The Lesson of Blowback and 9/11, by Lucy Steigerwald

From Lucy Steigerwald at antiwar.com:

While the death count still seemed like it might number in the tens of thousands, a few people remembered to warn against a disproportionate reaction to the 9/11 attacks. Perhaps the oddest thing about these events which provoked two wars and a constant drone presence in myriad countries, is that even on that day – that week, that month – a few people rose above the terrified, vengeful fray. We have made one disastrous foreign policy decision after another since September 11. Yet many people in the US, particularly our leaders and pundits, still seem comfortable with the spirit of Richard Kagan’s 9/11 suggestion that “Congress, in fact, should immediately declare war. It does not have to name a country.”

In many ways, in spite of the catastrophically late officially acceptable opinion that War in Iraq equals bad, and the unpopularity of the war in Afghanistan, we’re still in that mindset. We (barring you, perhaps, Antiwar reader) still don’t quite buy that people in other countries are real and worthy of life. Not when the US is feeling persecuted, at least.

On September 12, Antiwar.com published a piece by the late Harry Browne, writer and candidate for president with the Libertarian Party. It’s still a revelation to read, especially with that date. With none of the necessary coyness of of the mainstream politician or pundit, Browne noted that the victims of 9/11 were innocent, that the perpetrators were guilty, but that the crime should shock nobody. Browne asked: “When will we learn that we can’t allow our politicians to bully the world without someone bullying back eventually?” After that, Browne listed the interventions by the last several US presidents. Clinton with Sudan, Serbia, and Iraq, George H.W. Bush with Panama and Iraq, Reagan with Grenada and Libya.

By using the exact same word (“bullying”) to allude to the US government’s crimes and that of the 9/11 hijackers, Browne was saying something you still can’t say – 9/11 was exactly as unacceptable as what the US has done to other nations. Not because these other nations, leaders, or even people are angels, as a warhawk might strawman. Not because you believe only the US can do bad. But because when you arrogantly intrude in other nations, and cause real people real, irreversible harm, they notice it. As Brown writes, “Did we think the people who lost their families and friends and property in all that destruction would love America for what happened?

To continue reading: The Lesson of Blowback and 9/11