One Decade

In honor of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that took place 3,653 days ago, here is a series of myths, truths and questions.

1. The U.S. is not what it was before: The country is depressed, in the midst of an economic crisis, debt and unemployment. The Americans do not trust their politicians or the road that the country is taking — this is what the surveys show. Only 43 percent of Americans approve of the job that Obama is doing, 12 percent approve of that of Congress, and 19.5 percent feel that the country is headed in the right direction. These are the numbers from a country in the doldrums.

2. Even so, in the recent Pew Research Center survey in honor of the 9/11 decade, Americans feel safe (76 percent) thanks to government efforts carried out in order to prevent another terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

3. However, what George W. Bush used as an excuse to invade Iraq today has become a reality: The world is more anti-American than before 9/11. Although, it should be noted that Islamic radicalism is less popular as well.

4. China is hot on the heels of the United States: It is obviously easier for a dictatorship to impose mechanisms and policies for growth, but the fact is that a decade ago, China had an economy five times lower than the E.U. Today it has become the world’s second largest. While the E.U. has been busy planning and investing in two wars in the Middle East, China has dedicated itself to growing.

5. In America, the war against terrorism has not generated a war economy like those achieved during and after World Wars I and II. In this week’s edition of The New Yorker, George Packer notes, in the story of an American who wanted to sell the government special Hummers for Iraq and Afghanistan, the reason for this absence of a war economy: The United States government has tried to sell them as short-term wars — wars that will very quickly achieve a “mission accomplished.” Because of this, the U.S. has not wanted to invest in these wars as they have in others, even though Afghanistan is already the longest war in American history.

6. We are going to take democracy to the Middle East: That was the mission of George W. Bush. Tremendous failure, after two wars that are still sucking money from taxpayers. The costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been estimated by The New York Times (which yesterday had excellent coverage of this decade) at $3.3 billion. This implies that for every dollar spent by al-Qaida in planning and executing the attack, the United States has spent $7 million.

7. Today, countries that are living the Arab Spring demand greater democracy from their presidents, dictators or monarchs. But the citizens are the ones who demand it. Neither Western arms nor strategies feed dreams of freedom in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Syria.

8. A decade later, something has not changed. The Americans still ask themselves: Why? Why us? Why our country?