Letter to the editor: We still ignore self-inflicted post-9/11 defeats

Once again on this year’s anniversary of 9/11, we mourned the loss of American lives and the betrayal of our free society by murderers. Once again, we ignored the additional defeats we inflicted on ourselves and why.

1. Six weeks after 9/11, the Patriot Act was signed into law.

George Bush and Tony Blair, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleeza Rice, 296 House members and 77 senators, even our best and brightest, John Kerry and Colin Powell, Hillary Clinton, Adam Schiff and Joe Biden, sold our self-respect, $30 billion in war work for Cheney’s cronies.

2. Seventeen months after 9/11, the United States invaded Iraq; 300,000 fought, 400,000 of theirs. Five thousand died, 30,000 of theirs, and 100,000 innocents. Delirious with fear and dogma, we and our terrified brothers worldwide feed on our fair share of discarded freedom and blood lust. We and they proclaim our defiance: “Don’t Tread on Me,” that we may forget: America The Beautiful still cowed by 19 dead felons.

3. On Sept. 11, 21 years later: The Justice Department’s first priority is not “uphold the Constitution” or “uphold the law,” which are its sworn mission, but instead “to prevent future terrorist attacks.”

Donald Krieger

Squirrel Hill