Has the United States been in the midst of a national neurotic episode since the 9-11 attacks? According to this editorial from Japan’s Ibaraki Shimbun, going around the world and “brandishing an ideal” is just as foolish for the United States as it is for al-Qaeda.
The Ibaraki Shimbun editorial says in part:
Ten years have passed since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States shocked the world. Will the chain of hate that gave birth to this terror and the wars that followed ever be severed? Looking out on the growing confusion in the world since 9-11, we can see that hatred and animosity remain deeply rooted and in some cases have further intensified.
The world has changed dramatically since 9/11. The U.S., the sole superpower in the closing years of the 1990s, can’t hide the fact that its $15 trillion deficit has damaged its influence around the world. And the biggest reason for this decline is America’s overreaction to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the start of the “War on Terror.”
According to an American university research team, an estimated 250,000 people were killed in the War on Terror over the last ten years, including American troops, insurgents and civilians. In that time, the U.S. government spent upwards of $4 trillion on war and national security measures.
The subsequent chaos and moral lesson of 9/11 is that looking at others with suspicion and brandishing an “ideal” as the U.S. has done, is foolish. This is a lesson that also applies to Islamic fundamentalist groups that try to blend religion and state by means of terrorism and civil war. If put into action, this lesson will lead the world on a path of coping with the current disorder and greater international cooperation marked by tolerance and compromise, in which each country puts itself in the shoes of others.
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