Like most of us, I can remember exactly where I was watching those planes strike the Towers on 9/11. And the dozens of questions that immediately ran through my mind, especially who was responsible. A few CIA agents immediately assumed it was the work of Chileans, since  September 11, 1973 was the date that the American-backed Augusto Pinochet overthrew democratically-elected Salvador Allende in a bloody coup.  Realistically, it could have been any number of groups that had good reason to attack us: Greeks, Okinawans, Guatemalans, Cubans, Congolese, Brazilians, Argentines, Cambodians, Filipinos, South Koreans, Taiwanese, Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, and Panamanians, just to name a few.

9/11 quickly consumed the nation, and we united behind our Boy Emperor who lectured us on why we were attacked: jealousy, innately evil Muslims, hatred of freedom; distracting us from the real answers was the first goal of damage control. Those fluffy catchphrases had nothing to do with why the US was attacked eight years ago, and any hint that US policies might have contributed to the attacks were quickly silenced.

Since atleast WW2, the US government has been routinely inflicting unspeakable terrorism on starving countries, and was surprised when the dirt was thrown back in its face. Bin Laden specifically said that it was US sanctions on Iraq, blind support for Israel, and American soldiers being stationed in Mecca and Medina that led him to plan and strike. By embracing empire, the US government reaped 3,000 innocent American lives for the imperial crimes it sowed.

Because Americans were never really told why we were actually attacked, the Bush Junta was able to respond counter productively and chaotically. The US should have proceeded against Al Qaeda like it would with organized crime; with the cooperation of our allies, building criminal cases that would easily win, and actually winning the hearts and minds of people Al Qaeda was trying to influence. Instead, we launched our high-tech military machine against some of the most poorest, weakest people on the planet, terror bombed Iraq, and invaded Afghanistan (a country that had, and still has, nothing to do with 9/11). Torture, spying, indefinite imprisonment, and a massive expansion of government awaited a shocked and mourning nation.

And Americans, for the most part, put up with it. Why not exchange some liberty for the promise of security? Cops began to resemble soldiers, SWAT team ninjas paroled any peaceful assembly, and it was common to see armed camouflaged guards at airports, their fingers cuddling the triggers of their AK-47s. None of these measures has made us safer, of course, but it is the illusion of security that the government provides.

Eight years later, the US is still occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, inflicting dozens of 9/11’s daily (not to mention the nearly 6,000 dead American soldiers, and the thousands more maimed and haunted), there is no end to the Mesopotamian mess in sight, and we are far less free. As the great Chomsky has noted, when America stops threatening the world, the world will stop threatening America.

We should never forget 9/11; but there is likely to be more of the same if we don’t learn it’s lessons as well.

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For more of Robert’s work, please visit his Libertarian Examiner blog.

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