September 11, 2001, was what many have called “the day that changed America, ” and tomorrow, as you know, is the 20th anniversary of those horrendous terrorist attacks. But I don’t remember 9/11/01, for I was living in Japan and didn’t know about the attacks until September 12.
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| (A 9/12/01 photo by Frank Becerra Jr., The Journal News) |
Speaking in Chapel on 9/12
While it was still Sept. 11 in Japan when the Twin Towers
were hit and destroyed, it was after my bedtime and so it was only early the
next morning that I heard that almost unbelievable news.
I got up early, as usual, with the intention of spending
time on my final preparation for speaking at the regular Seinan Gakuin High
School chapel service that morning. Upon hearing the horrible news from the
U.S., though, I knew I would have to change my planned talk completely.
Even though I had been in Japan for many years, it still
took a lot longer to prepare a talk/sermon in Japanese than in English—and there
certainly wasn’t time that morning of 9/12 to make adequate preparation.
I haven’t been able to find the notes for my chapel talk
that morning—and I might be embarrassed to see what I said, or didn’t say. But
I did the best I could at the time.
After the chapel service was over, I chatted a few minutes
with Manabe-sensei, the high school principal. I remember him saying
that what he was most afraid of now were acts of revenge by the U.S.—and I
agreed with him.
Seeking Revenge after 9/12
On 9/14, Pres. Bush vowed that the U.S. would take military
action in retaliation for the terrorist attacks. Then on 9/18, he signed a
congressional resolution authorizing the use of force against those responsible
for the attacks.
Before a month had passed, on October 7 U.S. forces begin
bombing the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Retaliation had begun—and Principle
Manabe was right: the acts of revenge have been far, far worse than the horrible
events of 9/11.
The total number of people killed in the attacks of 9/11/01
is given as 2,997. The total number of people killed in Afghanistan since 10/7/01
is said (here)
to be over 240,000. Retaliation ended with roughly 80 times (!) the death toll from
the 9/11 attacks.
Leaving Afghanistan in 8/2021
Just a few days more than 238 months after the U.S. began
military actions against the “enemy” in Afghanistan, the U.S. withdrew all
military service members, other USAmericans, and tens of thousands of Afghan “friends.”
This has widely been called a “defeat” for the U.S.—and Pres.
Biden has been strongly criticized for the hectic withdrawal not only by
Republicans but by many in his own Party.
The war in Afghanistan might have been considered a success
if it had ended in 2002. The major goal had been reached. But the war didn’t
end then. It dragged on for 19 more years, perhaps partly (or largely?) because
of the military-industrial complex. Some people profited handsomely from the
war.
The bombing in Kabul on August 26 which killed 13 U.S. soldiers
and more than 170 Afghans was tragic indeed. And the current danger facing the
few USAmericans and many Afghan friends of the U.S. left in Afghanistan is certainly
distressing.
But undoubtedly, many more U.S. military personnel and
Afghans would be killed in the months/years ahead had the U.S. troops
remained.
It is remarkable that there seems to be more outrage over the
fewer than 200 who were killed in Afghanistan the last week in August this year
than over the average of more than 1,000 a month for the last 238 months!
We do need to be concerned about the oppressed people,
especially women—and Christians—in Afghanistan as well as in North Korea, Syria,
and many more countries with harsh governments. But one thing is certain: war
is not the answer to the problems in Afghanistan or any other country.
_____
** Here are some of the helpful opinion pieces I read with
profit and recommend to those who are interested in thinking more about this
matter.
“Yes,
the Kabul withdrawal is a disaster. But Biden made the right decision on Afghanistan”
by Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart on 8/22.
This
opinion piece by David Leonhardt in The New York Times on 8/25.
Biden
Deserves Credit, Not Blame, for Afghanistan by David Rothkopf in The
Atlantic, 8/30.
The first comments received this morning are from local Thinking Friend David Nelson:
ReplyDelete"War is not the answer. You are so right. Where are the answers to be found? Where are we exploring other responses? 'Restorative Justice' is being practiced in many communities and in many nations. Let’s begin at home and find alternatives when we are hurt. Look for healing for all parties rather than retaliation."
David, thanks for being the first to read and respond to this morning's new blog post.
