9/11 Is Over

[JODO 2]

September 30, 2007

Op-Ed Columnist
9/11 Is Over
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Not long ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran a fake news story that began like this:

"At a well-attended rally in front of his new ground zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11. 'My fellow citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a promise,' said Giuliani during his 18-minute announcement speech in front of a charred and torn American flag. 'As president of 9/11, I will usher in a bold new 9/11 for all.' If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world's conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions."

Like all good satire, the story made me both laugh and cry, because it reflected something so true — how much, since 9/11, we've become "The United States of Fighting Terrorism." Times columnists are not allowed to endorse candidates, but there's no rule against saying who will not get my vote: I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don't need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate.

What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.

It is not that I thought we had new enemies that day and now I don't. Yes, in the wake of 9/11, we need new precautions, new barriers. But we also need our old habits and sense of openness. For me, the candidate of 9/12 is the one who will not only understand who our enemies are, but who we are.

Before 9/11, the world thought America's slogan was: "Where anything is possible for anybody." But that is not our global brand anymore. Our government has been exporting fear, not hope: "Give me your tired, your poor and your fingerprints."

You may think Guantánamo Bay is a prison camp in Cuba for Al Qaeda terrorists. A lot of the world thinks it's a place we send visitors who don't give the right answers at immigration. I will not vote for any candidate who is not committed to dismantling Guantánamo Bay and replacing it with a free field hospital for poor Cubans. Guantánamo Bay is the anti-Statue of Liberty.

Roger Dow, president of the Travel Industry Association, told me that the United States has lost millions of overseas visitors since 9/11 — even though the dollar is weak and America is on sale. "Only the U.S. is losing traveler volume among major countries, which is unheard of in today's world," Mr. Dow said.

Total business arrivals to the United States fell by 10 percent over the 2004-5 period alone, while the number of business visitors to Europe grew by 8 percent in that time. The travel industry's recent Discover America Partnership study concluded that "the U.S. entry process has created a climate of fear and frustration that is turning away foreign business and leisure travelers and hurting America's image abroad." Those who don't visit us, don't know us.

I'd love to see us salvage something decent in Iraq that might help tilt the Middle East onto a more progressive pathway. That was and is necessary to improve our security. But sometimes the necessary is impossible — and we just can't keep chasing that rainbow this way.

Look at our infrastructure. It's not just the bridge that fell in my hometown, Minneapolis. Fly from Zurich's ultramodern airport to La Guardia's dump. It is like flying from the Jetsons to the Flintstones. I still can't get uninterrupted cellphone service between my home in Bethesda and my office in D.C. But I recently bought a pocket cellphone at the Beijing airport and immediately called my wife in Bethesda — crystal clear.

I just attended the China clean car conference, where Chinese automakers were boasting that their 2008 cars will meet "Euro 4" — European Union — emissions standards. We used to be the gold standard. We aren't anymore. Last July, Microsoft, fed up with American restrictions on importing brain talent, opened its newest software development center in Vancouver. That's in Canada, folks. If Disney World can remain an open, welcoming place, with increased but invisible security, why can't America?

We can't afford to keep being this stupid! We have got to get our groove back. We need a president who will unite us around a common purpose, not a common enemy. Al Qaeda is about 9/11. We are about 9/12, we are about the Fourth of July — which is why I hope that anyone who runs on the 9/11 platform gets trounced.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/opinion/30friedman.html?hp

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Guantánamo Bay is the anti-Statue of Liberty.

Total Agreement

..."the U.S. entry process has created a climate of fear and frustration that is turning away foreign business and leisure travelers and hurting America's image abroad."

My folks have not confirmed this at all. Their entry experiences (aside from the optical scan and fingerprinting they are now subjected to) remained quite the same pre- and post 9/11. No fear or frustration whatsoever.

[GaryC 7]

Guantánamo Bay is the anti-Statue of Liberty.

Total Agreement

Gitmo is a necessary evil. As long as we are in this war we need it.

[rclouse 0]

Guantánamo Bay is the anti-Statue of Liberty.

Total Agreement

Gitmo is a necessary evil. As long as we are in this war we need it.

So, we'll be denying people their human rights basically forever.

I cannot disagree more. There is no such thing as a "necessary evil". Do good, always.

[MrsAmera 41]

Wow, I think he's right on. I disagree with the "neccesary evil" there are some evils that are not neccesary. It's like saying "well those darn concentration camps were a neccesary evil to meet Germany's problem". Gah..... Torture and indefinete detainment with no rights whatsoever is not what this country is based on and is in no way what I always believed in America. Let's just say I'm ashamed as to what we've become. Terrorists come in every shape, size and religion - how many of those detainees are rightwing Christians hell bent on blowing up an abortion clinic, hmmmm I think even those terrorists were given a standard of human rights.

