I’ve been procrastinating about this post for a while. It’s not pleasant to revisit the emotions of such an awful day, but I thought I had to post something. 9/11 didn’t just change the world, it changed people’s lives, and if not for 9/11, I might never have gone into International Relations. After 5 years, I should be able to revisit it without flinching. However, every time I open another 9/11 blog post and see images of death and destruction, I do flinch, remembering the horror of seeing it for the first time.
I decided that I’d illustrate this post with a happier image. To me, Liberty and the Twin Towers represent the sacred, inseparable ideals of freedom and capitalism. I have a poster like this on the wall by my desk. That’s what it reminds me of – and if I stop to think about it, it reminds me that those ideals are always under attack, and always worth defending. But other people (as they often are) are more eloquent than I:
Is it beauty and genius they want to see? Do they seek a sense of the sublime? Let them come to New York, stand on the shore of the Hudson, look and kneel. When I see the city from my window—no, I don’t feel how small I am—but I feel that if a war came to threaten this, I would throw myself into space, over the city, and protect these buildings with my body.
Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead, 1943
I read The Fountainhead not long before 9/11, and I never forgot those words. Lindsay Perigo quoted Rand, along with Chris Lewis on SOLO. SOLO also issued its first press release on the subject – John Gagnon, Liberty or Death?. Bernard Darnton offers his recollections here. Peter
Cresswell shares his thoughts from five years ago, and his suggestions for the war here.
It is clear that 9/11 started a war between the Western world and the terrorists, whether you think of that conflict in existential terms, as a “clash of civilizations”, the core vs. the gap, as fourth-generation war (4GW) as I do, or in Pentagon-speak, a “global war against violent extremism.” It will be a long, war, and it started long before 2001, though few on our side noticed. It is a war between civilization and barbarism – one of the worst things about seeing 9/11 on TV was the repeated image of an airliner striking a skycraper – two of the most powerful symbols of our global civilization, co-opted for a barbarous, savage purpose. But after 5+ years of this war, what has changed? It’s certainly an achievement that several other attacks have been halted while in the planning phase. But are we really safer? Or is the Pentagon simply incapable of fighting 4GW?
From Defense Tech: “How we let Osama get away”. Pakistan, “ally” in the war, has just signed a peace deal with the tribal militants thought to be harbouring Osama bin Laden. Winds of Change has a regular summary, the “Winds of War,” on war, terrorism and insurgency worldwide. Here is the latest: Winds of War, 9/11/06. No major attacks, but a general increase in violence by non-state groups – as 4GW predicts. But this isn’t the sort of post for in-depth analysis, so I’ll just point out that 9/11 was not unique, but only the worst example of a continuing trend. And while we call it a war, it is more of an ideological, political and diplomatic struggle than a military conflict – although we should not hesitate to use force when necessary.
Winds of Change have an unequalled roundup of 9/11 links here, with everything from tributes, analysis, eyewitness accounts and eulogies to satire and engineering trivia. Go there for further reading, this post isn’t nearly enough.
We must never forget…
Good post, Phil. And excellent picture selection.
You say, “No major attacks, but a general increase in violence by non-state groups – as 4GW predicts. But this isn’t the sort of post for in-depth analysis…”
I for one have been looking forward with mush interest to your post that is. Get on to it.
Left by PC on September 12th, 2006