How 9/11 Triggered America's Decline
Bush's Tragic Legacy
How 9/11 Triggered America's Decline
A Commentary by Gregor Peter Schmitz in Washington
The events of Sept. 11, 2001 led to a wave of solidarity with the US. But the superpower has lost that goodwill over the course of the wars it subsequently waged. Now America is mainly seen not as the victim of terrorism, but as a perpetrator of violence itself.
The smoke was still rising from the rubble of the World Trade Center when Richard Armitage, at the time the US deputy secretary of state, spoke in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. "History begins today," he said.
In the coming decade, Armitage would turn out to be right -- except the politician could not have foreseen how tragic the history would be following the epochal event.
12 Answers
That is a very simplistic attitude , if it was correct then please tell me why
Australia is doing amazingly well and yet we have been , and are in all the
conflicts that the US is in we have the same trading problems, and the same
attitudes towards helping the world , perhaps the trouble is that too many people
are looking at what is wrong and are forgetting all the great things that are right
with the U S A . America became the great nation that it is through the drive and
positive "can do " attitude of the people , engender that feeling and stop bemoaning
a fate which is only imaginary .
Stop saying what is wrong , and start doing what is right .
Amykay
Enough with all of the America hating already!
Did you read the article thoroughly and objectively, Amy??
If there was a trace of hate there, I wouldn't post it.
I believe it's a very important outsider's perspective and an eye-opener that every American and every citizen of the world could use to save mankind any more hate and wars.
Please read it again, I don't think the writer is happy about what's been happening to the USA or rather what the USA has been doing to itself and the rest of the world.
When you're big, you have to be more responsible. When a superpower makes a mistake the whole world suffers. The global financial crisis is a living proof.
Throughout history the "dominant power" and / or "empire" has always eventually been disliked - even hated.
Egypt
Rome
Huns
Alexander the Great
Britain
USSR
Napoleon
Nazis
Incas
Just add your own favourite.
This is for Ray - West Grinstead
Note:
The village should not be confused with the much larger town of East Grinstead which lies 17.5 miles (28 km) to the north-east.
Hoy es un día para conmemorar los innocentes que murieron en 09/11/2001. Fueran de todas partes del mundo, y de todas religiones tambien. Por Favor hoy en día dejen la politica para otra día, y aún mejor, otro sitio de web.
Today is a day to memorialize the innocents who died on 09/11/2001. They came from all over the world, and were of all religions as well. Please for today, leave the political discussion of 9/11 for another day, and better still, for another web site.
Enough with all of the America hating already!
This is a very difficult one, I don't think there are any black or white answers to the problem.
One of the consequences of "progress" in the development of the human race is, unfortunately, people have the capability to inflict unimaginable misery.
Going back thousands of years when people used to fight with fists and sticks - yep the bad guy could hurt somebody before he was over powered.....then came bows and arrows, yep the baddies could cause more damage.......ok roll forward past small weapons etc on to today where threat is weapons of mass destruction which could destroy our entire planet.
So what do we do about it? Do we ignore the fact that this technology exists? Do we ignore increasingly devastating acts of terrorism (whatever their political or warped religious motives)?
For me, 9/11 was a massive wake up call, not just for the West but for the whole human race. If I knew the answers I wouldn't be sat here thinking through 'por/para' for the thousandth time lol.
We trust our political leaders to take the correct course of action. All I would say is, in my humble opinion, going in there "all guns a blazin" is not the answer. In Afghanistan and Iraq for example, fighting and war is nothing new to them. All we do when we 'take out' one Taliban fighter is create 10 more. All we have done in Iraq is create a country that is now completely unstable. These places are seen as having puppet governments with the US pulling the strings.
What are the answers? I certainly don't know. Do we trust our political leaders to do the right things and make the correct decisions? Yes, we do. Have all the political decisions made regarding these issues been the correct ones? I'm not so sure.
I do not choose to hate, infact I believe in love, frindships and unity. I do not agree with everything any government of this world does.
9/11/01 is a day when many people lost there lives and many more lost there loved ones. Bombing Afghanistan did not restore anybodys lives or bring back loved ones.
However, what did trigger 9/11? Well, it certaintly was not love which only leaves hate! Again I do not believe in hate therefore I choose not to hate and I can not accept the beliefs of those who hate. Nor can I defend those who choose to believe in doing murder and I can not advocate the doctrines that promote murder which do infact exist and therefore we have not a choice but to be on a defense.
Sad but true, we must be on a defense unless we allow murderous attacks to continue. We are talking about the loss of life! I am not the author of hate.
But we all can do something to prevent future attacks and that is to spread a little love around, it is contagious.
As far as the economy bad, that is do to human greed. What would be the fix? If we all had love and stopped being bitter and we shared our wealth more openly the economy would get better. Lets spread a little love around. 
I am inclined to side with amykay on this one. There are plenty of more appropriate sites than SpanishDict.com to start charged political debates.
The decline of the US started around 1970; Dubya just put a few more nails in the coffin.
Please, I would like peace around the world.
Por favor, me gustaría la paz en todo el mundo.
