Six Months

Tuesday, March 12 2002

"Six month anniversaries" might be cute and fun in relationships but they have no place elsewhere. Yesterday, someone decided that this nation should stop and mourn the September terrorist attacks again. I can't think of anyone who has truly forgotten them yet and gone on with their lives. The fighting continues in Afghanistan and our government is making menacing noises toward Iraq despite their complete lack on involvement in the attacks. Why do we need a reminder?

Thousands of lives were lost in the attacks but it's easy to argue that the greater damage was done to our national character. In the wake of the attacks, the American public decided to allow our precious civil liberties to be taken away. Now that people are starting to question the wisdom of such actions in greater numbers, some genius decided to have a six month memorial.

Most of the people involved in this idea were probably pure in their motivation. On the other hand, there are some with more sinister motives. Increased security at airports is one of the few measures almost every American is willing to accept without question. There are a few dissenters and those are comprised mostly of wealthy Americans who fly first class on business travel. They are used to having their way and the sensible security measures in place are wounds on their pride.

I've noticed a few articles in the news here and there concerning this. It hasn't become a major news item yet but the rich are getting their convenience back. There are ideas circulating concerning a few ideas. One of these, for example, is to form a special security class for people wealthy enough to buy special ID cards. These people would only face abbreviated security proceedures.

This war against Osama bin Laden's terrorist network has had a terribly uneven effect on people. The victims of the actual attacks and their families have faced the greatest burden. The soldiers of the elite branches of our Armed Forces and their families have faced almost as much. (I'm not talking about casualties and their families. Their grief should never be taken lightly.) The rest of the country faces only a few inconveniences together.

Our civil liberties are being threatened in many ways. Suspected terrorists are allowed to be deprived of their rights despite a lack of definition for the word. Most of those affected are relatively poor and have little political voice. The rest of us face increased security and the delays that follow.

The idea that the rich would be partially exempted from even this small burden is absurd. Instead of a national moment of silence, let's talk about taking care of those who are unemployed. Instead of wasting energy on two giant beams of light where the Towers stood, let's take a look at the nation's blood supply. Are we in decent shape that way?

Our soldiers out to exact justified revenge on Osama bin Laden are not defending our freedom. Our freedom is being attacked from within while they fight and die to avenge the lives that were lost. While they show others the price anyone will pay for attacking this country, elements of our government are undermining the message.

Iran, Iraq and North Korea are another story completely separate from the attacks we endured. Iran attacked us back in 1980 by taking hostages. I do not deny that. On the other hand, they have been acting as good citizens of the world recently. We fought both Iraq and North Korea in previous wars. What are they doing now to garner such frightening aggression from us?

Iraq may be building weapons of mass destruction. Should we let them watch Afghanistan and learn or should we attack and give them reason to use those weapons? Elements in Iran have been linked to certain elements of violence against Israel and in Afghanistan. Should we help those elements regain full power by condemning or attacking them? Finally, North Korea has the largest conventional army in the world right now. That army isn't doing anything. Why should we give them reason?

If any of these countries attack us or our allies, we should exact a massive revenge. That is what deterrence is all about. Perhaps we moved away from that at the end of the Vietnam War. Perhaps we should have launched a massive attack on Iran for taking our hostages. I certainly believe that President Bush should have ordered Iraq conquered in 1991. This is not justification to attack now.

Instead, we should defend freedom by defending it. We should look into campaign finance reform and election reform. We should protect our freedom of expression. Freedom starts at home.