September 11, 2011 marks the ten year anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy. I am deeply sorry for those killed or hurt.
I’ve lived lots of places around the U.S. and overseas. In 1999, I spent about four months working on a project that had me commuting from Midtown Manhattan to Jersey City. Daily I would take one subway, walk into the World Trade Center, take the escalators down to the New Jersey subway, and ride to Jersey City. I still have a black sweatshirt I bought at the Banana Republic store in the mall area of the World Trade Center. It’s getting old and I’ve thought about throwing it away a few times, but keep putting it back on the shelf.
Shortly after becoming a Libertarian in 1996, I came across more and more writings explaining how an aggressive foreign policy creates resentment which can lead to terrorism. Before that, I probably supported every recent American military action I was familiar with.
I’ve been speaking out against an aggressive foreign policy for more than ten years, and while I think our aggressive foreign policy in the Middle East helped to incite the 9-11 attacks, I condemn the terrorists who took part in the planning and execution of these attacks.
To become a member of the national Libertarian Party, you must sign a pledge that you “oppose the initiation of force to achieve political or social goals.” Terrorism is anti-Libertarian. Hijacking planes and crashing them into the World Trade Center was anti-Libertarian.
Many Libertarians, including myself, think invading Afghanistan, invading Iraq, and passing the Patriot Act was also anti-Libertarian.
We can’t undo the 9-11 terrorist attacks and we can’t undo the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But we can end them, bring our troops home now, repeal the Patriot Act, and avoid making the same mistakes in the future. That’s what matters now.
