Lessons of 9/11: Sins of the Father

Many recollections of Tuesday, September 11, 2001 are just that, memories of a day and the events that followed, including Operation Infinite Justice in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL), an unfortunately titled crusade quickly renamed Operation Iraqi Freedom.  It became a way to settle unfinished business with Iraq's Saddam Hussein, who did have one Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD):  cheap oil ready to unleash after a decade of embargo and food-for-oil after the Persian Gulf War's Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.  In 1990, the President George H. W. Bush (#41) Administration told diplomat April Glassby to relay a message to Saddam Husseini; his dispute with Kuwait was not a U.S. concern.  This became Saddam's excuse to invade Kuwait, which gave Bush an excuse to get Saudi Arabia to accept American troops on its soil; movie director Spike Lee had a hard enough time getting non-Moslem Americans on Arabian territory to make MALCOLM X, but this would trigger Osama bin Laden's wrath.  So far, Osama's plan worked:  force America to spend itself into oblivion just as the Soviet Union did in the late 80's, while inflating oil prices by having Christian crusaders and Islamic jihadists fight over oil fields and pipelines.  There are many lessons to be learned about 9/11:  visit www.9-11commission.gov for the valid-if-flawed Commission Report, and read then-Senator Bob Graham's (FL-D) book INTELLIGENCE MATTERS.  Watch movies like FAHRENHEIT 9/11 and CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR and maybe RAMBO III as a reminder of what can happen when an unwanted superpower sends troops to a guerrilla's playground.  The movie W. is sympathetic, but brutal in its comparisons between the two wars on Iraq by different Bush presidencies.  Television shows like THE PATH TO 9/11 and W.'s remembrances of 9/11 are forgettable except to track right-wing delusions.  Young Winston Churchill switched the British Navy from coal to oil; today's soldiers are switching from one-use batteries to rechargeables with solar panels.  Also, look for Anthony Cordesman's post-9/11 essay THE BUFFY PARADIGM which analogizes terrorists to various supernatural villains.