Posted on 07/23/2002 8:06:27 PM PDT by Texasforever
We are a little more than a month away from the 1st anniversary of 911 and I am sure that the media is gearing up for a deluge of heart rending retrospectives and for a few hours Americans will turn from the stock market and remember that long ago event with not a dry eye to be found. I say “long ago” because on American time, a year is ancient history. We vaguely remember that we fought a 3-month campaign in Afghanistan that may have killed Bin Laden but even that is unknown at the moment. We vaguely remember the anthrax mailings and the President’s speech in which he declared war on terrorism and that the war would be long and for the most part not a television event. We will vaguely remember the flood of patriotic feelings and calls for citizen participation in a war to save our civilization against an enemy that wanted to kill us and did so by the thousands.
In the weeks and months following 911, the American people were shocked into an awareness of danger that can only be described as a nerve laid bare. We accepted the fact that air travel was going to be more inconvenient and that the need for added security measures in all areas would need to be tightened up. As 911 receded and the TV action in Afghanistan gradually withdrew to be replaced by the Enron collapse and the mundane day to day events that were so common pre 911, a sense of comfort started to seep back into our lives. It has been almost a year since the last attack and we are beginning to wonder if all of this inconvenience is required. Many people from the entire political spectrum are also now asking if the government and especially this administration are using a year old event to expand government intrusion into the lives of average citizens. To make their point they cite every step the government takes to strengthen security as either unworkable, an over reaction or a sinister plot. You would be hard pressed to point to one government action that has been taken that has been viewed as positive from the media and pundits.
The administration is pilloried for issuing too many warnings, not enough warnings and the non-specificity of any of the warnings. All new laws passed are immediately interpreted as a threat, not to terrorists that may be in our midst, but to the citizens of this country. Volunteer efforts are not exempt from this onslaught with the “TIPS” program a prime example of equating a telephone tip line to the East German Stasi. The big news now is how to protect the constitutional rights of terrorist suspects. What this tells me is that many people are ready to “declare victory” and get back to our comfortable pre-911 lives. That certainly would calm the nerves of many that fear the government more than the terrorists that seem to have given up and gone home. It could be that President Bush was wrong and the war was actually only 3 months long and that any further action will be far away from our shores as we have come to expect.
I would truly hate to be in the shoes of this or any other president given public’s loss of urgency in the War on Terror. If he actually believes, based on all information given to him that there remains a serious threat to the country and he does not take the steps he and his advisors deem necessary and an attack succeeds, he is through as president and with him his party and depending on the nature of the attack maybe the country. If he does take the steps required he is in the situation he faces today, a public that has decided that an attack unmade is a threat not real and it is time to go back to our comfortable slumber unencumbered by needless and “dangerous” laws and government intrusion and inconvenience. There is validity in fearing expansion of government and the attendant powers it assumes. That is always a threat from any government ever conceived by man. That fear is sometimes tempered by an external threat dire enough to balance the fear of our own government against the fear of the external threat such as terrorism. I sense that the external threat is no longer perceived as strong enough in the War on Terror to keep the perception of being at war. Without television coverage of bombs dropping and anti-aircraft fire in ghostly green streamers and Pentagon press conferences war is not a state many feel the country is in.
One thing we have learned is that no “war”, without public support and cohesiveness of purpose, can be won and certainly not a war that is without a defined battleground and an easily identifiable enemy that is what we are used to and that image is ingrained in our national psyche. For a short 5 months there was a battleground, it was in downtown Manhattan and in our nation’s capitol. It was on an airplane that was headed for the White House and brought down by ordinary citizens fighting an identifiable enemy. It was in Afghanistan complete with Pentagon Briefings and eerie green battle scenes. That was war. But that was long ago and far away. The new War, in the minds of many, is now called, “The War on Our Civil Liberties” and is now being fought on the familiar battleground of politics and agendas. It is a war against the possible abuses of a government that many people are far more afraid of than an enemy that appears to have given up. They may be right. I pray they are.
You can always tell your critics you cribbed it from the UN.
If this Presidents only answer to 9-11 is to attack the Bill of Rights and Civil Liberties, his popularity will tank and is tanking. He certianly did himself no favor in plainly displaying the exclusivity of his "conservative compassion" which reacts with horror at the thought that a terrorist might not attain a visa, or an illegal alien might not be able to get a drivers license or bank account, and stops cold at 80 year old caucasion grand mothers being strip searched at Airports. His displeasure at Israel's "heavy handedness" for doing in the Gaza Strip what we have done in Afghanistan and better do in Iraq if we want our troops brought home alive.
Who can blame a rational population for looking at this situation, open borders, planes landing every day from terrorist nations, visa's being issued to people from terrorist nations, the INS being protected from destruction, "no plans on the desk for a war with Iraq", 245i, for believing that the real war is not against terrorists, but against Americans and their freedom. I think most people feel if the only thing that comes from this "War of Terror" is the curtailing of civil liberties, the demand that for the sake of "racial profiling" that all of us become terrorist suspects, the forming of agencies with great potential for great abuse, then forget about it, we will pass thank you.
I think you and Tex are being a little too pessimistic here. This isn't the first time we've been hit and hurt. Pearl Harbor comes to mind. People were complacent prior to that attack but eventually The American people rose to the occasion. I believe we will again despite the gloomy picture you both paint.
By the way, Texasforever, your writing skills are quite good.
Normally war would get more attention. But this unconventional war and a lot of it will be fought covertly and not make the headlines. We were advised about that from the start if you recall.
I agree. I think a great many of us haven't lost sight. We just don't get much press.
But I don't think the publics priorities have changed all that much. After all there are kids to be raised, food to be put on the table and bills to be paid. But I still see more American flags being displayed than I ever have before.
Think of it in these terms, the terrorists thought that 9/11 would bring us to our knees and it didn't. Living a normal life is the best way the average American can thumb his nose at those blood thirsty bastards.
I think it depends on what part of the country you live in. I have been mildly surprised to see the number of American flags still adorning cars or flying from shops and stores. And I still see a lot of people are still wearing their flag pins. I live in Oregon...so this response has been even MORE surprising (although, it was only 3 counties in Oregon that elected Gore). I did NOT expect the patriotism to last this long. And I think the public display of patriotism carries the message that no, we haven't forgotten we are at war.
Whenever I read a post about the civil liberties we are losing (although most can't name one)....or the inconvenience that is being imposed on us, I think back to the stories my Mom used to tell me about WW2. Driving the coastal highways without headlights, IF you had gas or tires. The rationing, no meat, nylons, coffee. The black-out curtains. And I realize that MOST of the whiners and naysayers, even if their fear is generated by honest concern, have NO concept of what MIGHT/COULD be coming.
I think another attack(s) will occur. THEN we shall see how much inconvenience is tolerated, I guess.
Yes we will.
Yes as it should be, and an excellent point you make.
I will after you answer the question I asked you first.
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