The Voice of New Rochelle: Better Than We Thought

When the twin towers fell 11 years ago, followed shortly by number seven, the so-called War on Terror commenced. 

As the smoke and ash filled downtown Manhattan, I couldn’t help but think that we had entered an era whereby we would suffer semi-regular attacks on buildings, public places or airports. Shortly thereafter, when we launched the ground campaign in Afghanistan to rid that country of Al Qaeda, I stiffened my resolve and accepted that, for sure, more Americans would die here at home from terrorism.

In 2003, citing non-existent weapons of mass destruction and leveraging American ignorance of who actually was responsible for 9/11, we invaded Iraq.  And when that country was thrown into a civil war, tens of thousands of innocent civilians killed and no WMD found and global regard for the United States was brought to an all time low, I thought for sure, this time, there would be more blood spilled on our shores.

For the most part, the War on Terror never came home to roost until last week; and even in the Boston case, it appears to have been the work of sympathizers and not the result of an attack by an organized group.

Yes, we had the underwear bomber, and the shoe nut. We also had the Times Square attempt. We also had some airliner threats pre-empted by our security services. Not a bad record for 11 years of combat, paranoia and the short-sheeting of our civil rights. We will probably never know to what degree our Homeland Security measures and other actions have mitigated or outright prevented more terrorist attacks. Clearly, government agencies have been doing something right, and credit must go to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, that our record is such a good one.

Yet, as a result of the two wars—one necessary, one not so much—we spent the country into a near depression, lost thousands of soldiers who are every bit as human as the civilians they protected, and sent many thousands more home with lifetime injuries. Our thinking was that we would fight them there so we would not have to fight them here. God bless these men and women for their sacrifices.

I can’t help but wonder if all of this might have been handled differently. Here we are, years later, a different country. We turned our back on torture, even though all those WWII movies said we were the good guys. Our phones are tapped; bank accounts interrogated, daily activities filmed and our whereabouts known to all. Indeed, we also allow torture of our own citizens every time they fly. What is more, this great country of ours, at war with itself over its paradoxical tendency to prejudge the next racial or ethnic group, has become way too comfortable to paint every Arab, Muslim or Persian with the same broad brush.

Yes, we have kept America safe. History will measure its costs.