Unhappy Anniversary

11 September 2006



Five Years’ on Too Much is Undone

Five years ago, on a clear September morning in New York and Washington (just like it is this morning), 19 murderers turned airliners into guided missiles. Almost 3,000 people died. On the fifth anniversary of the murders, one must balance the natural outpouring of emotion with a cold-eyed assessment of just what has happened since then. In a nutshell, some major work has yet to be done.

While the replacement of the Taliban government in Afghanistan undermined the Al Qaeda safe haven there, the Kabul government still doesn’t control much outside of Kabul. The opium harvest is at record levels and that means millions of dollars going to warlords, and a resurgent Taliban threatens the NATO plan to pacify the country. Indeed, NATO’s man on the ground, General James L. Jones, has even asked for 2,000 additional troops, and he’s backed up by Secretary-General of NATO, Japp De Hoop Scheffer. America’s plans to drop troop levels earlier this year had to be halted because of the failure to get the job done there. There aren’t enough troops – too many are misdeployed in Iraq (which had nothing to do with the attack).

Then, there is lower Manhattan. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin got himself in trouble for saying that no one should be surprised that his city is still flat on its back when folks in New York can’t fix a hole in the ground after 5 years. Sadly, he was right. The families of the dead want a tasteful memorial, but getting 2 people to agree on what that should be is hard – getting thousands to assent to any plan is improbable bordering on impossible. Meanwhile, there are many thousands of people who live there still, and their needs have been put on the back burner. A memorial should be built, but the needs of the living outweigh the needs of the dead. Until the hole in the ground is fixed, that will not have happened.

Then, there is the illness, “World Trade Center Cough,” that is sending many of the rescue workers (heroes every one of them) to early graves. They ran to save whomever they could and recover the bodies of the rest. Their government told them it was safe – a lie. Christie Whitman, the head of the EPA five years ago said, “I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, D.C., that their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink.” Negligent homicide seems an appropriate change, but she remains at large.

And then, there is Usama bin Laden, free man. Right after the attack, President Bush vowed to “rid the world of the evil-doers.” Less than a year later, he said of the man who hit America harder than Tojo, “I don’t really think about him very much. I’m not that concerned.” Mr. Bush clearly isn’t much on promises. Those who watched the WTC burn, not on TV but live and in-person, have a different attitude toward Mr. bin Laden. Never forget, never forgive.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.


Home

Google
WWW Kensington Review







Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay Learn More