I'll get it out of the way right now so everyone can get angry at me and call me anti-American or cold hearted or whatever they're going to call me. I don't approve of the attitude behind the remembrance of 9-11. I did, at first. In its genesis, the reaction to the mention of 9-11 was justified: righteous anger, demand for justice, and mourning for those lost in the tragedy of that day. Now I see it used almost as a way for the government to say "this is why we need to stay in Afghanistan." Personally, I don't think we should be in Afghanistan at all. You simply can't declare war on terrorism itself. Terrorism is an ideology. It's everywhere. If America were to send soldiers to every country we found terrorist activity in, we'd have military occupation all across the globe. I believe that going to Iraq initially was acceptable, though it was as much a publicity act as it was an act of vengeance. America couldn't afford to be seen as docile; the country that won't respond to a terrorist attack.
I do believe that we should never forget that day happened. We should honor the courage of those who died. But I stand by my belief that if we're going to hold 9-11 in remembrance, it should be for the right reasons. Don't use 9-11 as an "Uncle Sam wants YOU to fight terrorism" recruiting ad. Don't exploit the deaths of those people. I disapprove of much of the government's policies, attitudes, and activities, as many of my friends know. As additional inclination to disapprove military presence in Afghanistan, my brother is there right now; fighting a war that we should have left long ago. The collateral damage of war alone done to Iraq, Afghanistan, and wherever we end up invading next is enough to spur terrorism on even more, and create new insurgents every day in response to our irrational peak of western aggression. Defense of the realm, as it were, is perfectly logical. An international crusade against terrorism which entails the imposition of U.S. forces upon whatever country we deem fit in order to reach our goal is not. This takes me back to a blog post I wrote in the past regarding international foreign policies concerning America's misguided belief that we are entitled to police the world as we see fit. We respond irrationally to perceived threats, and with a sense of irony that effectively perpetuates those aforementioned threats to new and more radical heights.
Perpetuation. That's what most of my thoughts can be summed up into.
J R Williams
