Reflections

Here's my quote of the day...

"That [post-9/11] unity was never going to last. The world more easily prefers a superpower when it's wounded and weakened than when it rises and growls. But we have not merely returned to the messy family arguments of Sept. 10. We are divided at home, dreaded abroad, in need of a hard conversation about America's vital interests and abiding values but too bitter and suspicious to have it.

All wars, even the noblest, bring a reckoning of means and ends. The war on terrorism has long since lost its crisp moral lines. Who foresaw that the battle would require a national seminar about when it's O.K. for Americans to torture prisoners and whether near drowning counts? Or a debate over which clauses of the Constitution might be expendable? We may agree that terrorism is wicked, but we're still unsure about how to answer it."
--Nancy Gibbs, wondering in Time Magazine 'What We've Learned'.

A related article at Salon sums up how I feel this weekend:
What we lost

Almost 3,000 Americans died on Sept. 11, 2001. But our losses are still mounting -- in Iraq and at home -- thanks to the bullying, big-lie culture that dominates American politics today.

One of the greatest post-9/11 failures (beyond our foreign policy ones) was the squandering of the post-9/11 moment and all the opportunities it provided. Not only were Americans united as one, but the world was with us as well. Never before has a President had such an opportunity to lead his country, and the world, in a new direction. But, despite a decent start in those first few weeks, it was pissed away. 'We are all Americans' quickly was replaced by 'with us or against us'. 9/11 and terrorism was used to divide the American people, worse then they were before the attack, and score cheap political victories. The Patriot Act, Guantanamo, Iraq and the lies surrounding it, Abu Ghraib, continued tax cuts, wiretapping... it just kept piling up. I am ashamed of what has been done in our names. I don't like reflecting on this weekend and having my thoughts be on the President; this never should have been political. But he made that decision for us five years ago. And for what was this moment pissed away? For expanded presidential power? For war? For partisan gain? I don't know, I don't think anyone knows.

I hope that, whatever the reason, it was worth it, Mr. President.

[Related read: Historians Will Morally Impeach George W. Bush For Exploiting, Not Honoring, 9-11]