9/11: Bush’s Lost Opportunity for World Peace
Ten years ago, 19 criminal thugs seized control of four planes—and the world as we knew it was shed like the skin of a snake, replaced with a new and very unpleasant reality.
On this anniversary, I want to publicly thank the hundreds of brave men and women who unselfishly, courageously faced death and yet still went back into the flaming buildings…wrested control of Flight 93 back from its hijackers and crashed it in an empty field, instead of a major government building…poured into New York and Washington to see how they could help, knowing they were risking their own health, their own lives. Also, the thousands of brave soldiers from the US and elsewhere who have put their lives on the line every day. It is not their fault that we shouldn’t have even been in those wars.
But I also want to remember what might have been. In the vast emotional outpouring following the attacks, we were, for almost the only time in our history other than Pearl Harbor, united as a people. And also, for perhaps the first time ever, we had the sympathy and compassion of the whole world.
It was the first President George Bush who had called, ten years earlier, for “A New World Order, where the rule of law, not the rule of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations.” His son had a chance to make that happen.
What was needed was a powerful, emotional speech recognizing that the old, imperialist model of conduct among nations didn’t work anymore…and seizing this terrible moment as a bridge to world peace, a chance for the world to re-invent itself as something new—as a collaborative body determined to achieve greatness as a place where war is an archaic and never-again-used way to settle disputes, no one starves, everyone can get an education and decent health care, the environment is given a chance to heal, and the enemies of industrialized societies cannot get any traction. I thought at the time that this is what Bush should have done and I still think so.
Not that the perpetrators would get off, though. Bush could have called for an international criminal manhunt to bring Bin Laden and his gang of thugs to justice for mass murder, and the world would have supported it. Especially as the US, coming off the Clinton period of prosperity and massive surpluses, had the resources to fund that manhunt.
What an outpouring of support that would have caused! People of all nations would have embraced Bush as a hero, and more importantly, would have striven to put those magnificent words into practice. The United States would have been seen as giving a precious and lasting gift to the entire world. And Bin Laden probably would have been captured early on, with no negative impact on the people unlucky enough to live in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Instead, Bush told us to go shopping…squandered the surplus in two illegal, immoral, unjust—and extremely expensive—wars (not counting the domestic war on Muslims, Arabs, and poor people)…initiated dozens of repressive practices at home…blew up our credibility in the world of nations by acting as a “rogue state” (turning us into either a hated enemy or a laughingstock, in various parts of the world)…and completely failed in his pursuit of Bin Laden (Obama had to come in and finish that one). And his actions caused so much resentment against the US that it turned Al Qaeda from a tiny cell into a massive terrorist organization spanning many countries. He made the enemy much bigger.
I have always perceived George W. Bush as a small-minded bully surrounded by smart and evil advisors, and I was not surprised that he could not step into greatness. But I’d have loved to have been proven wrong. And how much safer I’d feel today if he had somehow risen to the task. He could have been our greatest President. Instead, in my opinion, he was the worst.
On this 10th anniversary of 9/11, let us think how we can still achieve that world of peace. It will be much harder now—but it is not impossible.
[…] 9/11 and the Lost Opportunity I have spent much time over the last 10 years reflecting on 9/11, the choices that were made at that time, and the dreadful consequences of those choices: hundreds of thousands dead, two countries largely destroyed, and the economy of a third–my own country–in shambles. I took the 10th anniversary as a day to think about what might have been, how President Bush (and the country) could have seized the moment and stepped into greatness. I’d welcome your comments on the blog page at https://greenandprofitable.com/911-bushs-lost-opportunity-for-world-peace/ […]
You are very brave to write such a public criticism. Thank you for the inspiration.
You’re welcome, and I’m glad it resonated with you.
