Twenty years ago today, on September 11, 2001, our world changed for the worse. On that day, 19 Islamic terrorists flew three aircraft into three buildings. A fourth attack was thwarted by the passengers of United Airlines flight 93, who sacrificed their lives to make sure their aircraft didn’t reach its target. 2977 people died in the attacks, still the largest single terrorist attack in world history, and the deadliest attack on US soil ever – including Pearl Harbor.
Nor is the dying over. On that day, thousands who worked in lower Manhattan or who rushed there to help in the aftermath of the World Trade Center’s collapse were exposed to a toxic miasma of silica, gypsum and glass dust, asbestos and a laundry list of carcinogenic chemicals, from atomized mercury to zinc. Many quickly developed lung diseases and cancers, which continue to kill them. About 4,000 have died and perhaps as many as 60,000 others will eventually succumb to diseases they contracted on, or just after, September 11.
Like many others I watched the attacks unfold on television, a sense of surreal horror surrounding the reports. As with most of us, that horror metamorphosed into resolve: to find and punish those responsible, and to “Never Forget.”
Oh, but we did forget.
The first part was easy: al Qaeda, a terrorist organization fueled by Islamic fundamentalism with financial and other ties to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan was quickly identified as the perpetrator. Its leaders, including Osama bin Ladin, were resident in Afghanistan, then governed by the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement. When the US – and its allies – demanded that the Taliban hand over those responsible, they refused. They were toppled shortly thereafter in a brilliantly executed military campaign involving a minimal number of US forces and about ten thousand Afghan fighters.
Then we forgot everything. We concentrated on creating Belgium in the midst of a region which has never willingly experienced anything beyond 8th-century theocracy and warlordism. We poured billions and hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into this forlorn enterprise. By the time most of the al Qaeda leadership involved in the 9/11 attack were killed or imprisoned it hardly seemed to matter. What was really important was saving the future for the women of Afghanistan, or some other such idealist nonsense.
Because we forgot. And as we watched Joe Biden’s Kabul Runaway Scrape with the same sense of surreal horror, the Taliban swept back into power returning the Afghan board to its original condition.
History is a hard teacher, but it has valuable lessons if we listen. In this case, one might lead with the oft-heard but rarely heeded admonition that we have a military to kill our nation’s foes and destroy their stuff until they agree to peace on our terms. It is not the job of the military to “send a message” and definitely not to build a nation. That task belongs to the residents, no one else. We could help, maybe – but only if we’re asked. More generally we must remember that in any case, a good thing badly done is still a thing badly done.
Second, retain focus on the target. With the fall of the Taliban government and the capture or death of al Qaeda leadership, our job in Afghanistan was over. We should have left at that point.
Third, keep promises. If we say “Thus far, and no farther,” anyone pulling a face and going farther should be reduced to dust and body parts. We should mean what we say. Until we do, we should refrain from empty threats of force. They only make us look weak and stupid to people who actually would do the above. Xi Jinping, for example. Or Vlad the Terrible. Because they know the difference between bluster and resolve. And yes, between “No American will be left behind” and hundreds of Americans left behind.
Finally and related to the above: if one promises to “Never Forget,” one should make every effort not to do so. It’s not easy; the commitment and focus of remembering require work. But if “Never Forget” is simply a slogan tossed off to indicate moderate outrage that one’s life has been somewhat inconvenienced by a terrible but remote event about which one intends to do nothing, it would be more honest to use the ubiquitous modern throwaway “Whatever.”
At least there will be no mistaking one’s intentions.
