There has been an outpouring of media attention focused on the anniversary of September 11, 2001. Most readers, I suspect, will have watched and read the many reflections on that event with a variety of mixed, and sometimes conflicting, feelings. I certainly have and, without burdening readers with extensive commentary, I will briefly mention a few here.
On an emotional level, we must have deep regrets for those who were killed at the Twin Towers, in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, and profound sympathy for their families. We have learned, or been reminded, what fine, and in many cases exceptional, people the fallen were. But we can find inspiration from the extraordinary bravery and determination of the first responders at the Twin Towers and of those who thwarted the flight headed to the Capitol.
I also feel a sense of nostalgia, or even yearning, for the sense of unity and common purpose that we shared in the days the followed September 11. Will we ever share such feelings again?
Setting aside emotions so far as possible, there is the question of what we have learned from September 11 and from the twenty years that followed that day. Without burdening readers with extended commentary, here are some brief suggestions:
1. There are limitations on American military power, formidable as it is. An initial success on the ground may lose much of its value if we fail to develop and execute a realistic plan for what happens thereafter. (If we lack the skill or political fortitude required for “nation building,” what is the alternative?)
2. Military claims of progress, in defeating an enemy over a period of years, or in training local forces, require rigorous, if not skeptical, scrutiny.
3. There are limitations on the capability of our intelligence community. Notable examples are the failure to anticipate 9/11, the mistaken belief in weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, misjudging the weakness of Afghan security forces, and the strength of the Taliban, leading up to the sudden fall of Kabul.
4. We must give thanks and credit to the intelligence and law enforcement personnel for the skill and dedication that has kept our homeland safe from a major attack for 20 years.
5. Those who wish to do us harm, may well have the imagination, resources and determination to inflict grievous damage on us. The Islamic extremists who considered us a mortal enemy in 2021 did not disappear with the death of Bin Laden or the dismantling of the ISIS caliphate. The fact that we have avoided another major attack since 2001 is no reason for complacency.
6. In responding to an attack, we must avoid reacting in ways that are contrary to American values and, ultimately, counterproductive. This applies to matters ranging from brutal treatment of prisoners to unnecessarily broad surveillance of citizens and lawful residents.
7. We must not allow our concern for Islamic extremism to be distorted into actions, by government or by the public, against law-abiding Muslims resident in the United States, nor against Muslims seeking to enter the United States.
8. Fear of foreign terrorists must not lead us to ignore or underestimate the dangers from domestic terrorists and their enablers. The attack on the Capitol on January 6, represented a far more dangerous threat to American democracy than the attack on September 11.
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A September 11 piece that readers may have missed is one by Suzanne Garment, a contributing editor of RINOcracy.com. Her treatment of the subject for American Purpose is brief but elegant, and it concludes on a more optimistic note than I have been able to muster. I recommend her essay, and you may find it here.
Readers are invited to submit their own reflections and thoughts as to lessons we have learned or should have learned in the last 20 years.