On Patriot's Day

I started today's blog with a "Thank You" tribute to the men and women of the military. It was going to be short and sweet.

I erased it. Not that I (along with many others) aren't thankful. I'm just too conflicted to lavish praise today. It just has a hard time coming.

I have very mixed feelings on this day. I mourn for the thousands of families who lost loved ones during the attack in 2001. That was certainly an act of war by an evil group. I mourn for the many thousands more who have died fighting this war. Seven years. And still, American men and women are being killed, innocent Iraqis are being killed. The country mired in civil unrest, struggling to stand up a government. Billions of dollars a day. Violent atrocities still coming. And for what?

Are we safer now than we were before 9/11? Some would have us think so. Are our husbands and wives (sons and daughters) in the military safer? Will they come home when they go? Will they come back in one piece? No attacks on American soil they say. What about the London subway bombing? Madrid? The terrorist plot foiled in NJ? The seemingly innocuous yet infringing restrictions on travel, tourism, security checking down to the lowest government entity. I used to be able to stand on a line to see a tour of the White House on a whim. Now I need tickets, reserved 6-12 months in advance only after submitting name, address, SSN and Date of Birth, and only for parties of 10 or more. Do you feel safer? I certainly feel like there's more security. But safer?

September 11, 2001 is a sad day in American history. The day our president convinced us that we needed to attack Iraq is sadder. I was united with the rest of the country on the days following 9/11. My husband was in Afghanastan within days of the attack with no word from him for about 7 weeks. I trusted our president and his advisors when they told me that if we didn't go into Iraq, there would be further attacks. That Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein were inexplicably linked. That the threat was imminent. I believed him. It was a time when we were all together in the fight; of course, we believed
our president.

I am thankful to all the men and women of the military, the reservists who have been called up, the retirees who have been called back, the first responders, the Red Cross, and the many more who bravely serve both here in America and overseas for the rest of us.

But mostly, on the anniversary of 9/11, I feel duped.