9/11 anniversary

Once again the 9/11 has rolled around again, and my thoughts go back to that terrible day.

On that terrible day, we were all united, but now, a mere 6 years later, we are divided in ways that would have been unimaginable during WWII, and even as recently as 6 years ago. The really sad thing is that the divisions are largely political. Let’s take some of those criticisms in brief:

1.) Bush rushed us into Iraq on the false premises that Saddam Hussein had WMDs. In short, “Bush lied, people died.”

2.) This war is only about oil and benefitting the oil barons of Halliburton

3.) Bush was behind the 9/11 attacks so that he would have his excuse to go to war in Iraq.

Among others, of course, but the above three criticisms are the most often cited in discussions about Bush from the left wing. First, the idea that Hussein had WMDs preceded Bush's term in office, so that makes the criticism of Bush lying about WMDs invalid.

Next, while criticism of Halliburton taking advantage of the situation (as well as VP Cheney's connection to Halliburton) is valid, stating that we went to war for Halliburton is not. If there's proof that we went to war for Halliburton, then it needs to be presented; otherwise this particular criticism needs to die.

And last, the idea that Bush somehow conspired to make 9/11 happen is so stupidly absurd that I can't believe that anyone believes it; let alone a group of people that tends to pride itself on its intelligence. There's only one question that needs to be asked here to see the absurdity of these conspiracy theories of Bush planning 9/11: What possible benefit would come of Bush to arrange for the deaths of thousands of his countrymen and women?

If Bush did plan something like that just for the sake of some political edge, then he really would be as stupid as his critics claim. That Bush's critics are willing to believe such an absurd and stupid conspiracy theory demonstrates that they are not as above their emotions as they'd like to believe. Basically, they're letting their hatred of Bush compromise thier logic and reasoning.

This is not to say that Bush does not deserve criticism at all. Far from it. One, what is our exit strategy? Did Bush have one going in? Two, what if the Iraqis want us out? Are we going to leave? Three, did Bush really believe that all it would take is for us to go depose Saddam Hussein and that the Iraqis would fall all over themselves in gratitude? Was no consideration at all taken that the Iraqis may not have wanted us there in the first place?

Those are three criticisms off of the top of my head that I think are much more valid to ask than the previous criticisms that I listed. They're more focused and direct on the issue of the Iraq war itself rather than on stupid conspiracy theory fantasies of Bush planning the deaths of thousands of Americans only to benefit his re-election campaign.

Had the left-wing critics kept their focus on the matter, they wouldn't be coming off as delusionary ranters right now. They made this personal and lost their sense of reasoning. They let their anger consume them, and from a psychological standpoint, it's never wise to let your anger consume you, nor to let your hatred guide your actions.

On the anniversary of that terrible day, let's honor the memory of the victims of 9/11 by continuing our pursuit of justice for their murders, but let's conduct ourselves in such a way that leads to truly productive results instead of mindless ramblings that do nothing to fix problems that arise in our pursuit of justice.