The True Lesson of 9/11

 

Remember how united we were after 9/11?

 

And remember how George W. Bush manipulated that unity and weaponized it into an excuse to wage a needless war against Iraq? Remember how we were told that the war would be quick, easy, and pay for itself? And remember how the war killed over 4,400 Americans, wounding almost 32,000 others, costing the treasury almost $2 billion and dragging on for almost two decades? And for what? For stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction that weren't there. Boy, what a bunch of suckers we were. 

 

One president misled us into war. And now, 19 years later, another president misleads us about virtually everything that comes out of his mouth. Why wouldn't he? Why wouldn't he lie to us when he saw how gullible we were to march off to war after a predecessor played on and preyed on our sense of nationhood and our desire for justice? Our impulses for patriotism and for righting wrongs, among others, are merely frailties to be twisted for the selfish benefit of those in power. This might be the true legacy and the true lesson of 9/11.