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.
 |
| (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.
