During the first Gulf War in 1991 I believed Muslims might attack us for an invading Iraq, but it was a remote possibility not likely to happen. Over the years I learned about Osama Bin Laden ,Al Qeda, and the things they did. However the threat they posed wasn't something I thought about even when I read or thought about U.S. foreign policy. But the terror attacks on September 11, 2001 changed everything I believed about America and our safety from foreign attacks. When the towers came down, part of The Pentagon was smashed, and the other plane went down a Pennsylvania field the terrorist threat became real. It happened here, and those Americans who died - nearly 3000 of them were a wake up call. I got mad, grew sad, and became proud in ways I never was before. I had spent most of my adult life on the far left political spectrum. I was a " blame America first " radical who rarely saw anything good in my country, yet I viewed every Thrid World dictator who criticized the U.S. as someone standing up to American aggression. By the mid 1990s I was starting to rethink certain things on some abstract intellectual level but 9/11 was " hard concrete " reality. It was life. It was change. For a moment I didn't see left versus right. I stopped fuming about George Bush's election. I was an American who wanted to his country secure and the "bad guys" stopped. The unity that encompassed people across regional, class, and racial lines was something I wish we could have agian. I remember George Bush right after the attacks and how I cheered him on as a strong supporter of the war in Afghanistan. Fear and the need for security lead to some serious mistakes like the USA Patriot Act, the Iraq War, and the villification of Islam and Muslims. My opposition to Bush's domestic policies, support for torture, and the Iraq invaision meant the unity and goodwill didn't last. Yet my love for this country and my concern for its security is stronger than ever.
