On September 12, America awoke to the world's sympathy; an unrivalled opportunity to transform the world for the better, but all Washington wanted was retribution.
Just as Osama bin Laden had hoped, a series of mismanaged and misconceived wars in the Muslim world ensued. Wars that have bankrupt the US financially, militarily and perhaps most detrimentally, in its global standing.
Ten years on many questions remain unanswered. Were the attacks of September 11 a case of blowback, or, as President Bush professed, 'a hatred of Western freedoms'?
And why, if the hijackers came from friendly Gulf countries, did the US launch a war against Iraq?
Was the global 'war on terror' a cynical pretext for neocon policy hawks and the vested interests of the military industrial complex; or a war of necessity against a new type of global enemy?
Has the killing of Osama bin Laden meant the death of al-Qaeda, or was any hope of claiming that victory superseded by the Arab Spring?
So many lives lost, so many millions squandered, so many opportunities wasted; as the global political order starts to shift, does the US regret its "stupid war"?
Here is the plea of an American father who send his beloved son to war in Iraq.
My son was sixteen at the time Bin Laden's crew of twenty some hijackers, sixteen or so from Saudi Arabia, the rest from Yemen, who trained to fly in America, executed the 9-11 attacks.
The wise men we elected to office waged war on Afghanistan to get Bin Laden. Our military had him trapped at Tora Bora, but the head office held up air strikes for twenty-four hours and he got away.
No need to be alarmed, because a larger threat loomed with weapons of mass destruction that threatened to kill us all.
In March 2003, America waged war on Iraq with shock and awe.
Joining the military was the 'in' thing, as even professional football players changed careers. It was patriotic.
My son joined after 'Mission Accomplished' in Iraq, but was killed in Iraq in September 2007. He was number 3,757 killed, age 22, which was the average age killed in the war on terror.
With over 6,000 of our young men and women and hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan and Iraq dead, it makes me ask, "What's war good for?"
They tell me Bryan died for my freedom.
So with my freedom of speech I ask "Who gained and who lost?"
I heard of a military contractor charging $900 for $7 switches. Recently 60 billion dollars in spending were unaccounted for, but I think the switches were accounted for.
We all now pay $3.50 to $4.00 for fuel compared to $1.00 to $1.25 before the wars, because now there are different players in the Iraq oil fields.
No one in particular is responsible. Because it's someone else's fault. But if we are a democracy of the people is it our fault for not holding someone accountable?
If it's taxpayer funded, what about the weapons of mass destruction?
Only if all Americans sons and daughters were to serve in the military instead of one in 200 would parents band together and say, "No, you're not using my children in wars for material wealth."
