I've little to say on this third anniversary, except to note with sadness that much of the nation still doesn't seem to realize that we're at war. Moreover, many of those lacking that realization include much of the so-called mainstream press (as exemplified by the latest fraud and shenanigans at CBS News), and much of one of the major parties, including its candidate for president. In the midst of watching Islamic fanatics slaughter schoolchildren and take down airplanes in Russia, he proposes a Department of Wellness.

As I've said many times, I have many problems with the currrent administration, even including at many times its execution of the war in which we're unwillingly engaged, and wish that there were a realistic alternative to it--I'd vote for it in a heartbeat. But in nominating John Kerry (and being congenitally unable to nominate a serious wartime candidate, like Joe Lieberman), the Democrats leave me little choice, because as long as we haven't addressed the root causes of the events of three years ago (and no, they're not poverty, or American imperialism, cultural or otherwise), I will not feel safe with anything resembling today's Democrat Party in power.

A general once said that war consists a bunch of shitty choices. Apparently that often applies to politics as well, at least in a two-party system. As such, my choice will have to remain the man who stood amid a pile of rubble almost three years ago, and told us that he heard us, and that soon those who had created that pile would be hearing us too.

[Update]

Unsurprisingly, Glenn has some thoughts as well, with some pictures that are a sobering reminder of that day.

Andrei Codrescu captured my feelings about 9/11 nearly perfectly, with this poem. The resemblance to HOWL is intentional.

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9/11, I can barely remember you, they’ve buried you in so much hype!

9/11 I wept when you were first on television! I wept for New York, for the dead, for all of us, for myself, for the world!

9/11, I was sure that the world had changed forever because bad guys wanted America dead and hated us because we listen to rock 'n' roll and wear no miniskirts on our naked faces!

9/11, I cheered when our warplanes ripped through the skies of Afghanistan scorching the caves where our enemies burrowed and I marveled at our precision-guided bombs -- trying to ignore their occasionally murderous imprecision!

9/11, I sat mesmerized in front of Fox News and CNN as the gargoyled faces of the Cold War began crawling out of the musty cellars of history and, eyes unaccustomed to light, blinking, began to spout the doctrines of Total War!

9/11, I started to feel sorry for you when retired generals, admirals, spies, loonies and fakes brushed off their swords and rushed to your defense! So many double-chins! So many watering eyes! So many dentured grins and brush haircuts! So many double-bottom suitcases clutched in so many pimp-ringed hands! They even brought Ollie North from felonious disgrace to stand up for you with his Constitution-overthrowing boyish old looks!

9/11, I felt bad for you when the Lefties crowded you from the other side with their guilt-filled jaws of "I told you so," and their eternal excuses for the wretched exotics of the world whose suffering they experience in their marble-topped kitchens between arguments about what wine to serve with the wild rice! And I wept for you again, when soured professors who missed the collapse of commie fascism in 1989 descended on you like rabid wolverines led by Noam Chomsky, whose teeth marks are all over the zero ground of American academia!

9/11, you saved the paranoids from self-cannibalism!

9/11, you were a boon to advertisers and publicists and flag manufacturers, and they sold you with cars and pizzas and they drained you of your raw primal power even as they pretended to grieve for you! Zero down payment until Doomsday!

9/11, you were a godsend to poetasters who were out of the gate lamenting and whining before your towers even gave out!

9/11, your dead and your heroes are covered by thick layers of ash and greed and the Republic owes you an apology...

9/11, I close my eyes and recall you in all your gory glory and I still hate those who did this to us and to our greatest city.

9/11, I can barely remember you and I'm sorry.

Perhaps we are at war, but who is the enemy?

25 words or less, please.

Perpetual war, with the Commander in Chief being allowed to choose the identity of the enemy from momemt to moment is precisely what George Orwell warned us about in his book 1984.

Bill, that's been described to you a number of times. If you don't like my previous answer, go shop for one from someone else, until you get the one that satisfies you. I haven't the time to do it again.

Thanks for making my point. . .

;-)

I'd say you're welcome, but I didn't make your point.

Answer: 1) Islamic terrorists. 2) Any state that supports Islamic terrorism in any way. 3) Any state that does not oppose Islamic terrorism.

My .02.

Mouse, I agree with you. 100%. Fanatical Islam is our enemy.

