On 9/11 America stops as a nation to recall its losses on that day 2001. It is altogether proper and fitting to do this.
But today, rather than 9/11, is the day to remember, to memorialize, to "never forget."
When we were attacked in 2001, we were the world's only superpower.
And we were attacked in a way that offered us what every teacher and preacher wants, a common text. For the first time in history, the images and events of the day were watched in real-time around the world.
What homily would we offer? What lesson would we derive?
On September 14th, 2001 President Bush went to Ground Zero to say: "We can hear you, we can hear you. And soon the people who knocked these buildings down will hear you too."
He meant: "Soon there will be bombs. Soon we will respond in kind. An eye for an eye."
Imagine how much prouder we would all be now if he had said: "In response to this great crime we will hunt down the perpetrators. But instead of committing to war, we commit to dropping books and water and generators on our enemies, on proving to the world that America is strong and free because it is not a place of vengeance."
Imagine, in practical terms of blood and money and political stability how much better off America would be today, to say nothing of how many fewer people we would have killed as collateral damage.
This is not 20-20. Osama Bin Laden made it clear he wanted to drag us into a long, endless war. Our enemy sent us his playbook. We followed it.
This is not hippy-dippy, it is what sacred texts tell us to do.
Friends of mine, and intellectual heroes like Christopher Hitchens, would say we have real enemies. I agree. And they would say that liberals in The West often act as if we brought 9/11 on ourselves. Chomsky and so forth. But I do not mean to be misty-eyed about Saddam Hussein as a psychopath, one who is better off dead. Ad if America wants to adopt a foreign policy of toppling dictators, I might be down. Maybe, in the long run, that will serve if we approach it clearly.
But Mr. Bush who pretended to govern from The Bible did not choose to make the case for Jesus any more than he chose to make the case for restraint. And so two religions looked meaningless and worse. Again. And so we did what the weak who pretend to be powerful always do when hit, we hit, not so much back, as out.
“Our History will be what we make it,” Edward R. Murrow said.
Mr. Bush also said it would take one hundred years to know if we did the right thing by invading Iraq.
Well, now twenty-one years on what's the verdict? Do we feel less likely to be attacked? Does anyone feel safer now? If a bomb goes off in D.C. or NYC or LA, will the world sympathize with America as it might have then? Is the Middle East more stable?
Had we instead spent one-quarter of the treasure we spent on bombs trying to help, working to make friends, attempting to sway enemies with anything less blunt than weapons we would, for sure, still have plenty of folks who want to kill us. But we would have taken history's best chance to offer a new lesson about borders and boundaries, attack and defense, war and peace, right and wrong. We would have a moral leg to stand on and be better off in every pragmatic sense too.
9/11 was the first such event all people viewed together. Most of us in the West cried and yes, too many in the East cheered, but instead of going for leadership, we went for blood.
Sadly, it was never about safety. It was always about revenge.
Sadly, if the great sin of America's past was slavery, the sin of this century was responding to 9/11 as we did.
For all those who lost family and friends on September 11th, three days ago was a day to grieve.
For citizens of the United States, it is not that day, but today, we should remember.
Tomorrow: A few words on boredom.