Remembering September 11

Today is the seventh anniversary of the September 11th attacks, the worst act of terrorism on US soil. People all over the country are commemorating the tragedy and remembering those who lost their lives that day. While we remember that day in September, I think we should also remember what lead up to those events and ask ourselves are we any safer? Lapses in intelligence allowed the hijackers to get as far as they did. Lapses in intelligence lead us to war with a country that had nothing to do with the attacks. Today we are still relying on intelligence to keep us safe. Is it working, are we safer? I can’t say. We haven’t had another attack since then.

Seven years after The Towers fell, Osama Bin Laden is still at large, but Saddam Hussein is dead. Recently there was news that the Al Qaeda leader in Pakistan was killed. But still no sight of Bin Laden. It seems like the current administration took a detour in the hunt for Bin Laden. A detour, that sent us to Iraq. Are we safe because of the actions of our government? I want to say yes, but I have to question that. We have put so many resources into stabilizing Iraq; I want to know what resources have been allocated to capturing Bin Laden?

It really makes me wonder, being the world’s superpower, having the best and most technologically advanced military in the world, what’s going on? The next President needs to listen to advice of the trained and experienced military leaders. We need to find Bin Laden, secure our boarders and make sure we have dependable human intelligence to help keep us safe. At this point I’m not sure if the government has kept us safe, or just pure luck there hasn’t been another attack.