And Saddam was an evil brutal vile SECULAR dictator.

Bill White:

Where do you (and others) come to this remarkable conclusion that ideological opponents don't cooperate?

What were Nazis and Communists? Friends or enemies? It turns out, of course, that they were both. You do recall the Russo-German Non-Aggression Pact of 1939, yes? Couldn't happen, people said. Nazis and Communists hated each other, and Stalin and Hitler personally hated each other. Except....

So, from 1939-1941, one of the greatest supporters of fascism and Nazism and opponents to war with Germany, be it in France, Britain, or the US were, say it with me, the Communists.

Well, before 1939, they were opponents, right? Er, no. Before 1939, who offered the Germans a secret place to rearm? To practice division-level exercises and new air-ground tactics? Why, Soviet Russia!!

If you're familiar with the saying "History makes strange bed-fellows," you'll know that suggesting that a priori Saddam and Islamic terrorism were not compatible is false.

This is before, of course, examining little things like why several prominent Islamic terrorists like Abu Nidal (sp?) were hiding out in Iraq. (Since, not all Islamic terrorists are part of al-Qaeda.)

In Memoriam

Remember, Dean, to the Left everything is complicated and requires nuance, until they get caught up in something that actually is more complex than "its a fight against a religion, but Saddam wasn't religious."

Bill White, we are at war with: anyone that aids, funds, or supports organizations that advocate or perform attacks on the United States [16 words]. Saddam's little cheerleader dance immediately following 9/11 pegged him as a target for me and millions of other Americans, for as dictator of his country, he alone set their policy, and that day he publicly made and reaffirmed his policy to be at war with the people of the United States of America. His refusal to submit to total inspection and siarmament, his support of terrorist organizations, and his continued statements that he would "get" the US ensured his status as among our enemies. The quickest answer would have been to make Baghdad disappear in a bright flash, but instead we have gone in, removed him, and have the country on track to becoming a representative democracy in a region where such is very thin on the ground. If you are incapable of understanding this, then you are just another ignorant individual with an unfortunately large vocabulary.
Sorry if I stepped on your turf, Rand. I love your blog and really enjoy the space info as well as the excellent political debate.

Dean,

How about... "Jihadists and those that harbor or support them. Any nation or group known to be plotting terrorist-style attacks against the US."

21 words and Saddam's Iraq falls in both categories. (Recall that, prior to the war, Russian intelligence informed the US that Saddam was actively moving ahead with plans for large-scale terrorism against the US homeland. Reason enough to go to war, even without the WMD that every nation on earth believed Saddam had to some degree or another.)

Finally, do you truly fail to understand the larger geopolitical strategy the Bush administration is pursuing? From Kashmir to Tripoli, the jihadist swine had total freedom of movement for people and materiel. Not to mention almost unfettered political rein. Now, significant numbers of people in that region are tasting true freedom for the first time and are developing quite an appetite. Now, the jihadists are forced to show their true nature by attacking Muslims in their campaign to destroy freedom and even civilization itself. Now, authoritarian regimes that talk through both sides of their mouth regarding terrorism must carefully ponder their possible futures. And now, the jihadists must always give thought to when the so-called "holy" war will find them. Afghanistan and Iraq are well on the road to developing a style of democracy that can be spread throughout the Middle East. Libya has seen the handwriting on the wall and decided to re-enter the community of nations while it still has a choice. And Iran & Syria are now more or less geographically isolated.

Not bad for what the liberals like to call a 'disaster, caused by incoherent policy, produced by a moron'.

- Eric.

Eric S:

I think you meant to direct your comment to Bill White?

There have been a few sobering "alternative history" satirical pieces written over the least three years, written in a news article format similar to Rand's excellent pieces. One from memory was about a bitter, defeated George Bush being impeached after worldwide and domestic outrage when pre-emptive strikes against Afghanistan, a sovereign nation that posed no iminent threat to the U.S., were launched. There were also widespread civil rights violations, especially the arrest of a few dozen innocent U.S. citizens of Middle Eastern origin on the morning of September, 11, 2001, based on "intelligence" about an utterly fantastical and preposterous plot by "Islamist terrorists" to hijack and pilot fully loaded jets into the WTC and the Pentagon. There were other pieces in a similar vein by others. Would anyone know who wrote these pieces and the URLs?