9/11 lost decade: The American dream, and the missing years

[marmar]

from the Independent UK:




9/11 lost decade: The American dream, and the missing years
The terror attacks of 2001 ushered in a decade of wars that shattered Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving the world's only superpower robbed of its confidence and stripped of its illusions

By Rupert Cornwell
Sunday, 11 September 2011


In America they speak of the "lost decade". The moment it began is obvious: the morning of 11 September 2001, when the world's lone superpower fell victim to the most devastating terrorist attack of modern times. Its end, however, is harder to date.

One answer is 1 May this year, when a team of Navy Seals tracked down and killed Osama bin Laden at his hideaway in Pakistan. A circle was complete; after almost 10 years of frustration, false leads and continuous war, the master planner of 9/11 had finally paid for his crime. But look at it another way and the answer is not so obvious.

In these 10 years America has lost much, in terms of lives, treasure and reputation. Most of all, perhaps, it has lost its illusions. One, that its home territory was invulnerable, beyond the reach of hostile foreigners, vanished on that terrible Tuesday morning. But a decade on, another no less cherished illusion has disappeared as well: the certainty that whatever happened in the world beyond, America was a place of infinite opportunity and ever-growing prosperity.

Formally, of course, the anniversary of 9/11 is today. But when one era closes, another begins. In a sense, this lost decade ended 72 hours earlier, on Thursday evening, when President Obama presented Congress with his plan to prevent the US economy from slipping back into the worst economic recession since the 1930s. It was a call to arms that mirrored George W Bush's in the same place when he declared his "war on terror". But this time, Mr Obama did not even mention 9/11. Instead, as rarely before, an American president acknowledged bitter economic reality. It has taken a decade. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/911-lost-decade-the-american-dream-and-the-missing-years-2352870.html

[BiggJawn]

1. Bin Laden is dead, but the legacy of his "pursuers" lives on.

I put pursuers in "air quotes" because I don't think the BFEE was doing so hot trying to do anything to O-Sumguy-bin-Fergotten. "I don't know where he is, frankly, I don't think about it very much anymore..."

The "lost decade" won't be found as long as both of Shrubbie's wars are still in operation, the USA PATRIOT Act (a despicable POS law) is still in effect, and Mighty Wurlitzer of the Right is still cranking out its "Be AFRAID! Be Very, Very AFRAID!" cacophony, and Gitmo is still open for business. Oh, and this torture business, too. I know it's going to be impossible to stuff the waterboard genie back in its bottle, but I'd like to see the US reject the "Ends justify the Means" policy of Rumsferatu and Cheney.

[izquierdista]

2. Lost?

Squandered is a better word. Things that are "lost" can be found later; money and lives pissed away in the desert are never coming back.