Finding a Place for 9/11 in American History

[kentuck]

Very interesting discussion now on C-SPAN -- This should be discussed much more in the war circle.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/28/opinion/28ellis.html

<snip>
My first question: where does Sept. 11 rank in the grand sweep of American history as a threat to national security? By my calculations it does not make the top tier of the list, which requires the threat to pose a serious challenge to the survival of the American republic.

Here is my version of the top tier: the War for Independence, where defeat meant no United States of America; the War of 1812, when the national capital was burned to the ground; the Civil War, which threatened the survival of the Union; World War II, which represented a totalitarian threat to democracy and capitalism; the cold war, most specifically the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, which made nuclear annihilation a distinct possibility.

Sept. 11 does not rise to that level of threat because, while it places lives and lifestyles at risk, it does not threaten the survival of the American republic, even though the terrorists would like us to believe so.

<snip>
What Patrick Henry once called "the lamp of experience" needs to be brought into the shadowy space in which we have all been living since Sept. 11. My tentative conclusion is that the light it sheds exposes the ghosts and goblins of our traumatized imaginations. It is completely understandable that those who lost loved ones on that date will carry emotional scars for the remainder of their lives. But it defies reason and experience to make Sept. 11 the defining influence on our foreign and domestic policy. History suggests that we have faced greater challenges and triumphed, and that overreaction is a greater danger than complacency.

[gator_in_Ontario]

1. I would

put the War of Northern Aggression (yes, rednecks still call the Civil War by that name) in front of the War of 1812. Britain was spread far too thin to face any real threat from us...too busy fighting France. (hmm...lessons learned? I think not.)
You make an excellent point. It (9/11) is the worst in OUR experience. When history looks back on us I think they will find us a bit wimpy. Plague? Flu?
As devastating as it was, 9/11 is just a blip on the radar of history.

[JCMach1]

2. Or, was it the greatest threat since it was the final straw

that destroyed the Old Republic...?

[kentuck]

3. excellent point..

and maybe true.

[izzie]

4. Well having walked around on top of one of those building it----

was a shock. But being old and growing up with black outs and Pearl Harbor and then spending 20 years with a husband on subs I do not think it was some thing we should change our way of life for. I was never as worried as I was about USSR going crazy and going to war. After all 911 was a lucky hit by under 30 nuts. They had worked at taking the same buildings down before. Bush had to use it as he let it happen. He did not even read the papers Clinton had put out to him. You know a sub with 16 bombs on it sitting off our coast was a little harder to take and we did put up with that for years. We also did not have the govt. try to take over every thing or if they did reason took over. Bush has a real ego problem and he is such a wimp.

[kentuck]

5. 3000 lives lost was a great tragedy....

But we have to ask ourselves if the reaction was proportionate to the act? And how much of a threat were they to our way of life?

[mogster]

6. Interesting topic

If you add on that q, and ask; where does terrorism rank in threats towards America, you'd probably get the same rank.
It is no threat to us, it is our response to it solely that makes it a threat.

You might even say that GWB and his clan are being enabled by terrorism, and put him a fair way up that list - if not on top.

[kentuck]

7. I agree..

George Bush and the neo-cons are a much bigger threat to our country than terrorism. At least for now. They are in the process of creating a monster .

[90-percent]

8. 9/11 in American History

The current rise of a facist corporate police state is one of the most horrible things to happen to the USA in it's history.

9/11 is chump change but the neocon achievements after it will have much much much more impact than the entire Civil War.

Rigged elections in America goes against every principle this country was founded on. Makes Benedict Arnold look like Pee Wee Herman.

-85%

[teryang]

9. Same place as the Reichstag fire n/t

[mikelewis]

10. They hate us for our freedoms....

They want to kill every last one of us because we are FREE. Quick, get rid of your freedom if you want to live. Support the GOP.