the airport?? You know, the one where they can see your genitals? You are a coffee break joke, buddy.
Where is Osama?
Billions. Can you even grasp that? Billions upon billions. Border security that doesn't work. Immigration laws that are useless. Services lost, endless budgets that are sacrificed for this war on terror. We have now seen the end result of the maceration of democracy: we cannot respond to the real threat of natural disasters. The families torn apart by 9/11, the families that have lost their own to car bombs in Baghdad, and the families of the bloated floating in the streets of New Orleans all share a common thread: your tears will never be dried by this government.
Where is Osama?
We sit here in Iraq amidst the thousands of air conditioners trucked in to keep our American foreheads cool, amidst the fully-loaded Chevy and Ford SUVs that we could never afford to drive back home, eating steak dinners, deriding the amount of money being thrown at this war. I have overheard some laughing in earnest at the American taxpayer for their ignorance. The official term is "daily burn rate." You don't want to know.
Where is Osama?
Saddam goes to trial next month. I am sure it will be a time of more violence here in Baghdad. Yes, we have managed to topple a sovereign government after constructing a plausible-only-to-the-stupid case against them. We are now the terrorists. We spread treachery and deceit, waving it right under ole red, white, and blue. We have managed to anger the entire world, and make no apologies for our arrogance. We are America, after all. We are the cowboys. We are coming to a country near you.
Where is Osama?
We lost sight somewhere of Osama, the real threat. Or maybe we didn't. Maybe we really didn't care. In the confusion, we transmuted truth for political expediency. That seemed much easier.
Where is Osama?
We seem no closer to providing stability to a nation verging on civil war. We cannot give Iraq democracy. It cannot be transplanted no matter how much we spend. That is what GW can never understand in his stammering, swaggering mind. Democracy is earned. Democracy comes from within. Democracy is the essence of the people. Iraq is not there yet. Some doubt they ever will be.
Democracy is everything that America now is not. And, by the way, where the hell is Osama?
posted by akantha at 4:35 PM
2 Comments:
Somebody's been reading his David Foster Wallace.
Great writing.
Wow, thanks. DFW is my favorite, just finished reading my first of his. Have more on the way...
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