Sometimes I think the very best response to the terror attacks a decade ago would have been similar to how we respond to a natural calamity like an earthquake or a tidal wave: help the survivors, rebuild, and take precautions and remain prepared for future disasters.
Actually, this is usually what I think.
Others have made the point before me that the way that America did respond has done nothing to seek out and solve the underlying factors that led to the attacks and have even made further violence from such extremists even more likely to occur in the future.
Back when the Freedom Towers were first being discussed and plans drawn up guild on what is now referred to as Ground Zero, I recall my own thoughts. “Naw, that’s not it. We should rebuild the WTC just as it was, restore the skyline of NYC to its previous shape, exactly as before. If it becomes a target again, so be it. If it gets knocked down again, build it back. Again. And again, if necessary. The fanatics had a message they wanted to send, and to me the correct response is that we don’t care. We are bigger than one building or even two. We are stronger than a handful of small men with large hate and larger fear. And then we go on. We go on as before, not as if nothing had happened, but rather because we don’t allow ourselves to be changed by this kind of atrocity.”
But it’s not what happened, and in fact America did change – and I would argue that the worst parts of the national character became accentuated, more pervasive and more dominant than before.
Which brings me to this.
A coloring book seems a rather trivial sort of cultural artifact, but it is at least interesting to observe when one is being used to promote a political agenda. Deep in the heartland, some people with ties to the so-called Tea Party have produced one depicting the terror attacks and the aftermath. The article discussing this says that it “angers” US Muslims, but in fact it doesn’t seem that they are much more than annoyed. The article In the Guardian describes it like this:
Showing scenes from 9/11 for children to colour in and telling the story of the attacks and the subsequent hunt for Osama bin Laden, “the book was created with honesty, integrity, reverence, respect and does not shy away from the truth”, according to its publisher, which says that it has sold out of its first print run of 10,000 copies.
One page of the $6.99 book, which has been given a PG rating, shows Bin Laden hiding behind a hijab-wearing woman as he is shot by a Navy SEAL. “Being the elusive character that he was, and after hiding out with his terrorist buddies in Pakistan and Afghanistan, American soldiers finally locate the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden,” runs the text accompanying the picture. “Children, the truth is, these terrorist acts were done by freedom-hating radical Islamic Muslim extremists. These crazy people hate the American way of life because we are FREE and our society is FREE.”
Despite the gauche cluelessness of the choice of topic for 
children (who generally prefer fantasy characters with supernatural powers) and the teacher-like tone of the text, what strikes me is the title the publishers have chosen: We Shall Never Forget 9/11: The Kids’ Book of Freedom.
I wonder if it occurs to anyone that the terrorists and the fanatics that persist likely feel very good to know that their goal was accomplished – is there is no doubt that every one of them, bin Laden and the men who got on the planes that day, spoke inwardly to themselves and aloud to each other, “America will never forget what we do today.”
I’m not worried about the fragile minds of kids with crayons in their hands getting swayed over to a xenophobic conservative agenda. It strikes me as something parents will buy if they already hold such views – and kids will ignore as they get back to the much more interesting saga of Optimus Prime vs the Desceptikons.
Here is something the publishers ought to worry about, because they probably didn’t think of it. A lot of kids might look at that picture (check theklink) and o tmight occur to them, “Okay, he’s evil, but he looks old and weak and he’s hiding behind a woman … so why didn’t the Navy SEALs just arrest him and put him in jail?”
ObL may be dead, but he got what he wanted — the US mired in two ultra-expensive, un-winnable wars, thousands dead or permanently injured, and the US squandering heaps of political and moral capital by becoming one of the few nations that sanction torture.
Still glad he’s dead though.
I’ve always liked to compare the anniversaries of the 1945 bombings in Japan and the 2001 attacks in the US. I’m completely aware of the differences between the two events, but what’s been very disheartening is how one is (quite rightly) used as a symbol of the folly of war and a militaristic culture, while the other emboldened the US into even more violence, militarism, and foreign intervention. And suggest that American foreign policy was in any way a reason behind the attacks and you’ll get booed off the stage. (Or fired from your talk show.) 9/11 was supposed to change things in the US. And it did, for the worse. It was supposed to make us more self-aware, but it made us more content—shit, made us proud—of our collective ignorance.