Paul Krugman, New York Times, writes, via William A. Jacobson, Legal Insurrection:
Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued?
Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.
What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. Te atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.
A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits — people who should have understood very well what was happening — took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity?
The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it…
Nine Eleven was part tragedy and part victory. It the date of several battles of long war, which has yet to be won. We American don’t celebrate the outcome of individual battles, Concord, Vicksburg, Bella Woods, or Tet. We commemorate the end of wars.
On the morning of Nine Eleven, I knew our nation was under attack. I did not know the size and scale of the attack. However hearing of the New York City fire fighters who willingly entered the World Trade Center building, know full well they would not be coming out and seeing the passengers of Flight Ninety-Three take back the flight, I knew out nation’s spirit has not been broken.
Shame Paul Krugman is too blind to see it.
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