America's 9/11 response subverted our values, liberties

September 11, 2012 at 1:00 am
America's 9/11 response subverted our values, liberties
By Juan Cole

The United States government's reaction to the attacks of 9/11 some 11 years ago took the world into a tragic era of unnecessary wars and confrontation that destabilized allies and threatened vital long-term U.S. interests.

At home, American liberties were endangered. It needn't have unfolded in that way. The U.S. is still bearing the costs of its lost decade, and is still debating whether to continue failed post-9/11 policies. We would do well to heed the warning of James Madison, that "Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded."

Then-French President Jacques Chirac advised George W. Bush to avoid the phrase "war on terror," and urged that 9/11 be treated as a crime by a cartel. It is not as if such rogue organizations are harmless. Mexico's drug cartels are alleged to have killed 47,515 people since 2006.

But by pursuing wars against states in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of making the destruction of al-Qaida its highest priority, the Bush administration turned America toward perpetual war. Worse, it gave al-Qaida new life and recruiting grounds by militarily occupying Muslim countries and overseeing conflicts that led to the deaths of tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of innocents.

The Iraq War squandered American blood and treasure on a fruitless quest to impose American empire on the Middle East (Iraq was not related to 9/11). More than eight years later, Iraq is still unstable. On Sunday, some 100 died in bombings and violence and the Supreme Court sentenced an elected vice president to death for running Sunni death squads, after he had been accused by the elected Shiite prime minister. The U.S.-installed Shiite government predictably tilts toward Iran, and supports the government of Syria.

Last week Washington complained bitterly that Iraq was giving Iran over-flight rights for resupply of the army of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom the U.S. wants to see removed from power.

For this questionable achievement, the U.S. borrowed more than $1 trillion (on which we are still paying the interest), and faces trillions more in expenses in coming years as the bills for care of wounded veterans mount. We lost 4,486 military personnel killed in action, and more than 30,000 wounded, with a fifth of those suffering brain or spinal injuries. Many veterans of the Iraq War have some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, affecting their well-being, family life and friends.

Administration officials peddled falsehoods such as that Iraq was near to having a nuclear weapon or was involved in the 9/11 attacks. Both the transformation of news into propaganda and the justification of "pre-emptive wars" degraded American values. Americans were told to be afraid. The Bush administration authorized the use of torture, and set up black sites where suspects were held without trial and beyond any law. At home, the U.S. government turned to warrantless surveillance of our telephones and emails.

While the initial U.S. intervention in Afghanistan was necessary, in order to destroy the some 40 al-Qaida training camps, the Bush administration erred in launching a long-term military occupation of that country. Afghans, proud tribesmen who drove the British empire and the Soviet Union from their lands, were never going to accept an American and NATO occupation. The longer the intensive U.S. troop presence lasted, the more resistance the Afghans offered. President Hamid Karzai's team engaged in ballot-stuffing in the 2010 election, undermining American hopes of fostering democracy.

The attempt rapidly to train up thousands of Afghan police and troops, in hopes they could take over security duties as the U.S. and its allies finally withdraw, has run into trouble because some of the recruits so resent U.S. dominance of their country that they shoot at American troops.

Although the Obama administration has withdrawn from Iraq and plans on being largely out of Afghanistan by 2014, the perpetual wars continue. The U.S. is fighting remote-control conflicts by drone in northern Pakistan, Yemen and occasionally Somalia. The wars have no boundaries and are governed by no law. They include the use of drones for assassination, including of American citizens abroad. They do not have congressional authorization. They are classified so they cannot even be confirmed to us by our elected officials.

The U.S. government's response to the lawlessness and mass killing of 9/11 has too often been a subversion of American laws and values, and an abandonment of the ideals enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

The Founding Fathers would not have wanted the United States to launch wars of aggression as opposed to wars of self-defense, or to set aside the Bill of Rights. They were not naïve, and they faced more severe security challenges than do we today. Nevertheless, they insisted on the sanctity of individual liberties in the midst of those challenges.

Eleven years on, we need to get back to those basic American values.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120911/OPINION01/209110320#ixzz26BZ0lbLO