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Most symbolic of the public's apathy is its indifference to bin Laden remaining at large. Who could have guessed that it would prove more prevalent than bias toward American Muslims, which materialized on a much less widespread basis than feared after 9/11? We leave public affairs in the hands of those who supposedly know better -- as if they were specialists for diseases of the body politic. It's no different from entrusting ourselves to managed-care doctors, whose primary concern is billing their HMOs, not our general health. Worse, we not only allow the barbarism unleashed in our names in Iraq to continue, but to start anew in Iran. Those I've drawn out on that possibility inevitably reply, "Oh, they'd never do that. They're too bogged down in Iraq." As if by simply entertaining the idea of attacking Iran the administration isn't giving them ample evidence that it stands ready and willing to surpass the irrationality it demonstrated in invading Iraq. As K. Darbandi writes of the administration's plans for Iran on Asia Times Online: "To the amazement of many, it seems as if the political space is there for the administration of President George W Bush to keep pounding the war drums. . . the US public is hardly blinking." It's our prerogative if we don't want to wake up until our lives are turned upside down. But there's no greater tribute we can pay to the memories of those who died on 9/11 than to ensure more lives aren't lost to American foreign policy blunders.
Russ Wellen is the nuclear deproliferation editor for OpEdNews. He's also on the staffs of Freezerbox and Scholars & Rogues. "It's hard to tell people not to smoke when you have a cigarette dangling from your mouth."
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