Remembering 9/11

Last week while visiting family in Ireland I was asked if President Bush ever talked about anything but 9/11. This was in response to several appearances by Bush on the evening television news talking about the War on Terrorism and 9/11.

My response to the question was to say that Bush and his cabal had shamelessly exploited what was a terrible national tragedy for their own political purposes. During the months after 9/11 when I first realized these guys would use this tragedy as an excuse to carry out their own designs for the Middle East I felt saddened. Now almost five years later I feel angry that so much of our precious national resources have been wasted on the effort to bring about regime change in Iraq.

At Shannon Airport yesterday morning I saw a couple of hundred U.S. soldiers hanging out in the airport lounge area. One soldier told me he was on the way home after spending one year in Iraq. Most of the soldiers looked like they were in their late teens. They were the lucky ones. I thought about all those who were brought home wounded or in coffins.

When I think back about all the patriotism and national unity after 9/11 I feel particularly saddened to realize how much this tragedy has been exploited for political purposes.