9/11 - Opportunities Lost

Today there will be several TV specials, newspaper articles and blogs about 9/11. Most will center on the victims and the horrible tragedy that befell them . . . as well they should. These were innocent victims of radical religious action. I, on the other hand would like to look at something else we lost in the months following that day. Opportunity.

In the aftermath of the terror attacks just four short years ago, America was showered with something we had not felt since the heady days of the 1950s . . . Goodwill. There was a genuine outpouring of brotherhood from every corner of the world. A headline in France read "Today, we are all Americans".

When we discovered that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda were behind these senseless attacks, we were resolute and united in a decision to go after the terrorists responsible. Afghanistan and the Taliban were the obvious choice. This is where al Qaeda was training most of their "soldiers". This is land that was giving bin Laden shelter. This was a clearly defined target. I will have to admit that I was a little leery of going to Afghanistan for the simple reason of the Soviet quagmire that occurred when they tried to hold on to the area. But this time, the world was with us. This was a true coalition of the willing. Every nation that joined us in our quest to hunt down the terrorists was with us as brothers.

Then something terrible happened. Our President believed he had a chance to deliver on one of his personal goals . . . a chance to take down the man his father had failed to remove. Iraq was personal for George Walker Bush. Even before he was elected President, he said if he had the opportunity, he would attack Iraq and bring down Saddam Hussein.

One of the sad points of this story is that when the rest of us were mourning the thousands of people who lost their lives and the thousands more who lost a loved one, George W. Bush was asking his people if there was any way we could pin this tragedy on Iraq. At this point there were almost no Americans who believed Iraq was in anyway involved. Polls taken right after 9/11 showed that only 3% even mentioned Iraq or Hussein as possible guilty candidates. However, because of a devious campaign of half-truths and innuendo set up by Karl Rove and the White House, by January of 2003, a Knight Ridder poll, revealed that 44 percent of Americans said that either "most" or "some" of the 9/11 terrorists were Iraqis.

So what happened to all that brotherhood and goodwill we were felling from the other countries we share this planet with? It was quickly dissolved by the arrogance of a man who should have never been in any public office, let alone the Presidency. While we are once again receiving an outpouring of condolence from around the world because of the natural disaster that beset the Gulf Coast area, it doesn't include the goodwill that was there before.

As I write this, I am quite aware that many Americans who were previously blind to Bush's lies are now coming out of their stupor. Bush's approval numbers continue to drop and even Colin Powell is admitting the mistakes made by deceiving the country . . . Powell has said his speech to the UN was a low point in his career. But the knowledge that the veil of lies is beginning to shred holds no joy. I am still saddened by the continuing deterioration of the respect our country once held. Perhaps in the years to come, we will once again have a leader who will openly court the friendship and cooperation of the rest of the free world with an open hand of friendship instead of a closed fist of tyranny. That day will be long in coming and will require some humility and an open declaration of apology for the actions that were taken by George Bush in the name of the United States. It will also require a leader who recognizes our opportunities lost.