Opinion: A local-blogosphere roundup on Sept. 11

I’m still stunned that the subject of post-9/11 political America has largely been ignored by so many our more usual writers of fiction. The abundant and tragic political mistakes made in the time immediately subsequent to 9/11 and up to the War Resolution have been mistakes from which America has yet to extract itself. Certainly, this is the kind of period that is mandatory for any novelist who would remain relevant as a voice of conscience to engage head-on. [...] Six years after 9/11, still missing is a recognizably standout post-9/11 national narrative.

Tens - if not hundreds - of millions of people are daily told it is not just acceptable but desirable to kill themselves in suicide attacks to protect their religion from anyone who disagrees with it. And there is nothing we can do - or not do - to fundamentally change this. Change can only come from within and that will only happen once the costs of allowing these teachings to go on becomes too high for the countries and organizations supporting them. Before then, though, the world will have increasing numbers of terrorist attacks and, eventually, nuclear devices will be exploded throughout the world, including within the United States. And, unfortunately, it will likely have to come before any real change can come. As for what to do about this? I have no idea.

they say 9/11 changed everything and theyre right. pre 9/11 we sat back and we watched them sick a special prosecutor on the clintons way before there was a monica lewinski. we let them attack him and investigate her and sniff up every [censored] and every dead end that they could so they could find something Anything to remove the president of the united states out of office. well now we have plenty of good reasons to impeach both the president and the vice president yet where are the investigations? nowhere. where are the bloodhounds, wheres the angry mob, wheres the cooperation, wheres the testifying under oath. youre telling me that 9/11 came and went, lack of wmds came and went, osama is still out there and we’re not after him, gitmo is still there and there arent public officials being asked by reps of the people WTF every damn day? yes 9/11 changed everything. suddenly the executive office is holy and cannot be considered to be investigated and questioned and interrogated and harassed.

I cannot help but notice how far back the events of September 11, 2001 have slipped to the back of the public consciousness. The national mood seems analogous to the attitude we Californians have towards earthquakes. We remember them happening, we remember them with grief, but by and large we try to live our lives as if such events won’t happen. That’s why, I think, the biggest mistake of George W. Bush’s Presidency came while he was at his most popular.

Podhoretz’s analysis contains a serious omission. In his understandable zeal to defend Bush and his doctrine from admittedly disingenuous opponents, he overlooks an inadequacy on the part of the President and his administration that is nearly fatal. [...] I am referring to the extraordinary inability of Bush and those surrounding him to understand and to respond to the paramount importance of public relations in asymmetrical war. Indeed, it can be argued that asymmetrical war is in essence about public relations. You would think, given the recent history of our time, the Tet Offensive, indeed the whole story of Vietnam, the administration would have known that, seen the inevitability that a powerful opposition would coalesce in the media and in the political classes (one that Podhoretz describes so well) and moved to head it off, to co-opt their opponents, but they did the opposite. They told us to go shopping. What a basic misunderstanding or lack of understanding of human psychology is that! In World War II, all Americans were asked to participate, to come together against a common enemy. No such thing was asked of us. We were told to stand aside and let the military and the government handle things. Result? In World War II, we had Rosie the Riveter; in World War IV, we have Rosie O’Donnell. And the Bush Administration is at least in part responsible for this.