It is hard to imagine what America was like before September 11, 2001 because this single act of terrorism on our native soil has been the defining moment for the United States in the modern age. It is a “new reality” and surreal moment that will be forever etched in our national consciousness; much like the rallying cry of the frontier Texan patriots, “Remember the Alamo” in memory of the sacrifice of their brave comrades at the hands of the Mexican army under General Santa Ana. Surely there must have been other significant events in the country before the attack on the World Trade Center(WTC), Pentagon and when the Twin Towers came crashing down while the news outlets broadcast the tragedy ‘Live’ and in ‘Living Color’ right in front of our very eyes on every television set.
According to the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center, during the first eight months of 2001, the rising price of gas and China’s release of a detained American air crew in April were the only stories followed closely by the majority of Americans. The biggest story of the summer was the media-driven obsession with the scandal involving California’s Congressman Gary Condit and the disappearance of Washington, D.C., intern Chandra Levy. Also, there was the execution of Timothy McVeigh for bombing the federal building in Oklahoma; U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont quits Republican Party and becomes an independent, tilting control of the Senate to the Democrats; the power crisis in California; Europe is hit by mad cow and foot-and-mouth diseases; the rising power of the European Union and introduction of a common currency (the EURO); the United States withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM); the collapse of ENRON, and saving the best for last, the controversial first term election of President George W. Bush, which resulted in the intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court amid lawsuits alleging ballot improprieties and violation of federal law.
It is interesting to note that within eight months after President Bush took the oath of office that the awful terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 helped inaugurate modern warfare and redefine American nationalistic and ethnocentric ideology. The nation cannot go back to the former times of innocence or perhaps naïveté is a better word, and we must be forever vigilant and be on guard against any suspicious set of circumstances, abandoned vehicle or package which may be a deadly booby-trap set by a terrorist. That the Bush Administration and officials within the Armed Forces Intelligence communities, the FBI, NSA, Homeland Security, or CIA could not have connected the dots from a trail of clues that could have circumvented this tragedy is an open-ended question that might not ever be answered honestly. One thing is certain, which is, the on-going anger over the election of George W. Bush as President when Al Gore won the ‘Popular’ vote was consuming the energy of the nation and “THE PEOPLE” felt cheated and were so outspoken that it was dubbed “THE STOLEN ELECTION.” The ability of President Bush to lead the nation was in question as he was caricatured with the honorarium as either, “HAIL TO THE THIEF,” or the “COMMANDER-IN-THIEF” as the legitimacy of his presidency was at odds with the majority of the American people. THEN 9-1-1 HAPPENED AND THAT WAS THAT; coincidence you say, “I think not!”
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
September 29, 2010
pbks@hotmail.com
