9-11: Looking Back
By VAL ABELGAS
As a prelude to commemorating the fifth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center, movie and TV screens have been showing films and documentaries that remind us not only of the tragedy that befell America on that fateful morning of September 11, 2001, but, more importantly, of the heroism shown by hundreds of people that day and the next few days. It is important that people do not forget what happened five years ago, so that such tragedy would not happen again to any people; so that the heroism shown that year will be emulated in case it does occur again.
The attacks brought great grief to a horrified nation. Millions of people watched in horror as the second plane was deliberately crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, and burst into flames. Thousands of New Yorkers – and millions more all over the world – watched in shock as people plunged to their death from atop the burning building, and gasped as the WTC towers, one of New York’s most distinguishable landmarks, collapsed in one big rubble.
But while the attacks succeeded in razing a great building, they also succeeded in bonding Americans together in defense of democracy, and the peoples of the world in defense of the free world. The free world gave President Bush the go-signal to punish the perpetrators of the dastardly crime, and Bush lost no time in enforcing the will of the free world.
But instead of sending special forces to hunt down Osama bin Laden and his motley crew of suicidal bombers, Bush sent an armada of 14 navy ships – composed of aircraft carriers, guided missile carriers, destroyers, frigates, submarines, and supply ships – and dispatched 100 US Air Force planes to the Persian Gulf, with an obvious mission to invade, not to hunt.
We could hardly call it a war, because there was only negligible resistance in both Afghanistan and Iraq, two countries suspected of harboring terrorists. Thousands of Afghans and Iraqis have died from the twin invasion, which Bush would rather call “liberation,” and hundreds of young Americans, including a few Filipino-Americans, have given their lives for a war they did not understand. Iraq has been destroyed beyond repair, the Iraqi people are living in greater fear and deprivation than before the alleged liberation, and Iraq can hardly be called a nation with various factions trying to exterminate one another.
The greater tragedy is that after all the deaths and destruction, Bin Laden and his gang of terrorists continue to terrorize the world. Suicide bomb attacks have killed thousands more in London, Madrid, India and many other cities. And just recently, the world again was gripped in fear as British authorities bared a foiled plot to explode 10 US-bound passenger planes over the Atlantic, causing the highest alerts ever in airports and passenger terminals all over the world.
In hindsight, it has become obvious that the retaliatory attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq failed to punish nor stop the terrorists. As feared, the retaliatory attacks only continued the cycle of violence, and succeeded only in further inflaming the hatred for America among Muslims, which, in turn, gave Bin Laden a wider field of prospective recruits for his terrorist plots.
Until terrorism is stopped or minimized, the death of close to 3,000 Americans at the World Trade Center, and the heroism of hundreds of firemen, policemen and civilians shall have been in vain.
It may not be too late for the Bush administration to reconsider its policy of “liberation” and focus instead on destroying every terrorist cell in all corners of the world.
The billions of dollars spent in Iraq can be diverted to gathering intelligence and going after these terrorists. It will be a tough task, but who said it would be easy?
(E-mail the author at valabelgas@aol.com)
As a prelude to commemorating the fifth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center, movie and TV screens have been showing films and documentaries that remind us not only of the tragedy that befell America on that fateful morning of September 11, 2001, but, more importantly, of the heroism shown by hundreds of people that day and the next few days. It is important that people do not forget what happened five years ago, so that such tragedy would not happen again to any people; so that the heroism shown that year will be emulated in case it does occur again.
The attacks brought great grief to a horrified nation. Millions of people watched in horror as the second plane was deliberately crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, and burst into flames. Thousands of New Yorkers – and millions more all over the world – watched in shock as people plunged to their death from atop the burning building, and gasped as the WTC towers, one of New York’s most distinguishable landmarks, collapsed in one big rubble.
But while the attacks succeeded in razing a great building, they also succeeded in bonding Americans together in defense of democracy, and the peoples of the world in defense of the free world. The free world gave President Bush the go-signal to punish the perpetrators of the dastardly crime, and Bush lost no time in enforcing the will of the free world.
But instead of sending special forces to hunt down Osama bin Laden and his motley crew of suicidal bombers, Bush sent an armada of 14 navy ships – composed of aircraft carriers, guided missile carriers, destroyers, frigates, submarines, and supply ships – and dispatched 100 US Air Force planes to the Persian Gulf, with an obvious mission to invade, not to hunt.
We could hardly call it a war, because there was only negligible resistance in both Afghanistan and Iraq, two countries suspected of harboring terrorists. Thousands of Afghans and Iraqis have died from the twin invasion, which Bush would rather call “liberation,” and hundreds of young Americans, including a few Filipino-Americans, have given their lives for a war they did not understand. Iraq has been destroyed beyond repair, the Iraqi people are living in greater fear and deprivation than before the alleged liberation, and Iraq can hardly be called a nation with various factions trying to exterminate one another.
The greater tragedy is that after all the deaths and destruction, Bin Laden and his gang of terrorists continue to terrorize the world. Suicide bomb attacks have killed thousands more in London, Madrid, India and many other cities. And just recently, the world again was gripped in fear as British authorities bared a foiled plot to explode 10 US-bound passenger planes over the Atlantic, causing the highest alerts ever in airports and passenger terminals all over the world.
In hindsight, it has become obvious that the retaliatory attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq failed to punish nor stop the terrorists. As feared, the retaliatory attacks only continued the cycle of violence, and succeeded only in further inflaming the hatred for America among Muslims, which, in turn, gave Bin Laden a wider field of prospective recruits for his terrorist plots.
Until terrorism is stopped or minimized, the death of close to 3,000 Americans at the World Trade Center, and the heroism of hundreds of firemen, policemen and civilians shall have been in vain.
It may not be too late for the Bush administration to reconsider its policy of “liberation” and focus instead on destroying every terrorist cell in all corners of the world.
The billions of dollars spent in Iraq can be diverted to gathering intelligence and going after these terrorists. It will be a tough task, but who said it would be easy?
(E-mail the author at valabelgas@aol.com)
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