Two Decades of Madness

Reprinted from NewsVandal with permission.

Two decades of war. Two decades of profiteering. Two decades of killing innocent bystanders.

Two decades of surveillance. Two decades of detention and too many years of torture, undue process and profiling.

Two decades of hyper-patriotism.

Two decades of militarism, unrepentant Exceptionalism and religious righteousness.

Two decades of lies, deceit and self-delusion.

Two decades of unlearned lessons, unclaimed responsibility and willful ignorance.

Two decades later, and now the divisions, dictators and paranoia our oily empire supported around the world … are tearing this nation apart.

Twenty years ago today we had a chance to reflect on the question of “Why?” Instead we chose to ignore our own complicity in creating the demons unleashed by our imperial ambitions. We did not ponder or reflect. We bombed. We destroyed a nation and, in the process, murdered hundreds of thousands of people who had nothing to do with the event we used like a drug and wielded like a holy writ.

Today, two decades later, we are reaping what we’ve sown. Today, the empire is retreating abroad and rotting from within. Today we are reaping the bitter fruit of hubris.

Today marks two decades of madness.

JP Sottile is a freelance journalist, radio co-host, documentary filmmaker, and former broadcast news producer. Follow @newsvandal. Visit his website.