What Price 9/11?

Since America was attacked on September 11, 2001, our country and its citizens have paid a heavy price, not just in lives lost, but in who we are and what America stands for. Out of our fear, a new America was born. It is an America that I hardly recognize from when I was a boy. My country has changed. We have changed.

One of the first things to change was the passing of the Patriot Act. It increased the ability of law enforcement agencies to search telephone, e-mail communications, medical, financial and other records. Even our libraries and the books we read were subject to this act. Librarians were enraged with this sudden invasion of privacy and new restrictions placed on them. We were told it was to help catch terrorists who wanted to stage more attacks.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created to oversee and coordinate 25 different agencies needed to fight our War on Terror. Some of the better known agencies under the control of this new “super agency” are the TSA, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, U.S. Secret Service, FEMA and the U.S. Coast Guard. To me, the very name of this new agency seems sinister and Orwellian. This one massive organization now has control over a large chunk of our life in America.

One of the DHS agencies, the Transportation Security Administration or TSA, has changed the way we travel. I can remember a time when you could go to the gate at the airport and say good bye to a loved one or wait for them to get off the plane. No more. Now, we wait in long lines to be processed by high tech machines and uniformed people that require us to show picture ID’s and travel documents, remove our shoes, empty our pockets and put everything on a conveyor belt that feeds the contents into scanners. We then are required to step though machines that scan us, our bodies, and if that’s not enough, a final hands on “pat-down” of our person. In May of 2008, our drivers license with our pictures will no longer be accepted as secure identification for air travel. Travelers will need to produce a U.S. Passport, even for domestic flights. All of this is in preparation for a “secure” National Identification Card (REAL ID) that will be required of everyone in the country. Are we feeling safe yet? Now, I grant you most of us do feel safer with all the extra security measures required for air travel these days. We are even willing to put up with the inconvenience to a point, but I have to wonder... what’s next?

Once upon a time we were the good guys. We believed in human rights and treaties like the Geneva Convention and even played a major role in trying Nazis for war crimes after World War II. There was a time when we condemned other countries for human rights violations and torture. But now the world has seen pictures of Abu Ghraib and heard of the abuses at Guantanamo in Cuba, where “enemy combatants” face an unknown future, denied even the pretext of due process. They are declared guilty without any way to prove their innocence or fight their incarceration. Tapes of questionable interrogation techniques of some of these “detainees” have been destroyed by the CIA in violation of orders. Can America any longer claim a moral high ground in the World? Have we become the people we used to condemn out of our fear?

So what if we are holding a bunch of radical terrorists, you say. Good riddance! They are terrorists and the world is better off without them. Who cares! Well, think again. Our congress is working on House Bill HR 1955: The "Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism" Act (HR 1955 has been submitted to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.) Since this bill is so vague, the government can theoretically persecute civilians who use their right to assemble and their right to free speech by voicing their opposition to a government policy or program. Homeland Security at any time can label us a “Homegrown Terrorist.” Once we are so labeled, we are then subject to the possibility of having our assets and property seized. We could be incarcerated indefinitely, without trial or even without charges placed against us. Do not forget what the Patriot Act already allows our government to do and do not forget the charges of illegal domestic spying by this administration. Still feel warm and fuzzy? Still feel protected?

What price have we paid for 9/11 and our fear? We may never know until it is too late.

FOOD for THOUGHT...