November 18, 2012 by David K. Sutton
The 9/11 Double Standard
There is one 9/11 where Al Qaeda terrorists led a coordinated strike using passenger jets that ended with nearly 3000 Americans dead. This 9/11 led us into two wars with the deaths of over 8000 coalition troops, and potentially tens of thousands (likely over one hundred thousand) Iraqi and Afghani deaths. This 9/11 led to a unified United States singing Kumbaya and near unanimous agreement (at least in the mainstream media and congress) in launching a war (Iraq) that had nothing to do with 9/11. This 9/11 resulted in at least a year or two of strong support for then president George W. Bush.
There is a second 9/11 where a terrorist attack on the United States consulate in Benghazi, Libya ended with four U.S. citizens dead, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. This 9/11 led to immediate right-wing political attacks against President Obama and his administration including Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. This 9/11 produced a Fox News-led witch hunt where conservative pundits try to outdo each other in talk of Watergate-style cover-ups. There was no unification of a nation, no singing Kumbaya for this 9/11. This 9/11 shows us the ugly dysfunction of our political system, led by a paranoid and vengeful right-wing.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t attempt to fully understand the events of 9/11/2012, but it’s not clear to me that the right-wing coalition is interested in revealing facts. Conservatives and anti-Obama wing-nuts are instead interested in painting 9/11/2012 as a colossal failure on Obama’s watch. But if 9/11/2012 is a colossal failure, what do we call 9/11/2001?
