SicEmBaylor
9/11/2015, 05:32 PM
I know you all hate clicking, so I'll just post the entirety of my grumpypolitico.com post here:
It seems appropriate on this, the anniversary of 9/11, to take a retrospective look back on both the events of that day and its immediate aftermath. We seem to do this every year on the anniversary, but 9/11 was such a historical era-defining event that it begs the practice. In fact, it’s important to remember who we were before the attacks in order to have a real conversation about who we want to be, as a society, after the attacks. There are teenagers today who were not even born when the attacks took place. It seems odd that that an entire generation is growing up having no idea what the country was like or what it *felt* like prior to 9/11. This is probably fundamentally no different than the way our parents felt after the Kennedy assassination – another era defining event that, arguably, fundamentally changed the character of American society; likewise, this is probably fundamentally no different than the way our parent’s parents felt after Pearl Harbor – another era defining event that, arguably, fundamentally changed the character of American society. What we haven’t discussed enough is the degree to which we are willing to accept those fundamental changes to the character and nature of American society due to horrific events like 9/11. We take it for granted that change is inevitable (which it is) but how much change should have been at the forefront of public debate years ago. It’s too late now to wind back the clock and make more rational decisions moving forward, but it’s certainly possible not to continue doubling/tripling/quadrupling the mistakes of the path.
We’ll start with the prototypical, ‘Where were you?’ stories: I was a very new freshman Political Science student at Baylor University. I was also very current and well aware (considering my age at the time) of international events and how they tied in with one another and the ripple effect those events could have on American politics. The assassination of Afghan Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Massoud piqued my interest shortly before the attacks. I found it noteworthy because I had long-followed the Taliban’s backward and fundamentalist practice of destroying everything and anything not directly connected to Islam. Such was the case of two 1,700 year old statues of Buddha that were blown up by the Taliban months before the attacks. My thinking was that the assassination of Massoud was the prelude to a major offensive/assault on the Northern Alliance intended to further secure the Taliban’s power in Afghanistan. I was wrong.
My practice was to flip on Fox News each morning as I got ready for class, but I was running late on the morning of 9/11 and never bothered to turn on the TV. First up was Constitutional Development with Dr. Mike Mansfield. If I remember correctly, class started at 9:20am (CST) which would be 10:20am (EST). Either sleepy or oblivious, nothing unusual in the behavior of my fellow students struck me as I made my way to class that morning; furthermore, I didn’t notice anything odd once I entered class and sat down. My first inclination that something was wrong was when Dr. Mansfield walked into class a couple of minutes after I arrived and announced, ‘Obviously we won’t be having a normal class period today.’ From there I learned of the attacks from the discussion taking place between my classmates and professor. The damage to the WTC and Pentagon were well-known; however, there were also rumors that the State Department had been car bombed and there was a shooter on the National Mall (both rumors had been mentioned on the news and both later debunked). One girl who arrived very late joined the discussion by saying she saw the first tower collapse just before she left her dorm room. Some of my classmates suggested this was the start of a new world war; my own reaction was considerably more restrained. I knew a major war was coming, but I absolutely did not believe it would be a world war requiring anything like the number of men/material that WWII took. Afghanistan was not a challenge; although, I didn’t foresee how adept the Taliban/Al-Qaeda would be at irregular warfare that continues to this day (unfortunately).
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, we were united. We were united and that unity was focused on a singular national purpose – punish those responsible and protect the homeland from further attack. The former manifested itself in the form of justified military action against those responsible and those harboring those responsible in Afghanistan; the latter manifested itself in the form of highly questionable domestic security measures that have altered our very freedoms and threatened the liberty that defines us. Our fear and unity combined with one another to implement reams of new law as well as an entirely new cabinet-level department tasked with protecting the homeland. Some of that law was common sense. For example, data sharing between *domestic* agencies was a no-brainer. Keeping better track of those with and in violation of their visas is another no-brainer. Too often, however, we allowed our fear to dictate policy. Federalizing airport security has done nothing to better protect airlines while compromising our most private of personal privacy and leading to the absurd hassling of cheerleader troupes from Texas and old grandmothers in wheelchairs. The Feds were given a bevy of new surveillance tools that allowed law enforcement to snoop and pry on millions of innocent Americans neither suspected nor charged with a crime in anyway. From looking at what library books we check out to warrantless wiretaps to backdoors in consumer encryption, the Federal government was granted unparalleled and historic powers to invade the privacy violate the 4th Amendment rights of the citizenry. In my opinion, clear violations of both the spirit and letter of the United States Constitution. The 2011 NDA (National Defense Act), in an unprecedented and controversial move, declared that United States soil was a ‘battlefield’ if it came under direct attack by terrorists. Terrorists are able to be held indefinitely and are not subject to Constitutional protections. Precisely what constitutes a ‘terrorist’ is determined entirely by however any given Presidential administration chooses to define a ‘terrorist’. Technically, Texas A&M fans could be declared ‘terrorists’ by the President and arrested/held without being charged and without access to an attorney. Throwing Aggie fans into GitMo may be entirely justified, but what happens if a future Administration does this with truly innocent Americans? Adding to the unprecedented ability of the government to invade our privacy, programs were implemented to train local law enforcement on anti-terror tactics while also granting military equipment and hardware to local law enforcement agencies. The militarization of police is a potential dagger aimed right at the heart of American liberty.
