Between War and Peace
Chapter One
The Wages of September 11
THERE IS NO GOING BACK
September 11 changed our world. Those who deny such a watershed event take a superficially short-term view and seem to think all is as before simply because the sun still rises and sets.
This is a colossal misjudgment. The collapse of the towers, the crashing into the Pentagon, and the murder of three thousand Americans-all seen live in real time by millions the world over-tore off a scab and exposed deep wounds, which, if and when they heal, will leave ugly scars for decades. The killers dealt in icons-the choice of 9/11 as the date of death, targeting the manifest symbols of global capitalism and American military power, and centering their destruction on the largest Jewish city in the world. Yes, they got their symbols in spades, but they have no idea that their killing has instead become emblematic of changes that they could scarcely imagine.
Islamic fundamentalism has proved not ascendant but static, morally repugnant-and the worst plague upon the Arab world since the Crusades. By lurking in the shadows and killing incrementally through stealth, the vampi ... read full excerpt from Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan to Iraq ebook
