Post-9/11 crusade created more enemies
Americans are united in their grief as the nation remembers the events of 9/11. Yet for many people who still have no sense of safety, the cloud of this dreadful anniversary has no silver lining.
All across the United States, security has been beefed-up to protect against what has been called the “credible threat” of a new terror attack.Ten years ago America was rocked by unprecedented terrorist act that claimed lives of nearly 3,000 innocent lives and gave birth to a “post-9/11 world”.“Our War on Terror begins with Al-Qaeda. But it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated,” former US President George Bush said in a statement following the attacks.Washington's military reach began with the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and continued with a pre-emptive pounding into Iraq.In the decade that followed, America's fight for freedom has been stained by torture, secret detention, rendition and other human rights violations symbolized by landmarks like Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and the Bagram Airbase prison. “We had garnered the empathy of not only the world, but the Muslim world. And if we had the courage to be vulnerable, we would be far safer and more secure than we are today. Instead we drank deep from that very dark elixir of nationalism,” says journalist and author Chris Hedges. He claims that says America's terror unleashed throughout the Middle East has opened a Pandora’s Box of evils. “Estimates are over a million Iraqis dead since the invasion. Hundreds and hundreds of civilians killed in Pakistan. Thousands killed in Afghanistan. Not to mention millions of people displace into refugee camps. The terror that we have unleashed will not go unpaid and it will strike us eventually.”However, in post-9/11 America, citizens have been forced to compromise their freedom in the name of security. The past decade has paved the way for new state practices such as warrant-less wiretapping, intrusive airport screening and greater authority for law enforcement. What some call a police state in the making.“As this national security state grows. As it becomes easier for the government to scrutinize us in all aspects of our lives I think Americans are going to worry about this. The issue of danger is larger than just that from specific isolated foreigners. It is a danger that is all around us. And much of it may be right here at home, from people in our own country,” US investigative journalist Russ Baker says. But former pilot and member of the Spectrum Group-Civil Aviation Team Mark Weiss believes that a lot still remains to be done in terms of aviation security. It needs to be more people- and customer- friendly than what we are seeing today. “There is a downside to all of this,” Weiss told RT. “We here in the US and, truthfully, around the world, everyone has given up some civil rights and civil liberties. And hopefully as we progress, we refine these systems and the way we operate. Those detriments that are currently there and in place right now, perhaps we can reduce them and prevent those from staying in place and doing a better job in keeping our rights as citizens in the world and preventing incidents from happening.”
Since 9/11, a rising tide of Islamophobia has passed through this formerly tolerant nation.Dozens of Muslim Americans have been arrested and convicted in so called FBI-foiled terror plots. Plots that were orchestrated and manufactured by government-paid informants.“These cases have been created by the government and yet we’re supposed to feel safer because criminals that would not have come up with the plot had it not been brought to them on a platter by the US government are now in jail,” according to Sally Eberhardt from the group Educators for Civil Liberties."We've snowballed the violence that's going on around the world. Only reinforced many violent, ignorant narratives, of American imperialism around the world. And I think we've created more enemies than friends. We've targeted communities rather than make them partners, and not only has it not made us any safer, I think it has undermined the very fabric of American society," explains Cyrus McGoldrick from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.The fabric of a post-9/11 America which is still waging war in the name of freedom.America's campaign against terror began as a personal strike back. But in the 10 years that followed, a military crusade to promote peace has fueled more vengeance, danger and insecurity around the world. The man behind 9/11 may have been eliminated, but international safety has yet to be delivered.The proclaimed war was an enormous distraction from the real problems in the US, claims George Kenney, a former US diplomat. Spending trillions of dollars abroad instead of dealing with domestic issues is unjust, immoral and just wrong, he adds. “Most Americans don’t really understand what the US does overseas, why this country is spending an unbelievable amount of money on making people’s lives miserable around the world”, says Kenney. Moreover, US citizens have to sacrifice their own freedom too. A relatively small group of rich people has declared a silent war, believes Kenney, and have managed to trick everybody into allowing them to steal everything – and that cannot last long. This deep contradiction is rooted in the system of political rule in the US, continues Kenney. “American politics is the politics of a dysfunctional government. And it’s always been dysfunctional. And we all need to look hard at the very constitutional foundations”, he stresses. A paradigm shift is needed now to normalize the situation, he concludes.