DeleteIt is much easier to say what is not the answer than to suggest what would be the answer to the problems so many, especially women, face in Afghanistan. I don't know what restorative justice would look like in Afghanistan.
There are many Afghan people who do not agree with the Taliban, and encouraging them in various ways, and especially encouraging non-cooperation with evil, may be one way problems there can be eventually overcome, but it will be a long, slow process.
Here (below) is the link to a touching article about a U.S. couple who strongly spoke out against seeking revenge for the 9/11 attacks even though their son was one of the victims.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/social-justice/two-mothers-of-september-11
Your blog today saddens me for obvious reasons. And you didn’t even mention how we extended that revenge to Iraq who had nothing to do with 9/11. Shortly after 9/11, the head of Afghanistan said something to the effect of America should just let it go. I said to relatives and friends at the time that he clearly has no understanding of the USA. We don’t forget, and we’re the meanest junkyard dog on the block.
ReplyDeleteYes, I dealt only with the revenge war against Afghanistan and purposely did not mention the war against Iraq, which was certainly related in many ways but was also somewhat different in that it was primarily a preemptive war rather than a war of retaliation. But the Iraq War may even be more reprehensible as it was likely more tied in with the interests of the military-industrial complex.
DeleteI just now received an email with these brief comments from Thinking Friend Michael Olmsted in Springfield, Mo.:
ReplyDelete"Well said. Retaliation ... death ... cultivating hatred can never promote healing, produce justice or a new beginning, or offer a meaningful life. God's answer is grace. Consider the cross and we have the perfect example of love."
Thanks for your comments, Michael--and I certainly agree with you. But the lingering problem is, How can a government or political leaders act, or be expected to act, gracefully? What would that look like?
DeleteAnd here are comments from Thinking Friend Glenn Hinson in Kentucky:
ReplyDelete"A very thoughtful reflection, Leroy. I think the whole Afghan affair should serve as a warning about American hubris. Our conviction about 'American exceptionalism' prevented us from ever understanding what we should do about 9/11 and especially what we wanted to achieve when we entered Afghanistan. We seem unable to grasp that the rest of the world has no desire to be Americanized."
Thanks, Dr. Hinson. I certainly agree with what you said. Still, while the rest of the world, including Afghanistan of course, has no desire to be Americanized, there are many in Afghanistan (and other countries) who would like for women to have the same freedoms and social status that most have in the U.S. How can respect and freedom for women be encouraged and promoted in a country such as Afghanistan? Certainly, having U.S. military boots on the ground is not the way to achieve that, although now that the American troops are gone from Afghanistan, many women are facing much harder times once again. That is an issue I am struggling with.
DeleteThinking Friend Tom Nowlin was a missionary colleague in Japan for several years; he lives in Arkansas now. Here are comments he sent by email:
ReplyDelete"At the time of the attacks I was actually on the phone in my missionary residential home office the early morning hours in Japan with a friend in the United States. He stopped me a few minutes into our conversation to ask, 'Tom, are you aware of what has happened in the United States?' Then, before I could ask, 'What?' He said, 'Oh no, a second plane just crashed into the World Trade Center! Something terrible is happening here!'
"At the time, I was teaching English at the Japanese Self Defense Force’s National Defense Academy (NDA) in Yokosuka. When I took up my classes that early morning, I asked my students if they knew what had just happened in the United States. They all nodded. I asked them their thoughts. All replied, 'This is Islam against Christianity.' I entertained the notion for a moment, asking my students why they believed that. As a lifelong student of religion, I then expressed my thought: 'In my opinion, this is not true Islam or Christianity. This is barbarism and inhumanity, perhaps masked as religion. Religion may be misguided, even corrupted, and used for personal aggrandizement and power (I had in mind the SBC). How else can you explain the killing of thousands of innocent noncombatants?'
"My opinion has not changed since that day. Now, I am doing research on the post-9/11 experience of many wonderful American Muslims in Arkansas. I’ve shared my experience here before. Speaking as a former navy nuclear operator during the cold war, serving aboard a Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine, with 16 Polaris missiles, each with 3 warheads 14 times more powerful that the Hiroshima bomb, when I think of American might and power, I cannot help but think that absolute power corrupts absolutely. For 'powerful' nations like America, war-making is too easy, short-sighted, and has become the American business plan, and we do it blithely well. We had several opportunities to disengage in Afghanistan (the longest war in US history and for what?) and simply failed by not doing so. Nearly every one of the veterans I know , those who’ve starred death in the eyes first hand, agree.
"Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God' has been lost on Americans AND EVEN Christians these days. The hubris of “power” is corrosive in the end. Peace-making through soft power is far more effective and the data will bear that out. Wars, far more costlier, are averted by promoting geopolitical and socio-economic justice, respect for others, diplomacy, again soft power. What we have done in the so-called 'war against terror' is squander blood and treasure. It may 'feel good' for the moment, but we now reap the whirlwind of all the aftermath of war for decades to come."
Tom, thanks so much for your thoughtful and thought-provoking comments!
DeleteAlways thoughtful Thinking Friend Eric Dollard in Chicago shares these comments:
ReplyDelete"Our problems in the Near, or Middle, East arise by and large from two things: hubris and oil. If the Middle East had no oil, would we have sent any troops there at all, ever? As for hubris, the leaders of al-Qaeda wanted to provoke an American overreaction, and overreact we did. It did not provoke a huge anti-American movement as they had hoped, but the War on Terror definitely weakened America. We squandered trillions of dollars and thousands of lives to accomplish very little. Now we are deeply polarized and threatened with losing our democracy to the extent that we have one.
"We need to stop thinking that our military might and our Western values can somehow control or change the rest of the world. If we want to better the world, we need to address injustice and income inequality in our own society and promote peace and human life and dignity everywhere. As you say, war is not the answer."
Thanks, as always, for your thoughtful comments, Eric. What you wrote reminded me of the Aug. 16 Tweet by Rajat Sharma:
Delete“If you ever feel useless, just remember, USA took 4 Presidents, trillions of dollars, millions of lives and 20 years to replace Taliban with Taliban.”
(Sharma is Editor-In-Chief and Chairman of India TV. He has 8,300,000 followers on Twitter.)
My memory of September 12, 2001 is lost, or perhaps more accurately, in a blur that extends from April 19, 1995 until the end of September 2001. On April 19, 1995 a terrorist attack destroyed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. At first Arabs were the suspects, but it turned out to be very home-grown American terrorists. I was off that day, but the next day, when I returned to work at the Federal Building in Kansas City, the distress was palpable. It jumped another level when we discovered that our building in Kansas City had been cased by the terrorists as a potential target before picking Oklahoma City. April 19 was a day of dread every year thereafter. (April 19 was picked for the attack because of Ruby Ridge and Waco, so we feared another repeat.)
ReplyDeleteTuesday, September 11, 2001, I was teaching a class at work. When I came out of class at morning break, a horrified friend told me about the attack. Well, I had to keep teaching, which is probably why September 12 is a blur. September 18, however, was very special. It was our 25th wedding anniversary, and we already had tickets to fly to New York City to stay with a friend who recently had moved to Manhattan so we could spend a week touring the area and taking in shows. After the initial shock wore off, we contacted our friend and asked for advice. She said New York needed us, and advised us to proceed. So we were in a Manhattan apartment watching TV when Rudy, back when he was America's mayor, proclaimed, "Live from New York City, this is Saturday Night!"
About two weeks after 9-11 we made the pilgrimage to a viewing site near ground zero. It was a solemn procession, shuffling down a sidewalk to the viewing spot. Nearby, the New York Stock Exchange looked like a stage prop, still covered with a solid coat of dust. A small whisper of smoke still rose from the wreckage off to our right. We were warned not to linger, as experts feared the air there was poisonous.
We later toured Times Square, where we saw a few protesters demanding that the United States not start a war in response to the attack. We immediately realized they were right, and that their efforts were doomed. Soon enough we started squandering all the good will for America by invading Afghanistan, and, just in case any good will still existed, we launched a second (totally unprovoked) war, this time in Iraq. Both wars turned out to be what only a MIC (military-industrial complex) could love. Who would have guessed that the recent end of the war would be as ugly as the beginning? I wonder why they call us "The Ugly American," and when did they start doing it? I guess the answers to such questions are still "blowing in the wind."
