Don’t Have Much to Say About 9/11

I don’t have much to say about 9/11, six years after. Six years ago today I was sitting in my living room, watching the news as I do every morning. The regular programming was interrupted by the report of a jet aircraft having collided with one of the towers of the World Trade Center. Over the next several hours and days I was glued to the set, watching the terrible events unfold. I didn’t feel fear or anger, only shock, then sorrow.

Over the last six years my reactions haven’t changed much. The shock has subsided. The sorrow remains. Things haven’t happened as I would have wanted them to. I opposed both the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq for a complex of reasons including prudential ones and my conviction that there was insufficient political support for war in this country (broad support but not deep support) to sustain conflicts of the length and character that would be entailed to achieve any worthwhile objective, if such a thing be possible at all. I feel fully vindicated in my position, although not triumphant or satisfied in any way. Just saddened.

I think a unified United States would be better for us and for the world; it doesn’t look as though I’m going to get my wish. I think a unified Iraq would be better for the people of Iraq, for the people of the United States, and for the world. It doesn’t look as though I’ll get my wish in that, either.