How the Terrorists Won on 9/11 and Since Then

On this 7th anniversary of 9/11 it is time to finally admit
what most Americans already know in their hearts: that the
terrorists fully achieved their objectives, even beyond
their own wildest dreams. And, since then, unscrupulous men,
corporations, and our own government have helped the
terrorists to continue their success.

Seven years after 9/11, our country has turned against its
own ideals and principles in the name of security, while
ironically justifying its actions as preserving "freedom".

Seven years after 9/11, We are saddled with a costly and
pointless war against a country which had nothing to do with
the attacks. We have a massive new homeland security
bureaucracy which is hard at work trying to impose a
mandatory national ID system. The privacy of millions of
American phone conversations and emails have been secretly
and illegally violated by the government and submissive
corporations. Citizens of other countries have been
arbitrarily labeled as terrorists and jailed for years
without formal charges or a trial. Freedom of travel has
been restricted by secret and erroneous government "watch
lists", to which there is no judicial appeal. And through it
all, government agencies, such as the INS and DHS, have
simply declared themselves to have sweeping new powers.

Joseph Stalin is reputed to have said "When we hang the
capitalists they will sell us the rope" but the terrorists
of 9/11 have turned us against ourselves in a much more
insidious manner; they played upon our fear of death. And
the possibility of death by terrorism is being exaggerated
by those within our country who seek to maintain or expand
their power. The truth is that you are thousands of times
more likely to be killed by a traffic accident than by a
swarthy foreigner with a bomb. Over a quarter of a million
people have died in traffic accidents in the U.S. since 9/11
and yet there is no massive new Department of Automotive
Security.

The terrorists of 9/11 won by instilling fear in the
populace, causing us to give up some of our fundamental
freedoms and rights. It is time to awake from our long
national nightmare and to put our fears into perspective.
It is time to stop being overly afraid and to reject the
erosion of our hard-won liberties. It is time to stop
letting the terrorists win.