Confronting a flat world’s irrationality

Don Kramer/Northwest Guardian

It’s hard to comprehend that the nation has been at war for 10 years. For most of us, the time has gone quickly, but scanning last weekend’s commemorations of the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center made it clear that too many Americans relive the attacks daily — through the loss of loved ones. To them, 9/11 was yesterday, today and every day; the pain never ceased.

That day shifted the nation’s security focus, forcing us to confront an irrational enemy willing to die to kill our citizens.

As much as the terrorists stole the lives of nearly 3,000 people that day, they stole the nation’s innocence.

Our grandchildren will grow up more wary, in a world of imminent dangers, one in which lone actors or small groups with non-traditional weapons can inflict massive destruction on population centers. For me, the revelation of 9/11 was that there were people who so hated their distorted concept of us that they were willing to spend their lives in a symbolic political act targeting innocents. The more innocent the victims, the greater the impact of their depraved final acts.

Unnatural levels of contempt are now generated, proliferated on the Internet. American-born U.S. Army Major Nidal Hassan watched anti-Western online recordings by Anwar al-Awlaki, exchanged emails with him, and was moved to gun down fellow Soldiers at Fort Hood. The world is flatter, as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman says. I would add darker and more threatening.

Al-Qaida declared war on America in 1996 and struck a horrific blow 15 years later. Our government responded with military actions directed at the perpetrators and those countries it believed had abetted them. We built doctrines on low-intensity conflicts and asymmetric warfare into updated strategies that have worked well in our war against terrorists.

But they are strategies with long timelines that require patience. They rely on the strength and support of loved ones who wait and worry — acutely aware of the motives and means of our enemies.

Despite the sacrifices, the nation’s young people unfailingly line up to fight an irrational hatred, to restore security to the homeland and the hope for renewal of our lost innocence.