Shel, I have read and thought about your blog, and I agree that Bush blew a great opportunity to call for world cooperation and develop a response to the tragedy that would have pulled nations together. And I certainly agree that, at best, the justification for Iraq was the result of horrible intelligence, and at worst, a lie. The Bush administration’s cowboy, go-it-alone attitude in both wars and knee-jerk response to the Taliban cost this country much more that trillions of dollars and the loss of lives. Whenever I work with homeless people, I see the ravages of war in the faces of homeless veterans with minds and spirits so devastated they will never re-enter mainstream society (barring a miracle). It also cost us credibility on the world stage. The US will, for a season at least, be either a laughing stock or hated. That season will end the next time another part of the world calls on us to lead them out of a crisis.
As much as I would like to, I don’t share your utopian view of human potential. I’m not so sure that, with our sinful human nature, we will ever be absent wars on this planet. As long as nationalistic pride, greed and lust for power exist, there will be wars. Religious extremists who desire world domination will make sure that violence will always be part of the human experience. They will not tolerate anything or anyone who doesn’t subscribe to their narrow world view. The Inquisition is a good example of that. So is Wahabism with its mantra of “Death to the infidel.” I don’t believe that any level of sanctions would have convinced the Taliban to end their support for Bin Laden. But I also believe sufficient force, with a little patience to obtain intelligence, could have been employed short of starting a war that would leave us trapped in that country for a decade.
These extremists are emboldened by the weakness of their enemies. They do not negotiate unless it serves their ends. Unfortunately, they are not afraid to die for their cause. But they are afraid to fail, and they will abandon a short-term success if it endangers their long-term goals. I lay part of the blame of 9/11 on Clinton’s tepid response to Al Quaeda. They assumed that the response to 9/11 would be equally as weak. If they had known that their infrastructure would have been dismantled as a result of 9/11, they would have reconsidered it. I wish I could have a more positive view of these people. I pray for them every day. Their hearts are so hard, which is why they will always be dangerous.
All of that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t seek peaceful resolutions to all conflicts. Force should always be a last resort, not a first course of action. One life lost in war is one life too many. It is a tragedy. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they really have their work cut out for them.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply, Steve. I am, I guess, more optimistic than you, and the concept of “sin” is not one that resonates with me. Yes, there are evil people in the world (and unfortunately, a high percentage seem to end up working for some government, somewhere)–but there are also ways to contain them that do not involve waging war.
I like your analysis about terrorists’ fear of failure as a leverage point in planning to counteract them.
Unfortunately (though predictably), the US response to 911 actually strengthened al-Qaeda. Yes, their infrastructure was destroyed, but they became a huge international terrorist organization, feeding on the hatred of the US that our wildly inappropriate response engendered.
Thanks for your comment. You and I will just have to disagree on this.
Shel – thank you for this post. You took the words right out of my mouth….
Shel, you’ve put into writing all that I’ve been thinking over the past week in the run-up to yesterday’s anniversary. Yesterday, I attended the anniversary ceremony held on Granby common and as great as my sadness was for the victims, survivors and families that the pastors talked about, greater still was my sadness for the lost opportunity that you describe so well. There is no guarantee that things would have turned out differently if the Supreme Court hadn’t hijacked the 2000 election, but I doubt they could have turned out worse.
I am not at all sure Gore would have been up to it, though the last few years have been surprisingly good for his moral compass. I have never considered GWB a legitimate leader, having stolen two elections, created exactly the kind of “rogue state” government he accused others of, and having, I believe–taking one of many pages from Hitler’s playbook–deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen on his watch in order to further a repressive and warmongering agenda. No less an authority than Condoleeza Rice admitted (in her testimony before the 9/11 commission) that Bush was given clear warning of an upcoming attack by Bin Laden.
Well said, Shel. The events of 9/11 were a heartbreaking tragedy – and since we’ve seen lives, treasure, and opportunity squandered because of small-minded and selfish thinking.
Thanks, Michael. I wish I didn’t have to write it. I would love to have seen Bush rise to greatness.