Twelve years ago this morning, 2,977 innocent people, mostly American, were killed by al Qaeda terrorists who hijacked four aircraft. Two were crashed into the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan, one was crashed into the Pentagon, and one went down into a field in Pennsylvania (presumably because the passengers overpowered the hijackers).
Like most Americans, I will never forget the shock and horror of that day, or our fears in the days immediately following. I mourn those 2,977 innocents, and each year on this day I take a few minutes to remember them.
I also will never forget how this nation came together in response. I celebrate that American spirit each year on this day. But that sure didn't last long, did it?
As the years go by and our ineffective, intrusive, and downright un-American response to 9/11 congeals into institutional concrete ... I'm beginning to think that the cure was worse than the injury. The TSA appears to be nearly completely ineffective, but costs billions of dollars each month and is as entrenched as any bureaucracy I've ever heard of. The NSA revelations, still slowly and painfully rolling out, collectively reveal how precious little our government doesn't know about us. The only thing that seems to have truly been improved is our intelligence capabilities, and I'm really just hoping for that – inferring from the lack of successful follow-on attacks that our intelligence gathering must be working...
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