The Remaining Memory of 9/11

Today is the eighth anniversary of the Islamic attacks that took place on September 11, 2001. However, recent controversy about the alleged torture of Al Qaida prisoners, which actually hides criticism of the political, military and liberation strategies adopted by Washington after the Towers’ collapse, is making us forget the real motive behind Washington’s eight-year commitment of a large international coalition against the Taliban in Afghanistan and the six-year commitment to building a new Iraq without Saddam. There is a lot at stake: A Taliban triumph in Kabul would have serious repercussions throughout the Islamic world. The alternative, just like eight years ago, is to offer a constitutional model to the Middle Eastern system. More roughly speaking, using the words of Obama’s adviser for Afghanistan, Bruce Riedel, “we must kill the Taliban and make them go away.”

Eight years is a long time. There is a psychological tendency to repress our memory of the New York and Washington massacres. This is encouraged by the rather serene time experienced by the Occidental world, with the exceptions of Madrid and London, which was possible thanks to the strategy adopted by the White House, the same strategy that now is being questioned.

There is talk of a retirement from Afghanistan, this time not only in Europe, but also in the USA. The war that, in the political and liberal press is defined as “right,” unlike the “wrong” one in Iraq, is now at the center of a “pulling out” debate that is still weak, but more and more consistent. Moreover, the comparison to Vietnam has re-emerged. People remember that Afghanistan marked the end of various empires, the Soviet one being the first. It does not matter that all of this had already been said, and denied, in 2001, or that the comparison has been used for Iraq, too.

Politicians and observers from both the right and the left wings are asked to take a step back from squabbling about bureaucratic aspects not considered the real reasons for the mission in Afghanistan and anticipate an announced, autumnal attack by the neo-pacifist front.

The paradox is that Barack Obama is the one who revived the post 9/11 spirit; the president that, according to the one and only opinion of Occidental press, should have pulled away from all of Bush’s filthy adventures in Middle East. Obama proclaimed three days of national prayer to honor 9/11 victims and support for “members of the armed forces” who “went to Iraq and Afghanistan” to “make our country a safer place.”