When I hear fascistic politicians like Lindsey Graham speak, I’m reminded of just how fragile American liberty truly is. Make no mistake – Graham is no conservative. He’s a right-wing nationalist determined to turn the United States into an armed police state while bombing any nation that fails to heel to American demands. We expect anti-liberty anti-constitutional behavior from liberals. They’re progressive post-constitutionalists who view the document as outdated and a hindrance to the kind of ‘progressive’ social policies they champion. What we don’t expect are the kind of insidious and anti-liberty/anti-constitutional policies championed by Republicans such as Graham and McCain. Since 9/11, we have already allowed too much of our liberty to be sacrificed at the altar of security and safety. Al-Qaeda always knew they couldn’t destroy the United States with bombs, explosives, or airplanes alone. They knew and understood that a grand large scale attack would terrorize the population leading Americans to clamor for more safety and security. It is in that search for eternal safety and security that Al-Qaeda saw its opportunity. The sad truth is that we have allowed the terrorists to win by our own actions. In our effort to root out, prevent, and destroy that which we say threatens our way of life – we have instead become our own worst enemy doing damage to our liberty and way of life that Al-Qaeda could only have dreamed of doing. The damage is done and much of it is irreversible. It will take at least two decades of electing very pro-liberty candidates and majorities to both Congress and the White House before we can begin to heal our self-inflicted damage. I have absolutely no faith or expectation that will ever happen.
So on this, the anniversary of 9/11, let’s never forget those who died at the hands of radical Islam. Let’s never forget the men and women who sacrificed their lives to bring those responsible to justice. Let’s also never forget the principles of liberty and limited-government this nation was founded upon, and let’s never forget the sad truth that we have forgotten all of that entirely.
It seems appropriate on this, the anniversary of 9/11, to take a retrospective look back on both the events of that day and its immediate aftermath. We seem to do this every year on the anniversary, but 9/11 was such a historical era-defining event that it begs the practice. In fact, it’s important to remember who we were before the attacks in order to have a real conversation about who we want to be, as a society, after the attacks. There are teenagers today who were not even born when the attacks took place. It seems odd that that an entire generation is growing up having no idea what the country was like or what it *felt* like prior to 9/11. This is probably fundamentally no different than the way our parents felt after the Kennedy assassination – another era defining event that, arguably, fundamentally changed the character of American society; likewise, this is probably fundamentally no different than the way our parent’s parents felt after Pearl Harbor – another era defining event that, arguably, fundamentally changed the character of American society. What we haven’t discussed enough is the degree to which we are willing to accept those fundamental changes to the character and nature of American society due to horrific events like 9/11. We take it for granted that change is inevitable (which it is) but how much change should have been at the forefront of public debate years ago. It’s too late now to wind back the clock and make more rational decisions moving forward, but it’s certainly possible not to continue doubling/tripling/quadrupling the mistakes of the path.
We’ll start with the prototypical, ‘Where were you?’ stories: I was a very new freshman Political Science student at Baylor University. I was also very current and well aware (considering my age at the time) of international events and how they tied in with one another and the ripple effect those events could have on American politics. The assassination of Afghan Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Massoud piqued my interest shortly before the attacks. I found it noteworthy because I had long-followed the Taliban’s backward and fundamentalist practice of destroying everything and anything not directly connected to Islam. Such was the case of two 1,700 year old statues of Buddha that were blown up by the Taliban months before the attacks. My thinking was that the assassination of Massoud was the prelude to a major offensive/assault on the Northern Alliance intended to further secure the Taliban’s power in Afghanistan. I was wrong.
