9/11 was an enormous blot on humanity. It was a crime of unfathomable degree against entire humanity and an irredeemable sin. It reflected the best and the worst facets of humanity. Now as humanity huddle together in retrospect on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, they, once again, are in heartfelt remembrance of victims and heroes who fought hard risking their lives to save others. But this time it is of special significance because of the fact that in this very year 2011, the source of the evil ray of sin called Osama Bin Laden has been obliterated.
From September 11, 2001 to April 31, 2011, all the years in between, the entire humanity waited with patience with a heavy heart seeking justice, while America worked inexorably all through these years, each day and each night was ticking. And justice did come in the long run on April 31/2011, justice for those lives extinguished all at once because of a reprehensible act of a group of evildoers , of an act that reached the nadir, and of an act that had put the entire humanity into shame. Apparently the terrorists’ prime target was the Americans. How far have they succeeded in that? True, thousands died, but these thousands belonged to more than 90 countries. At the end of the day, what they did was massacre innocent thousands from across the globe.
Now the families, friends and loved ones of the 9-11 attack may find closure – president Obama declared said on Bin Laden’s death. Referring to Bin Laden’s death, the Prez said ‘Americans feel a great sense of closure because of that’. The firefighters and the police personnel gave their lives for a cause. They have their relatives and friends who will always remind us of them, who have turned twinkling like diamonds in the sky.
An Introspection:
Let us now switch to the introspection mode. Why it happened at all leads to another question. Did America or even the entire world imagine an incident like 9/11 before? No, they didn’t, not even in their wildest dreams. And America was too immersed in basking in the glory of being a superpower to foresee. It was a ‘virus’ that had eaten into the system. And they system had failed. The chronic nature of it built complacence which engulfed the nation. Complacence was the culprit. Braced and graced by the Atlantic in the east and the Pacific in the west, the United States of America is geographically nestled in a uniquely safe location. Add to that advantage the fact that the nation is only one in the whole wide world with super-nation status after the collapse of the erstwhile Soviet Union. The super-nation theory does justice if we not just look back on the two Great Wars but also on the tremendous developments in the spheres of science and technology as well. America’s superpower or super-nation status came into prominence mostly after the Second World War. And one day America stood ridiculously alone in the citadel of superpower with Russia’s loss of super-power status due to its break up and subsequent serious economic downturn. America became a lazy and complacent nation not knowing who to fight against now as the once very powerful Russia was no longer a foe. Maybe America needed a foe to flaunt its incredible strength and they found it in Osama Bin Laden and his terror outfit Al Qaeda, though in the initial stage the United States downplayed this foe as ‘wasn’t worth a hoot’. The cumulative euphoric feeling led to a notion like ‘We are invincible’. ‘No one can harm America’ had been the mindset for quite a long time. This sensitivity of pseudo-invincibility and complacence grew on America too well. Well now look at this…’no one can attack mainland America’ meant in a way, the nation was un-attackable from the outside only. But what if it is attacked from within? Well that was the striking theory the perpetrators of 9/11 resorted to. I would call this pregnant crab theory where the baby crabs tear up the belly of their mother from the inside to come out to the world. America never really went into the introspection mode as deep as this.
That fact that no nation is invulnerable holds true even for a superpower. Even a Goliath can be vanquished by a David. Here let me to draw your attention to a historic incident which was till that period unprecedented and the most shocking one in the history of independent America – Pearl Harbor! The heist of 1941 comes to the fore because of its relevance as we talk about America’s unparalleled trajectory of ‘defending’ since independence. In 1941 Japan did attack America from the outside but the attacked part Pearl Harbor is geographically well-detached from the mainland and is located thousands of miles away. However, it was a huge success all the way for Japan in the historic air-raid because of a big loophole in the American defense mindset as they were used to playing down the old adage ‘Never underestimate your enemy’. The incident had exposed America’s unpreparedness for such a transgression by a foreign party. After the catastrophe, the Americans were immediately filled with the feeling of compunction.
As more than seventy years have passed since Pearl Harbor, it was as if another catastrophe was on the prowl for 60 years to befall the humanity…to cause deaths and devastation… – Nine Eleven!
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