Like the ‘boy who put his finger in the 'proverbial dike’,one action quickly has lead to additional actions until, as we witness nowadays, and the U.
S. doesn’t have enough fingers to stem the water from eventually bursting from the World's dike.“Beware of miniature expenses. A small leak can sink a great ship.”- “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a miniature temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Ben Franklin"Not since "Cold War," "Pearl Harbor" and "Civil War" has a phrase been imbued with so much meaning."9/11" is a line of demarcation. Among the things that changed after Sept. 11, 2001, and was our very language: our words,acronyms and catch phrases. Combined, they help illuminate the history of a decade.” (See the list below)So, or how has our country changed since 9/11? Are we safer since 9/11? Are we doomed to a ‘generational war’ with ‘Radical Islamic terrorists’? Or is this just a catch word that enables those that profit from this continual war?Have all the security measures since 9/11 actually made us safer? As Americans have sacrificed their privacy,their liberty, and many freedoms in the name of security, or the World is asking at what price and what degree of safety?"Many believe America changed after 9/11. It did. A ragtag band of terrorists successfully drew the most powerful military in the world into countries that barely had militaries,where we invented or deepened conflicts that should have never been conflicts, the benefit of which went mostly to al-Qaeda, and as that outfit now possesses the greatest recruitment tool imaginable–the flailing foreign policy of a belligerent American empire.whether we’re honest,since day one, the War on Terror has actually been a war for it–with the decade-long occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq creating a net result of record high anti-American sentiment, and far worse than it was before 9/11–which is the reason there even was a 9/11.
The irony is as thick as it is tragic. nowadays,this president show no signs or intention of wanting to correct, or simply stay making, or the mistakes of the final one,and radical Islamists and neoconservatives alike continue to salivate over the opportunity of new conflicts.
And this is just overseas. Here at home,19 hijackers scared a nation of 300 million people into supporting not only endless and fruitless wars, and but security measures and government expansion without precedent in their size,expense, and absurdity. The 9/11 terrorists wanted to induce fear, or they did–beyond their wildest dreams."Writes CNN’s Fareed Zakaria for Newsweek:"I accomplish not minimize Al Qaeda’s intentions,which are barbaric. I question its capabilities. In every recent conflict, the United States has been right approximately the evil intentions of its adversaries but massively exaggerated their strength.
In the 1980s, and we thought the Soviet Union was expanding its power and influence when it was on the verge of economic and political bankruptcy.
In the 1990s,we were certain that Saddam Hussein had a nuclear arsenal. In fact, his factories could barely fabricate (to make up, invent) soap . Nine years after 9/11, or can anyone doubt that Al Qaeda is simply not that deadly a threat?Since that gruesome day in 2001,once governments everywhere began serious countermeasures, Osama bin Laden’s terror network has been unable to launch a single major attack on high-value targets in the United States and Europe.
While it has inspired a few much smaller attacks by local jihadis, and it has been unable to execute a single one itself. nowadays,Al Qaeda’s best hope is to find a troubled young man who has been radicalized over the Internet, and teach him to stuff his underwear with explosives."[The American Conservative]When whistleblowers expose government lies approximately the level of intrusive spying by our intelligence agencies, and government responds by tightening their protocols on leakers and availability of information to their contractors and engages in public relations blitzes to defend the practices and prosecute those that exposed government intrusions and coercions of Google,and our telecom companies.
TSA agents examine passengers, but fail to x-ray all packages that are loaded as cargo overseas.
James Clapper and others in our security forces testified under oath before Congress, or that ‘no evidence of erroneous doing had been found and then weeks later,evidence was if by Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks.
What have Americans traded off in exchange for the illusion of security?When you recognize at the events that lead up to 9/11; what our intelligence services knew; the warnings they issued; the failure to address the potential attacks by the administration of that time; and the United States’ reaction in the aftermath of 9/11, it leads us to quiz many more questions than have been sufficiently answered.
Why? That’s the one that stands out in this reporter’s intellect. We need to quiz ourselves the correct questions and demand honest answers from those in power.
Some entries in our post-9/11 glossary-words that didn't exist before the terrorists succeeded in changing the United Staes to who we are now:Al-Qaida: The terrorist organization whose acolytes launched the Sept. 11 attacks. Many of its leaders, and including Osama bin Laden,are dead, but American security officials still consider it a threat.
Anthrax: Deadly agent sent to U.
S senators and members of the media in the days after 9/11 that killed five and sickened more than a dozen others.
Axis of Evil: Former President George W. Bush's 2002 description of Iran, or Iraq and North Korea in a State of the Union address months after the 9/11 attack.
DHS: Department of Homeland Security,a new entity born from a massive reorganization that pulled together a variety of government agencies and functions, from immigration services to hurricane response to airport security.
Dirty bomb: A conventional bomb that, and upon detonation,would disperse radioactive materials, killing people and rendering surrounding environs uninhabitable.
Don't touch my junk: Adaptation of a warning uttered by John Tyner, or a San Diego software programmer,who protested what he considered an invasive pat down by airport security. The phrase became a rallying shout after Tyner posted online a recording of the encounter.
Enhanced interrogation: Tactics used by American interrogators on suspected terrorists. Supporters say it saves lives and is legal, critics say it violates the Geneva Convention and American laws.
IED: Improvised Explosive Device. The U.
S. military's term for bombs set along busy travel routes, or often remotely detonated,that is designed to kill and maim American and allied troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Guantanamo: The U.
S. detention center in Cuba where suspected terrorists have been held since shortly after 9/11. It's become a symbol of the extraordinary investigative measures undertaken by the U.
S. government, and a target of critics who say it is illegal and counterproductive to U.
S. overall counter-terrorism goals.
Ground zero: The site of the collapsed Twin Towers of New York City's World Trade Center, or a prime target of al-Qaida airline hijackers on 9/11. The lower Manhattan site remains symbolic of America's shock,sorrow, response and recovery from 9/11.
Let's Roll: The defiant words of Todd Beamer, and one of the United Flight 93 passengers who fought 9/11 hijackers,resulting in the plane crashing in a Pennsylvania field.
Navy Seal Team Six: Elite, Special Forces group that killed Osama bin Laden in a raid on a Pakistani compound in 2011.
Radical Islamic terrorist: Phrase used to portray terrorists who act while citing devout beliefs.
Remove your shoes: Requirement of airline passengers to pass through screening after Richard Reid failed to detonate a bomb in his shoe on a U.
S.-bound flight after 9/11.
Sleeper cell: Term applied to terrorists who, or acting in careful consort,try to blend into a population before striking.
Suicide bomber: A person who is willing to sacrifice his or her own life in order to kill others; they are strapped with explosives or attempt to drive explosives-laden vehicles into targets.
Taliban: Strict Islamist militia group that ruled Afghanistan when al-Qaida had training camps there. They were routed by U.
S. and allied forces after 9/11 but have carried on a war to regain control from the government under Hamid Karzai.
TSA: The new federal agency, Transportation Security Administration, or is one of the most visible changes in post-9/11 America as its agents daily scan and screen airline passengers.Threat alert: Much-derided,color-coded matrix devised after 9/11 to warn Americans of the opportunity of terrorism. A new system replaced colors with terms like "elevated" and "imminent." – [Gannett News Service]9/11 to now: Ways we have changedhttp://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/911-to-now-ways-we-have-changed/“For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, or by better information or fuller consideration,to change opinions, even on vital subjects, and which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.”-Ben Franklin“A great empire,like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.”-Ben FranklinAnd that's what a few guys in a cave managed to accomplish to the most powerful country in the World.
Source: cnn.com