bill stoddard billwstoddardcom httpwwwnationalreviewcomhansonhanson091102asp september 11 2002 800 wages september 11 going back september 11 changed world deny watershed event take superficially shortterm view seem think simply sun still rises sets colossal misjudgment collapse towers crashing pentagon murder 3000 americans seen live real time millions world tore scab exposed deep wounds heal leave ugly scars decades killers dealt icons choice 911 date death targeting manifest symbols global capitalism american military power centering destruction largest jewish city world yes got symbols spades idea killing instead become emblematic changes could scarcely imagine islamic fundamentalism proved ascendant static morally repugnant worst plague upon arab world since crusades lurking shadows killing incrementally stealth vampirish terrorists garnered bribes subsidies threats bombs pale wrinkled daylight 911 prove ghoulish fearsome world knows al qaeda bin laden found vile yet banal confident eager eradicate stand one thing kill innocents quite another take armed might aroused united states easily dodging solo cruise missile vastness afghanistan may make good theater bring braggadocio dealing grim american british commandos come 7000 miles head prompts abject flight occasional cheap infomercial run ultimate consequence attacks september 11 merely destruction al qaeda also complete repudiation taliban iranian mullocracy plague pakistani madrassas wouldbe fundamentalist paradise earth foreign relations generation coalition europe learn partnership mere alphabetic nomenclature mutual back scratching euroamerican globetrotters paper alliance without mission nearly 15 years end cold war truth europe noble purposes decade insidiously eroded collective national sovereignty order craft antidemocratic eu 80000person fuzzy bureaucracy whose executive power militarily weak morally ambiguous reliance often dubious international accords sad realization september 11 brutally exposed cry beloved continent moment completely lost moral bearings indeed months progressed problems inherent european way became apparent pretentious utopian manifestos lieu military resoluteness abstract moralizing excuse dereliction concrete ethical responsibility constant american anklebiting even europe lives makebelieve shire keep back forces mordor picturesque borders brave frodos bilbos tagging along nothing proved sobering americans skepticism blinkered european hobbits september 11 america learned moderate arab countries dangerous hostile islamic nations september 11 saudi egyptian kuwaiti means nothing special american least proof friendly hostile libyan syrian lebanese citizenship indeed entire postwar policy propping autocracies triad anticommunism oil arms purchases like nato belongs pre911 age soviet aggrandizement petroleum monopolies learn broadcasting statesponsored hatred israel united states deadly interests scud missiles likely come friends enemies worstcase scenarios like iran afghanistan offer longterm hope stable regimes like saudis governments hate us populations like us vice versa saudi royal family 5000 american troops protect mubarak autocracy snagged billions american dollars afraid democratic reformers islamic fundamentalists good reason islamic governments iran taliban hated masses arab secular reformers exile west praised championed post911 domestic calculus confusing generals military brass call civilians seek liberation iraq chicken hawks worse yet traditional vietnamera invective think rings hollow september 11 sounds like mcclellans shrillness civilian overseers precipitously wanted odious slavery ended resonant pattons audacity charging murderous nazis americans destroyed work single day soldiers killed enemy action since evacuation vietnam nearly 30 years ago indeed troops went ghastly inferno vietnam nearing retirement thank god generation americans present military thousand brave veterans gulf mogadishu panama sustained deadly shooting heavy casualties american soldiers equipment impressive domestic security lax gruesome war may well perilous work high lower manhattan fly regularly jumbo jet handle mail pentagon cia sea sub destroyer real concern sanctity life may hinge employing rather rejecting force inasmuch troops deadly protected abroad women children aged civilians impotent vulnerable home seems moral gamble send hundreds pilots harms way allow madman plots blow infect thousands highrises politics turned upside old days cynical conservatives forced hold noses practice sometimes repellent realpolitik age russian expansionism loathe champion democracy might usher socialist trojan horse whose belly harbored totalitarians disguised parliamentarians thus often loggerheads nave idealist leftists longer end specter deadly aggressive soviet communism revived democratic ideology force diplomacy champions freedom longer sigh back opportunistic rightist thugs promise open economics loot treasuries keep russians instead even reactionaries likely push democratic governments middle east dour skeptical leftists latter multiculturalists often believe democracy valueneutral western construct necessarily universal good pacifists claim nonintervention justice first priority right left greater proponent global freedom liberation idealism obvious domestic ramifications republican president astute enough tap rich vein popular support wages disaster september 11 subsequent terrible year yet likely good evil see things even incredible twelve months ahead wed 11 sep 2002 123715 0400 hansons sept 11 message national review