It's Sunday, the tenth anniversary of America's Day of Fear. I refuse to use the favored shorthand. It was a well planned attack, but the crippling effects were self induced. I offer this as the reflections of a fighter who signed up before the war and as a citizen who wishes there was more bravery in our leadership. This diary meanders, as all mine do, but below the fold you'll find me early in the morning on a Tuesday in 2001.
I had just gotten out of swim class and headed back to my room. Due to my superior scheduling skills I had only P.E. on Tuesdays. Since half the semester PE consisted of Judo, which I was able to test out of on day one, I had achieved the holy grail, a "Civilian" day (no classes). Of course, this was early September and I was currently taking "Advanced Drowning" which consisted of training for a 40 minute swim in khaki pants and a button down shirt. I had survived, and it was time for distraction and other things to do.
I opened up my web browser to see what was going on in the world. My home page was the New York Times. I saw something, read an article or two as I changed into some dry clothes, and then clicked "close" when I meant to click "back". When the page reopened I saw the red "Breaking News" bar at the top that read "Airplane crashes into the World Trade Center."
I was a dues paying member of the flying club with some instructional time in a DA-20 to my credit, just enough knowledge to know that this was a very unusual occurrence. I flipped on my computer's TV tuner and changed to CNN, one of about 5 channels we actually received. I saw a smoking tower and knew that probably wasn't a Cessna. I don't remember what CNN was saying, but I do remember seeing a second plane appear off the left and thinking "That's not supposed to be there right now." A second later when the plane failed to materialize on the right of the second tower and it erupted in glass and smoke I thought "That's no accident."
I didn't know what was going on, but I knew a couple of things. I knew that NYC was one of the best cities in the world, knowledge I gained from my roughly 20 visits there during my four years in Annapolis. I knew that if anyone was up here and didn't know what was going on, they needed to now. And lastly, I knew there was nothing I could do several states way and I had meetings to take care of.
Before I left I told the plebe standing fire watch to go around and make sure anyone in their rooms turned on CNN. Maybe I could have rounded people together, but all I could have said is "I don't know what's going on, but two airliners just flew into the World Trade Center. I assume we're going to war."
I had a meeting with my academic adviser scheduled for that morning. As I walked up to his office the other mids and I shared what we knew. Someone mentioned the Sears Tower had been hit, which didn't make sense. When someone said the towers had collapsed, that made only a little. No one knew what was going on, just that things were bad.
When I got back to my floor for noon formation everyone was in the hallway. A couple people were crying, but overall it was fairly quiet. I sought out one of the plebes in my squad from NY to see if he had any family working in the towers. Fortunately, he didn't.
As the news came out and the scope of the attack became known the only clear thing was we were no longer a peacetime academy, we were in a time of war. I told the plebes in my squad if there were here for free college and an easy job, now would be a good time to leave. My AIM away message became "We just went to war with OPEC".
The next bit was what you expect. We wanted revenge, and we started getting it. We kicked ass in Afghanistan, drove out the Taliban, girls were going to school, all that. We figured this just might be over by the time we were out. Then Iraq happened. You can read my introductory diary if you want to know more about that little phase and my thoughts there.
Now, ten years later, ten years of nearly continual war, we sit here wondering where we are as a nation and as a people. We have fought well, but not as one. We have sharply split between those who serve in the military and those who do not. Those who serve have lost friends, mentors, marriages, sanity, and all the other intangibles that go on with killing other human beings with no crystal-clear reason. Their spouses and children share most directly in their sacrifice, but outward from there the pain of war is substantially dulled. Parents and immediately family worry, as mine did, but the disruption in their lives is typically small. The labor force, from the janitor up to the CEO, is not feeling the cost of war directly, and the higher up the pay scale you go the less indirect costs you see, as well.
We have decided to wage a war on terror, which cannot help but be compared to the war on drugs. Both are a struggle less against a nation or a human organization, but rather a war on an idea or philosophy. The only way to defeat a rival philosophy is with a better one coupled with time, or the swift eradication of all adherents to the rival philosophy, commonly called "genocide".
Unfortunately, the war on terror has been over for a while. Terror won. When I came home for thanksgiving my plebe year I had my family and a couple friends at the gate (one had a lovely "CendoJr's a Seaman!" sign). Now when I travel in uniform I know it will simply be easier to go straight to the wand. The weekend after the attacks each Midshipman coming back after Saturday night liberty was painstakingly searched by the gate guards until they figured out that searching ~2500 people that thoroughly would take until sunrise. Oh, and we're probably not the suicide bombers you're looking for.
When anyone talks about security measures now it is not from a perspective of "what will effectively deter or stop an attack from happening" but rather "how can we take control over the population in a way that might seem like it would deter an attack." We have watched as the most precious part of American society, its openness and freedom, are systematically eroded by those sworn to uphold it in the name of "security."
Ross Douthat's most recent column asked "are we safer." Ross and I rarely, if ever, agree, but his recent article is one of those rare exceptions, at least initially. Are we safer? No. A free society can never be truly "safe". As we have beefed up airport security, people have created increasingly clever ways around it (not to mention that the terminal area security is often more analogous to the Maginot Line). Instead of focusing on what would matter and doing what we could do best, working to economically cripple the enablers of our enemies, we have spent time, treasure, lives, and reputation to achieve a body count.
So ten years later. We've put up barriers, restricted civil liberties, denounced people opposing the war as not "supporting the troops", not made anyone "support the troops" in a way that would inconvenience them, earned a reputation for torture, and killed a bunch of people (including the mastermind behind it all, finally). We are still at war with a small tribe who wishes to do us harm and who has no formal political structure to topple militarily. We are hemorrhaging money to the enablers of that small sect so traditional profit makers can continue to obscenely profit.
We needed door locks. We bought an entire gated community with 24/7 security personnel, cameras, automated turrets, concrete barriers, and panic rooms. We don't trust the neighbors, especially new ones. We're scared to venture outside our own home, much less to the neighboring community. We question every noise, every shadow, and every action.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. We are terrified.
It does not have to be that way, but we must be smart enough to see the risks inherent to a free society and we must be brave enough to accept them. We must elect leaders who see with the same clarity. We must refuse treating symptoms without dealing with the causes.
Be brave. Embrace the freedoms we have and do not fear those who wish to take them away. If we are not scared of the treacherous road ahead we can lead through this century and more. If we cower, there will be someone else to take our place and we will be relegated to the footnotes of the history books.
Be brave. Refuse to purchase goods from sellers who aid and abet those who seek to control us through fear. Make the smaller sacrifices in convenience to deny the fear seeking their needs. Do your homework, and tell your friends to do the same.
Be brave. Do not be fearful. The enemy cannot be defeated with bullets, only with courage, intellect, and resolve. Do not give up personal freedoms for a marginally decreased threat.
They cannot extinguish our light. Do not be tricked into doing it for them.
Happy Sunday.