A Crime Without a Message

Sept. 11, 2001 offers no lessons and should be relegated to the history books

America’s memorial services for the 9/11 attacks should have been sublime and touching. But they were hampered by massive security measures, particularly in New York where several warnings were issued that highlighted the feeling of vulnerability 10 years after the event.

The ceremony at ground zero did serve as the opening of the beautiful memorial in the foundation of the former World Trade Center but was overshadowed by newly erected office towers that had already revealed themselves as shocking examples of unsuccessful commercial architecture.

The 10th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy was also an ambivalent moment for the nation as far as content was concerned. Few expectations were fulfilled for what had been called “the day that changed the world.”

The U.S. went to war on several fronts, but they haven’t won any of them. While al-Qaida has certainly been weakened and Osama bin Laden brought to justice in time for the 10th anniversary celebrations, Iraq, and above all Afghanistan, remain open wounds as the most recent attack on an Afghan NATO installation showed. Even the world’s strongest military power is helpless against the current threat.

Fear of terrorism and the measures taken to combat it have become part of daily life over the last ten years, especially for air travelers. But the concern most Americans have today is mainly in reference to their jobs and a precarious economic future rather than fear of terrorist bombs.

After 9/11, there was a brief period of hope that the event would bring a divided America back together. That didn’t materialize, either. Even when Barack Obama and George W. Bush stood side by side at ground zero on Sunday, one couldn’t forget how much the policies of the Bush administration had contributed to the further polarization of the nation.

Even the initial certainty that this was a war between good and evil had evaporated for many Americans by the the time the photos of Abu Ghraib were made public.

The enemy that had been so sharply defined in 2001 had equally evaporated. Bin Laden failed to create a global movement to restore the caliphate. Terror is only one aspect of the upheaval in the Muslim world and has lost much of its political significance to the Arab spring. The United States and its ally Israel of course remain the scapegoats for the frustration in many Arab nations, but the much-vaunted “cultural war” hasn’t taken place and radical Islam has failed to become a geopolitical challenge to the West.

What remains is the recognition that 9/11 was the bloodiest act of terrorism in history but, in the end, was a huge crime without a message; it offers no important lessons for future generations.

Tragedies do not lend themselves well to historical consciousness or national identity because they promote political paranoia. Fortunately, the United States has already overcome that phase. For the families and friends of the victims, 9/11 will always remain alive. But for the rest of the nation, the time has come to relegate the events of that day to the history books.