A Concise Reflection on the Sixth Anniversary of 9/11

A new video from Osama Bin Laden, the second in a matter of weeks, was released today on the sixth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. With its release, supporters of this woeful, incompetent Administration returned to a strategy of attempting to minimize the impact of Bin Laden's continued presence above ground.

Unconscionable spin aside, the fact is that Bin Laden today remains a hero and symbol throughout much of the Muslim world. The simple fact that he can continue to issue video after video, six years after a brutal attack against American civilians, almost certainly communicates the message to potential new growth Islamic extremists that Allah somehow protects him, and therefore his cause must be just. That our Commander-in-Chief felt his capture or death less important that the removal of a dictator whose regime was utterly contained, and in no way represented an imminent threat to the United States, says everything that any thinking American should need to know about this President's fitness to remain at the helm in this terrible war of ideas.

We were attacked on 9/11 by forces whose spiritual inspiration came from Saudi Arabia, and who were materially aided by zealots in the intelligence services of Pakistan. Rather than strategically confront the real powers behind the attack, we chose instead to invade Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein. This choice was tantamount to Franklin Roosevelt choosing to invade Spain, and depose Franco, while leaving the guilty in Japan, Germany, and Italy free to consolidate their position, and further poison the well.

If this President possessed any semblance of moral courage or authentic intellectual or spiritual honesty, he would first acknowledge publicly his failure as Commander-in-Chief, and then the need for America to come together behind a bipartisan plan to withdraw our forces from Iraq - and conclude our business with Bin Laden. That he continues to put his trust in a dubious, and utterly repudiated, notion of "personal faith" constitutes not only a betrayal of our Framers' Enlightenment traditions, but is also proof positive that he has learned as little from the events of the last six years as has Bin Laden. Despite their very different cultural backgrounds, Bush and Bin Laden have demonstrated themselves as blood brothers in faith-based delusion, vainglorious egotism, and spiritual dishonesty.

Osama Bin Laden, and all the enemies of enlightened, constitutional democracy, sleep peacefully this night, the sixth anniversary of their despicable attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Against all odds, while facing the greatest military arsenal the planet has ever known, they are actually winning the war of ideas - if only by default. For with a Commander-in-Chief like our George III, America has no need of enemies.

Matthew Carnicelli © 2007. All rights reserved.

Originally published September 11, 2007.