My practice was to flip on Fox News each morning as I got ready for class, but I was running late on the morning of 9/11 and never bothered to turn on the TV. First up was Constitutional Development with Dr. Mike Mansfield. If I remember correctly, class started at 9:20am (CST) which would be 10:20am (EST). Either sleepy or oblivious, nothing unusual in the behavior of my fellow students struck me as I made my way to class that morning; furthermore, I didn’t notice anything odd once I entered class and sat down. My first inclination that something was wrong was when Dr. Mansfield walked into class a couple of minutes after I arrived and announced, ‘Obviously we won’t be having a normal class period today.’ From there I learned of the attacks from the discussion taking place between my classmates and professor. The damage to the WTC and Pentagon were well-known; however, there were also rumors that the State Department had been car bombed and there was a shooter on the National Mall (both rumors had been mentioned on the news and both later debunked). One girl who arrived very late joined the discussion by saying she saw the first tower collapse just before she left her dorm room. Some of my classmates suggested this was the start of a new world war; my own reaction was considerably more restrained. I knew a major war was coming, but I absolutely did not believe it would be a world war requiring anything like the number of men/material that WWII took. Afghanistan was not a challenge; although, I didn’t foresee how adept the Taliban/Al-Qaeda would be at irregular warfare that continues to this day (unfortunately).
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, we were united. We were united and that unity was focused on a singular national purpose – punish those responsible and protect the homeland from further attack. The former manifested itself in the form of justified military action against those responsible and those harboring those responsible in Afghanistan; the latter manifested itself in the form of highly questionable domestic security measures that have altered our very freedoms and threatened the liberty that defines us. Our fear and unity combined with one another to implement reams of new law as well as an entirely new cabinet-level department tasked with protecting the homeland. Some of that law was common sense. For example, data sharing between *domestic* agencies was a no-brainer. Keeping better track of those with and in violation of their visas is another no-brainer. Too often, however, we allowed our fear to dictate policy. Federalizing airport security has done nothing to better protect airlines while compromising our most private of personal privacy and leading to the absurd hassling of cheerleader troupes from Texas and old grandmothers in wheelchairs. The Feds were given a bevy of new surveillance tools that allowed law enforcement to snoop and pry on millions of innocent Americans neither suspected nor charged with a crime in anyway. From looking at what library books we check out to warrantless wiretaps to backdoors in consumer encryption, the Federal government was granted unparalleled and historic powers to invade the privacy violate the 4th Amendment rights of the citizenry. In my opinion, clear violations of both the spirit and letter of the United States Constitution. The 2011 NDA (National Defense Act), in an unprecedented and controversial move, declared that United States soil was a ‘battlefield’ if it came under direct attack by terrorists. Terrorists are able to be held indefinitely and are not subject to Constitutional protections. Precisely what constitutes a ‘terrorist’ is determined entirely by however any given Presidential administration chooses to define a ‘terrorist’. Technically, Texas A&M fans could be declared ‘terrorists’ by the President and arrested/held without being charged and without access to an attorney. Throwing Aggie fans into GitMo may be entirely justified, but what happens if a future Administration does this with truly innocent Americans? Adding to the unprecedented ability of the government to invade our privacy, programs were implemented to train local law enforcement on anti-terror tactics while also granting military equipment and hardware to local law enforcement agencies. The militarization of police is a potential dagger aimed right at the heart of American liberty.
When I hear fascistic politicians like Lindsey Graham speak, I’m reminded of just how fragile American liberty truly is. Make no mistake – Graham is no conservative. He’s a right-wing nationalist determined to turn the United States into an armed police state while bombing any nation that fails to heel to American demands. We expect anti-liberty anti-constitutional behavior from liberals. They’re progressive post-constitutionalists who view the document as outdated and a hindrance to the kind of ‘progressive’ social policies they champion. What we don’t expect are the kind of insidious and anti-liberty/anti-constitutional policies championed by Republicans such as Graham and McCain. Since 9/11, we have already allowed too much of our liberty to be sacrificed at the altar of security and safety. Al-Qaeda always knew they couldn’t destroy the United States with bombs, explosives, or airplanes alone. They knew and understood that a grand large scale attack would terrorize the population leading Americans to clamor for more safety and security. It is in that search for eternal safety and security that Al-Qaeda saw its opportunity. The sad truth is that we have allowed the terrorists to win by our own actions. In our effort to root out, prevent, and destroy that which we say threatens our way of life – we have instead become our own worst enemy doing damage to our liberty and way of life that Al-Qaeda could only have dreamed of doing. The damage is done and much of it is irreversible. It will take at least two decades of electing very pro-liberty candidates and majorities to both Congress and the White House before we can begin to heal our self-inflicted damage. I have absolutely no faith or expectation that will ever happen.
So on this, the anniversary of 9/11, let’s never forget those who died at the hands of radical Islam. Let’s never forget the men and women who sacrificed their lives to bring those responsible to justice. Let’s also never forget the principles of liberty and limited-government this nation was founded upon, and let’s never forget the sad truth that we have forgotten all of that entirely.