I do remember September 11th, 2001 (22 years ago today). I doubt any American over the age of 25 can forget. We lost 3,000 innocent Americans who were killed that day by a terrorist group in the middle east.
I remember much more than that day…
I remember learning how the terrorist group Al-Qaeda was responsible for these attacks.
I remember the head of Al-Qaeda and mastermind of 911, Osama Bin Laden, was protected in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
I remember the young men and women who rallied to root out the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
I remember the extension of combat with the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to rid Iraqis of the brutal Saddam Hussein regime based on the promise of finding stock-piles of weapons of mass destruction.
I remember when Afghanis were proud of electing their first president in October 2004 with a parliament to follow in 2005.
I remember when Iraqis were proud of holding their first democratic elections in January 2005.
I remember Saddam Hussein being executed for his brutality in 2006.
I remember Seal Team 6 who brilliantly executed Osama Bin Laden in 2011 in Pakistan.
I remember the rampant corruption that pervaded the newly formed democratically elected Afghan government.
I remember the new terrorist organization called ISIS fueled by hatred for the west rise to power in Iraq and Syria in the 2000’s to replace Al-Qaeda. ISIS fell as quickly as it rose in 2018.
I remember the brave fighting men and women who fought for twenty years in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.
I memorialize the 15,000 dead soldiers in this awful fighting… and many more maimed or left psychologically broken.
I think about the 114,000 war veterans who have committed suicide after finding it impossible to reintegrate to a peaceful domestic existence at home.
I remember the $4.6 Trillion invested in wars to destroy the fragile infrastructure of Middle Eastern nations.
I remember executive orders restricting the production of domestic oil and natural gas forcing gasoline prices higher.
I remember a president who released precious oil reserves to lower prices temporarily with a promise to refill reserves after prices decreased.
I remember a bloody withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2022 that left more soldiers dead, and desperate Afghanis back under the rule of the Taliban.
There’s a lot to remember. It is right to remember the fallen from 911. However, what good do these memories do if it doesn’t change our future. I’m an engineer, and so it’s in my nature to look at numbers.
We lost 3,000 people from an attack; and we lost 130,000 avenging those 3,000.
We turned over two brutal regimes that left power vacuums that terrorists filled.
There is a citizenry in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan that feels abandoned by and angry at the United States.
We have killed our domestic oil production to once more rely on the volatile Middle East for our energy needs.
We are stoking our next war between Ukraine and Russia that has no chance of ending unless we send more troops to this foreign conflict.
These are difficult decisions to make; but we need to start making better ones. Waving American flags as veteran amputees’ role by in parades is no longer acceptable. We need to be smarter about resolving conflict in a way that works… not enriching defense contractors and the military industrial complex at the cost of valuable lives and national treasure.
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