Monday, September 11, 2006

Base Five: Everybody is commemorating and remembering the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The media is showing a rerun. The president is giving a prime-time address to the nation. And the terrorists even released a video.

It still perplexes me what makes five a more anniverserial number than four or six, especially since we've been commemorating the attacks on September 11 every year since they happened. This version of instant nostalgia seems to be a new thing in an age of omnipresent media and ubiquitous communications.

The 9/11 attacks made me more angry than sad. What really depresses me now is the national split regarding the War on Terrorism. There is as much hate between the Right and Left as there is towards our enemy. The Left accuses the Right of exploiting the tragedy for unnecessary actions. The Right accuses the Left of appeasing the terrorists. Neither of which is true.

We were united in the moments after the 9/11 attacks. I still remember members of both parties of Congress on the steps of the Capitol singing an off-key rendition of "God Bless America" as a sign of unity. There was America in a nutshell -- imperfect but strong and proud.

In no way should the War on Terrorism mean that we put all debate aside and follow political leaders blindly. Republicans and Democrats have both generated controversy, and that should be addressed and discussed.

But the absolute hatred between Democrats and Republicans is completely counterproductive. When the next terrorist attack occurs in our country -- and it will happen, regardless of who is in charge -- I would like to believe that this country would unite once again to fight our enemy. Hopefully it doesn't take a repeat of 9/11 to do that.

Update: Along the same lines, our political "leaders" have seemed to accomplish little else except turning Americans against each other. After the attacks, few people blamed our government for failing to stop the terrorist attacks. Now almost half the country blames the Bush administration. About the same percentage blames the Clinton administration. This isn't even about crackpot conspiracy theories of a controlled demolition of the World Trade Center by our government or a ridiculous "docudrama" fictionalizing the events leading to 9/11. People on the Left are blaming Bush for 9/11, people on the Right are blaming Clinton. We should put the blame where it belongs, on Al Qaeda.