We also toured Central Park. Among its many treasures was a shelter house filled with people playing chess. As the former first board of the chess team of Thomas Jefferson High School in Annandale, Virginia, I felt a strange tug. That was one of my roads not taken. It was a strange time for such a tug. When we arrived home from New York, I had another strange tug at the airport. The airport was now guarded by police, and one of the officers present was a sheriff's deputy who had been the assistant coach on a baseball team on which my son once played. He spotted us, and we had a short catching-up conversation. It is September 11, 20 years later. I am still catching up.
Thanks much, Craig, for sharing your experience and thoughts about 9/11.
DeleteGreetings Dr. Seat, thank you for the article. When I was in the twin towers with my father we had donuts and it was a memory I kept remembering that when we moved back to Uruguay, I was horrified that these memories of New York and the donuts and the lives of the people were very tragic. With that, I know that this is something to never forget but not to never forgive either since we need to not forget but show forgiveness which i always had some thoughts. Please share me what are your opinions that certain conspiracy theorists say that 9/11 was an "inside job" founded by Bush and his friends created by Alex Jones but I have some respectful skepticisms knowing that before 9/11 in the previous decade, there were rumors (like in the Simpsons) that 9/11 was going to happen. My question is that whether 9/11 was an "inside job" or conspiracy theories before 9/11 "predicted" the disaster to happen? Since conspiracy theories have spread like wildfire, 9/11 made me curious on how conspiracy theorists lie for what purpose? If you can answer that, I can learn about the purpose conspiracy theorists make whether it is with COVID-19 or 9/11. Thanks - S.K.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Steve.
DeleteI haven't spent much time reading about, or thinking about, conspiracy theories, but my impression is that they are spun by people (such as Alex Jones) who are seeking to gain more prestige (or notoriety) in order to increase their wealth. The strong desire for prestige, power, and possessions (wealth) are behind many of the problems in the world, include the harmful conspiracy theories.
Here is the link to a recent article you might find of interest. It is titled, "How 9/11 influenced the way conspiracy theories spread today."
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/9-11-conspiracy-theories-b1917903.html
Thank you for the article as I will look on the site you have sent me Dr. Seat. The main reason why I asked what exactly the reason why you sent me the page and I look forward reading it soon. It is harmful and sad that people choose conspiracy theories over facts, even when their lives are at stake (such as the COVID crisis). But as you taught me before to not be fooled to things that are untrue. Praying for the families facing these traumas of 20 years and also for those who are struggling with faith during these tragic disasters and spiritual confusions.
DeleteBro. Leroy,
ReplyDeleteI was the senior staff member in a church with no pastor on 9/11/01. All I felt I could do was tell the congregation to pray. Through our mid-week prayer service we continued to pray, even for the families of the terrorists who flew the planes. This subject still leaves me frustrated and with no answers.
Your various responses have a singularly uniform theme. Seek peace. Yet it appears every time there is hope for peace, someone is seeking power and is willing to pay the price for that power. Is this the presence of sin in our world? Some would say they seek power only to right previous wrongs. How do we deal with that? North Korea says it seeks to protect its people from the corrupting influence of the West. Sometimes I find that hard to reject. China tells the world to stay out of its internal affairs involving Muslims, Christians, political and economic dissidents. What should our response be when China declares its intentions about Taiwan to be internal affairs? Putin wants to restore Mother Russia to her days of grandeur in the full power of the Soviet Union.
Bro. Leroy, you have broached a subject every Christian must face if they are to live in this world. How do we live as salt and light and work for peace in a world that includes individuals who believe killing while dying puts one on the path to paradise? Let the martyr blood flow.
Thanks, Tom, for your thought-provoking comments. Yes, I firmly believe that the violence we see in various places and in various levels in the world is due to sin. And the ongoing question is, truly, How do we deal with that? It is important to realize that sin is more than just personal failings/acts of individuals. There needs to be a much fuller understanding of social sin--and I probably will be writing more about that on Sept. 30. There also needs to be a fuller understanding that "we" are not righteous and "they" only are sinful.
DeleteIn spite of the problems and lack of any ability to give a complete answer, I still believe that we must earnestly seek first the Kingdom of God and God's justice (righteousness).