Have we, as a people, a nation, changed since 9/11? It's sad and scary but, no, not in any meaningful way. Oh, we all have an opinion on terrorists, war, politics of war and what to do. We've added several new buzzwords to our world speak. And we here in Carson City put a big 'ol flag on a hill. Al Qaeda must be quaking in their sandals.
Yes, our government has tried to take the battle to the enemy's turf, remove some bad guys and install democracies. Noble ideas, doomed to fail. And so is our war against terror likely to fail.
In the first days after 9/11 we were galvanized. We were of one mind. Find out who and hit 'em hard. But soon the political infighting began and the people followed the elected ones into their respective camps. No, nothing's changed. We just added something new to argue about, a new program to spend billions on with no clear goal or end in sight. True, our various alphabet soup agencies have to date stopped nearly 200 planned attacks here and abroad. But it won't be enough.
The worst mistake President Bush made was to tell the American people in the days after the attack to go about their business. Work, shop, play, eat, drink and be merry. In other words, act as if nothing happened. Don't worry because your government will take care of it. That call to inaction will be written on our tombstone.
He should have sent out a call to war. In WWII an entire nation put aside all its personal wants and desires and came together as one mindset on one goal: Victory. In 2007 most of the new voting iPod-playing populous can't find Afghanistan on a map, don't know what MS13 is, don't know that the largest terrorist training camp is in South America, and believe that we're the bad guys.
Why will we most likely lose the war on terror? Several reasons. First: self-centered apathy. It keeps us from grabbing our employees (the federal government) by the short hairs and making them do what has to be done. We think that elections are how we change things in this country and we must wait years to put in people who might listen to us. So in the interim we worry about all the "things" in our lives with absolutely no sense of urgency needed in times of war. We should be mad as junkyard dogs. Instead we wait and try to understand the whys and wherefores of it all.
Second: feigned ignorance of who they are. They are not a country but cockroaches that have to be exterminated in groups and individually. Middle Eastern officials, not afraid to speak plainly, say forget that 10 percent figure you hear. It's closer to 70 percent of Muslims worldwide who are in agreement with what Al Qaeda is doing. Remember, in every Islamic city and village, even in countries that are our "friends" the people were dancing in the streets when the towers fell. The breeding ground for these vermin is widespread and fertile.
Third: not understanding that their only goal is to rid the world of infidels. ALL non-Muslims are infidels and it is not wrong to kill infidels. Mohammed taught that there are only two places in the world: Where there is Islam and where there is war. Remember this: You want to understand them? Doesn't matter, you're an infidel. You want to be their friend? Doesn't matter, you're an infidel. You want to cure disease and feed their children? Doesn't matter, you're an infidel. You want to bring peace, democracy and prosperity to their country? Doesn't matter, you're an infidel. You want them to enjoy all the freedoms of your country? Doesn't matter, you're an infidel. And Islam teaches that it's alright to honor a treaty with your enemy, until you're stronger, and then destroy him. There is a saying used in Al Qaeda training camps: Be patient until patience has run out of patience. The American people have a similar credo: Be apathetic until it's too late, or, argue about it until you run out of time.
Finally, we are not barbarians. The Judeo/Christian ethics of tolerance, understanding, love, compassion and fair play even in war are wired into western thinking. While the enemy gleefully beheads, burns and displays the bodies of their captured, it is repugnant to us. As a people we cannot bring ourselves down to that level. In a war where your enemy may have smiled at you in the supermarket yesterday and today believes he's doing god's work by blowing you, your children and himself to bits, there are no pleadings, treaties, sanctions, threats, tortures or any barbaric actions that can dissuade him. Guided by an ideology and religious fervor, answering to no government, these smart bombs are in every town, in every country. What it will take to rid the world of them, to win this war, we are not willing to do. Nor am I.
Have we changed? A little. Have we changed to the degree needed to defeat this virus? No, thank God. So, will we lose this war? Yes. We'll fight as needed. But as medicine has never cured any virus, only made vaccinations against them, they have to run their course and let the body fight them off, or die trying. And since our government has been systematically taking away the tools the American body needs to fight off internal viruses and parasites and it hasn't shown the strength of will to vaccinate us against these invading pathogens I think yes, we will lose this war. All this in mind, maybe President Bush was right after all. Just live our lives.
• Columnist Kirk Caraway is on vacation this week. David Satterfield is a Carson City resident.