There is something profoundly reassuring to me when I heard that Obama was so pedantic about putting the word “faithfully” in its proper place. It cannot be said enough how September 11, 2001 was the day that America could have achieved full ascendancy over the entire earth. It could have been that day that America could have put the freedom, moral fortitude and perseverance of the American people into the limelight for good. Instead, a mistake was made. Instead of seeing the attack on the World Tradecenter as the last gasp of dying fundamentalism attacking the institution of globalization, America saw it as a show of a growing strength and a stab at the American people.
Bin Laden with all his hangups about Saudi Arabia, and modernized Muslims attacked America to create enmity and fear in Muslims. He attacked the USA because he could never have gotten away with attacking Medina or Riyadh. New York and Washington was his proxy and the proxy of the Saudi’s flying those planes. America became the projection of the perceived evil in Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Arab countries everywhere.
If America knew this then they may not have attacked Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction. America would have stepped up modernization of the regional powers looking for common bonds and common interests. Radical Islam, Wahabism and the like could now be dead and President Bush may have been the hero of the 21st Century.
Instead under the illogical precepts tactics and leadership developed in a Cold war era, America and its few allies embarked upon an 8 year campaign of labelling, blanket statements and ostracizing; playing right into the hands of Al-Qaeda, Afghan Warlords and Pakistani politicians. There is no bigger statement than killing and no bigger blanket statements than sending missiles and adrenaline filled young men into villages of women children and angry men trying to protect their pride and families.
America failed to take advantage of the political capital gained by 9/11. Iran one of the first countries to condemn the attacks has emerged as the next threat under the Bush administration. Russia has moved away from its apprenticeship in US style free markets into oligarchic capitalism, mistrust and sulking enmity. The United Kingdom which once acted as a common bond between Europe and the US has become subjected to US geopolitical views and the US is seen as an enemy of freedom, the very thing that was attacked on that September.
We will destroy terrorism not by turning America’s young men and women into terrorists; we will destroy terrorism not by paying and empowering factions to fight other factions; we will destroy terrorism by showing alternatives to armed struggle, by spreading democracy and showing that this method of rule is by far the most humane, fair and best system of government.
A grave mistake was made, one which snowballed into a state of constant economic and political uncertainty and now, one hopes this will be corrected. This mistake caused hundreds of thousands of needless lives to be lost and the shattering of any possible façade of American benevolence. This mistake can not be left uncorrected.
Barak showed up in front of George Bush’s appointed Chief Head Justice to correct a comparatively smaller mistake. He has embarked on correcting the mistake of Guantanamo and he may try to correct the mistake of America’s post 9/11 reaction to the world. Despite being realistic about Obama’s background and backers I foster that hope that his administration will put America in its proper place.
