The 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon has resulted in a catalogue of self-inflicted disasters for the US. It was exploited by the worst elements of our political system to create a surveillance society, increase military spending, and strengthen US imperialism abroad. Those steps were taken in the name of making us safer, exploited our fears, and were wrapped in the flag. Everyone asked “How it happened.” No one asked “Why it happened.” No one considered that perhaps “They came here because we are there.”
The consequences have been dire. Our reaction to 9/11 has locked in a vicious political spiral from which escape is doubtful. As other countries respond to our imperial militarism, that provides our imperial militarists (liberal and conservative) with the justification for demanding more military spending, more war, and more surveillance.
Side-by-side, the surveillance society allows rapid technological advance without protective guardrails, thereby locking-in “Big Brother” protocols which render our liberty vulnerable to suspension at any moment.
And now, on average, we inflict a 9/11 (3,000 deaths) on others every couple of months via our direct and indirect involvement in foreign wars.
Our political class framed the US response as a global “War on Terror” that would protect liberty. However, it has persistently used the threat of terrorism to justify bulldozing civil liberties. The threat has also encouraged renewed racism. The Muslim community was targeted first. Thereafter, foreigners and immigrants. Now, the screw is being redirected against political activists of all stripes – be they defending civil and electoral rights, protesting genocide, or protesting environmental destruction.
This is the stuff of Greek and Shakespearean tragedy. A tragic event exploited by deceitful and opportunistic politicians. A society desirous of revenge and blind to the role of its own self-righteous aggressions. And a succession of long foreign wars in which there are no victors, and the waging of which cannibalize liberty.
P.S. Below is a cartoon from 1973 by the brilliant Argentine cartoonist Quino, in response to the US-sponsored coup in Chile against President Salvador Allende (the other 9/11). That it fits the US response to 9/11 so perfectly, speaks to its identification of something true and enduring.