[JohnWendy 0]

The invasion was an UNNECCESARY EVIL.... but hey he and his buddies got the oil and favorable contracts! Lets not forget some of te extra money being generated by the 'private security firms" smuggling arms to the :enemies"

[MrsAmera 41]

Wow, I think he's right on. I disagree with the "neccesary evil" there are some evils that are not neccesary. It's like saying "well those darn concentration camps were a neccesary evil to meet Germany's problem". Gah..... Torture and indefinete detainment with no rights whatsoever is not what this country is based on and is in no way what I always believed in America. Let's just say I'm ashamed as to what we've become. Terrorists come in every shape, size and religion - how many of those detainees are rightwing Christians hell bent on blowing up an abortion clinic, hmmmm I think even those terrorists were given a standard of human rights.

ETA: To those who agree with this craziness - try being afraid every day knowing that you or your SO could be accused and halued off for no reason, just because you live your life as any other American does but happen to be a shade darker or look a little like the "enemy". I thought those things were only read about in history books, but now it's something some of us have to really think about.

[GaryC 7]

So what would you suggest we do with the terrorists that we catch? Give them all lawyers, let them out on bail and give them the same protections of US citizens? Sorry, that isn't going to happen.

To those that think there is no war on terror and that 9/11 is over. Get your head out of the sand. This thing has just started. It is going to be going for a long time. Get used to it. We are in a war. A war we didn't want and didn't start. But if we listen to idiots like this we will have the bombs going off in our own cities. You want that?

Edited October 1, 2007 by GaryC

[mRx 16]

Without detainment facilities and interrogations of detainees, many highly influential terror promoters would still be spreading terror and their whereabouts would remain unknown. This is a fact. Information gathered from detainees directly benefits the hunt for cowardly al-Qaeda leaders.

Turn Gitmo into a hospital? While we are at it, let's paint a giant bullseye over America.

[GaryC 7]

Without detainment facilities and interrogations of detainees, many highly influential terror promoters would still be spreading terror and their whereabouts would remain unknown. This is a fact. Information gathered from detainees directly benefits the hunt for cowardly al-Qaeda leaders.

Turn Gitmo into a hospital? While we are at it, let's paint a giant bullseye over America.

That is something that people seem to forget. I wish this war was over. But wishing does not make it true. People may disagree with the reasons for going to war in Iraq or Afghanistan but the truth is the terrorists that started this war are there now. I am not talking about the specific terrorists that did 9/11 but the ones that want to take over the west and install their own idea of government. We can't back down.

If your in a fight to the death you either fight back or die. They are setting the rules here. If we try to fight using our rules and ignore the reality that they have no rules then we lose. It's a fukced up situation. I wish it wasn't happening but it is. I know that some of you will say the minute we give up our rules, the rules of a civilized nation we have lost. That isn't true. We cannot win if only one side is following the rules. So it comes down to this. Do we hang onto our sense of morality and die or fight the fight that we are forced into and survive?

[Otto 83]

[Ban Hammer 13,641]

Without detainment facilities and interrogations of detainees, many highly influential terror promoters would still be spreading terror and their whereabouts would remain unknown. This is a fact. Information gathered from detainees directly benefits the hunt for cowardly al-Qaeda leaders.

Turn Gitmo into a hospital? While we are at it, let's paint a giant bullseye over America.

just got this one in my email, i think it's quite good for this thread

[MrsAmera 41]

Since the Afghanistan war 775 detainees who have been brought to Guantanamo, approximately 420 have been released. As of August 09, 2007, approximately 355 detainees remained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. More than a fifth have been cleared for release but may have to wait months or years for their freedom because U.S. officials are finding it increasingly difficult to line up places to send them, according to Bush administration officials and defense lawyers. Of the roughly 355 still incarcerated, U.S. officials said they intend to eventually put 60 to 80 on trial and free the rest. ---- So that's not very good odds. They've held these people with no sense of knowing when they would be released, and like 5% of them are actual going to be charged with anything not to mention once they are cleared they are still stuck in the same facilities because the US has now blackened their name and can't send them back or anywhere else. It just doesn't seem to make much sense. Arguing that torture is an effective measure to "get information" is fruitless because there are people on both sides of the argument who have opposing opinions. It's not scientific because it's not something you can really ah "test?" Different people react differently. And anyone who thinks this kind of behavior is going to stop terror attacks is kidding themselves, it's this kind of behavior that incites it!!

[Otto 83]

[Ban Hammer 13,641]

snag!