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Remember when we were tagged with the meme that Democrats saw 9/11 as a law enforcement issue? "A criminal case"...The implication being, of course, that we minimized the importance of the 9/11 attacks...In hindsight their PR campaign might prove telling.
It was used as a slur to help move the focus away from investigation, politicize any opposition and embed a "war on terror" into political discourse.
I don't buy the IHOP's, but 9/11 was and remains a criminal case. That implies some possibility of resolution in identifying, tracking and apprehending the perps. Given the recent outing of NSA wire sweeps, you'd think we'd have made some progress by now. You'd think a government bent on *our* security would let a reassuringly small piece of that info known to the public. It hasn't happened. The perps remain at large.
In this foggy "war on terror" the possibility of resolution seems to have been set aside. Lots has been set aside.
Now we have the seemingly endless jingoism of 9/11 - morphed as the war on terror - used as a rationale for the manipulation of foreign and domestic policy. Used as a justification for abrogating Constitutional guarantees. And, sadly, used as a ploy to make the nation's painful memories of 9/11 a partisan, political asset.
9/11 will always be a part of the national psyche, there's no way around that, nor should there be. But putting the event in a realistic framework - one that recognizes the enormity of the event and supports a national return to day-to-day life - would be a great example of leadership. Real leadership.
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