Every year, on 9/11, it's common to see this reminder: "Never forget." 20 years, 6 trillion dollars, and 900,000 lost lives later, it's worth asking: what do we remember since then?
- That George W. Bush was President at the time, wading into a conflict that would cost all the above and more. This would continue into the presidencies of Obama, Trump, and finally Biden.
- Not to let Congress off the hook, Rep. Barbara Lee was the only Congressperson (i.e. the only rep. across the House and Senate) to vote against Authorization for Use of Military Force in 2001. That is to say, almost every other member of Congress approved of this extremely costly and arguably completely ineffective "War on Terrorism"
- Not to let every Congress from 2001 off the hook, the US military budget has increased every year except for a brief decline from 2011-2015. That means in 75% of the years since then, the US military budget has grown. How much "winning" did it get us?
- Though many Americans felt a sense of unity, there was also a spike in Islamophobia. Imagine being so stupid that you held Muslim-Americans responsible for 9/11. That's like blaming Japanese Americans for Pearl Harbor (...!). Not to mention the burden borne by those with brown skin and the endless "random" searches they are subjected to.
- That federal agents have snuck fake guns + explosives past TSA agents with a 95% success rate - is the feeling of security really worth it when it's provided by an agency that largely fails at security and mostly serves to obstruct our autonomy to travel with relative convenience? Is the "War on Terror" won when we spend ~8 billion a year on the feeling of security, or is it lost because we have succumbed to the fear?
Those are just some things I think we should never forget. That when America was hurt, we went for ineffective vengeance. That we reacted in anger and fear, not confidence and courage. Instead of justice, we sought destruction. & for all of the death that we dealt, how offended we were just a few weeks ago when a minuscule measure of it was returned to us.
