We should never forget lessons of 9/11

“Where were you when...?”

It seems that every generation has a variation of that sentence. The end of that question normally mentions a significant moment in history.

For some people in this community, that question used to go, “where were you when Kennedy was assassinated” or “where were you when Challenger exploded?”

On Sunday, the question on many people’s minds in this community came down to five words — “where were you on 9/11?” Twenty three years ago, that day marked one of the darkest moments in American history. In the end, it reshaped everything we once took for granted in this country.

The terrorist attacks against the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., claimed the lives of more than 3,000 Americans as well as others from other nations. This was in addition to the passengers onboard US Flight 93, who died when terrorists onboard that jet deliberately crashed it into a field near a small town in Pennsylvania.

To this day, it’s not known where those hijackers planned to crash that fourth aircraft. The most likely targets were the White House and U.S. Capitol, both of which had symbolic value, although some believe they were aiming for one of the nuclear power plants along the Eastern seaboard.

Those who died that day were innocent men, women and children. The man who gave the order to murder them was Osama bin Laden. In his twisted mind, those people merely represented targets with which he could lash out in pure hatred.

Twenty-four years ago, I was stationed at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., when reports of the first attack came across the radio. I still remember one of my airmen running into my office reporting one of the Twin Towers was struck by an aircraft.

At that moment, I honestly thought he was pulling a cruel prank. Then I turned on the television in our office and saw smoke rising from the tower.

My gut sank.

I had stepped away from the television for a minute when the second tower was hit. When that news broke, I knew deep down this was no accident.

By the time I learned about the attack on the Pentagon, I knew this country was at war. At one point that day, I honestly thought the United States was heading toward a nuclear confrontation against those who perpetrated those attacks.

I also remember calling my wife asking her to pull our children out of school and bring them home. At that point, I wasn’t sure what else was going to get attacked and whether what we saw that day was just one set of attacks or if further ones were coming.

To a point, America had lost a sense of innocence that day. The things we once took for granted have changed drastically.

It used to be that my parents could walk with me through an airport terminal and give me a hug right before I stepped onto my waiting flight. Twenty-four years ago, people in this community could gain access to Mountain Home Air Force Base without a whole lot of fuss so they could meet with their friends or play golf.

Before 9/11, we tended to treat people differently than we do now. Your religious beliefs, for example, really didn’t seem to draw extra scrutiny, concern or criticism back then.

Today, if someone wears a specific type of head scarf or conceals their face with a certain piece of clothing, they might be met with disrespect or watch others shy away from them.

I’m sure these types of reactions have children today a bit confused. After all, talking to them about 9/11 has roughly the same meaning as World War II did when I was in school. It was something we read about in history books.

Today, we have students in college who weren’t even born when the Twin Towers fell and the western side of the Pentagon was left in ruin. They don’t understand the importance of the memorial in Shanksville, Pa., which marks the site where US Flight 93 crashed after the passengers tried in vain to seize control of the aircraft from the terrorists that hijacked it.

All that today’s students know is this country hasn’t seen a moment of peace in nearly a quarter of a century. I can’t think of another moment in U.S. or world history where a country has remained at a continuous state of combat.

Come to think of it, this nation hasn’t seen a moment of actual peace since Operation Desert Storm began in 1991. After that war, our nation’s military continued to fly combat missions over Iraq during Operation North Watch and Operation Southern Watch, which both came to an end after Sept. 11, 2001.

For more than two decades, this country continued to wage war against the spread of global terrorism. There was a brief period of time after the 9/11 attacks, between October 2001 and March 2003, when terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and the Taliban were both on the run against the mounting pressure of U.S. forces in the air and on the ground.

But that’s when the United States divided its attention against driving al-Qaeda and the Taliban into extinction by engaging in combat operations to eliminate the Iraqi military threat. To make things even worse, one of our former presidents ordered the U.S. military scale back its presence in Iraq and Afghanistan well before both countries were ready to continue on their own.

The result turned into a disaster this world continues to reap. We had groups like ISIS, which took genocide to a whole new level. It was far worse than what we saw in Rwanda as well as the killing fields in Cambodia under the dictator Pol Pot.

Let’s not forget what happened after President Joe Biden ordered our forces to completely withdraw from Afghanistan four years ago after the Taliban seized Kabul and caused the Afghan government to collapse. The deal between our nation and the Taliban included a provision that included not allowing al-Qaeda or any other extremist or terrorist group to operate in this region.

But what did we see? Instead of an steady, orderly withdraw of our forces, our troops sped up the process in which seven billion dollars of military helicopters and other combat equipment got left behind and became part of the Taliban’s growing power.

In addition, our troops ended up coming under attack. This included an attack at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan in which 13 U.S. Marines died.

What really infuriates many people in our nation is that Biden’s administration was never held accountable for this huge mistake.

It gets worse from there. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Taliban reinstated rules that greatly oppress women’s rights. Today, women in that part of the world must cover their faces in public so they don’t cause temptation. They can’t travel without a male guardian. They can’t speak loudly or even laugh in public.

Despite this news, not once have I heard anyone in the White House denounce what just happened there. Instead, they seem to expect us to forget this type of legalized discrimination resurfaced.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Watch organization revealed other violations of human rights. Today, more than 28 million people – roughly two-thirds of the population in Afghanistan – urgently need humanitarian aid. The United Nations also reported that four million people, including 3.2 million children under the age of five, remain seriously malnourished in this part of the world.

Of course, the Taliban would likely claim it conducted all of these actions in the name of God. I’m guessing God is furious at what people like this are doing while invoking his name. I’m pretty sure the unwarranted persecution of innocent men, women and children isn’t what he had in mind.

So why do we continue to pause once a year on Sept. 11 to reflect on something that happened so many years ago? I believe part of that is based on a quote from author George Santayana, who once said, “Those who do not know history’s mistakes are doomed to repeat them.”

There’s plenty of truth in that statement, especially when it comes to the threats posed by other world powers, which continue to threaten the United States and its allies. Simply put, this something this country can’t afford to lose, because if we did, the question future generations might ask is, “where were you when the United States fell?”

— Brian S. Orban