Many Losers, Few Winners

The weapons and security industries were the only winners.

Five years ago, this newspaper put out a special edition on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 showing a photo of Osama bin Laden under the headline “The Winner.” That was in 2006, when the civil war in Iraq was at its height as was the number of American soldiers killed or wounded, the Afghanistan situation was as bad as it is today and militant Islam appeared to be on the rise in much of the Arab world.

Today, 10 years later, bin Laden is dead and it wasn’t his organization that brought about regime change, but rather the civilian uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Al-Qaida’s goal of leading Arab resistance has failed.

But so has the “war on terror” George W. Bush declared quickly in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. It was lost right from the start. The only goal a terrorist organization can have in attacking a superpower is the hope that the superpower will self-destruct. The Bush administration succeeded admirably in complying.

For 10 years, the United States has been carrying out a massive transfer of money and resources from the national treasury into the pockets of the military-industrial complex. In grand style, the weapons and security industries have profited greatly from that transfer. In fact, they are the only two industries that seem to have profited at all over the past decade.

During the same period, one necessary reform after another has been put on the back burner, not begun, or modified to death. The United States has failed to keep pace with the rest of the world and other global players have quickly taken over the lead.

Al-Qaida could not have foreseen that. And it would also be ridiculous to claim that this would be the only logical outcome to the 9/11 attacks. But the shell-shocked paralysis in American political discourse following the attacks ensured that an irresponsible administration was able to continue governing for eight years.

They left behind a deeply divided nation that is almost impossible to govern.

The terrorists couldn’t have wished for a better outcome.