Burning Towers, Nazis & Radical Ideology

Over twenty years ago a group of radical Islamists hijacked two jets and rammed straight into the World Trade Towers. It shocked the world, especially the United States. We were drunk on our hubris here in the States, and somehow we had gotten the idea we were invulnerable. It took some insane fanatics to show us just how fragile everything really was.

It was a hard lesson to say the least. It cost 3,000+ lives for us to learn a hard lesson. The world isn’t safe, and people are not basically good. Over in Iran, Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the bombing began releasing videos literally crowing victory. Imagine that. An ideology that prizes death. A cult that can look upon the deaths of thousands with approval.

As horrible as the World Trade tower bombing was there is another tragedy we don’t discuss enough. Kristallnacht. Pronounced ‘crystal-not’. A beautiful sounding name for a horrific tragedy. In 1938 in Germany, the Nazi party was beginning to take power and Adolph Hitler was still playing the man of the people, yet to show his true colors. On September 11, a group of Nazi’s burned the Reichstag, essentially the German version of Capitol Hill. Enraged Germans were told that Jews were the culprit, and that worse things would follow if actions weren’t taken immediately. On that night Hitler was granted emergency powers, transforming him into the supreme ruler, the Fuhrer. Hundreds of Jews were brutally murdered in the streets of Berlin for something they didn’t do. The day was named Kristallnacht, or ‘Night of Broken Glass’.

It’s tempting to wonder if there isn’t some sort of curse on this day. Kristallnacht was the turning point for Germany, it was on that night that the Nazi regime truly began. What the radical Islamists did was start an avalanche of atrocities. Over the ensuing days dozens of innocent Arabian-Americans were murdered by other enraged Americans. President George Bush declared a ‘War on Terror’ that has very little to actually combat the issue. If anything terrorism has grown worse, since the war we’ve seen the rise of the Islamic State (or ISIS, ISIL, whatever you want to call them), Al-Queda has actually grown stronger, whereas the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas have taken advantage of the regional instability.

On a personal level I was affected deeply. I don’t remember the actual day, I was too young. But the aftermath affected me. Growing up I was terrified of Muslims. The very name ‘Al-Queda’ sent shivers down my spine. I don’t remember watching a lot of news, but I somehow had absorbed enough to think that Baghdad was the worst place on earth. It would be a long time before I realized what was happening. It took years for me to realize there was a difference between radical Islam and the skullcap wearing man selling falafel. Even more years for me to understand the schism between the Sunni and Shi’ite’s, but that’s another discussion for another day.

I’m always reflective on 9/11. Last year I saw the Oliver Stone film, ‘Trade Towers’. (Highly recommended by the way) This year I’m thinking of the ‘9/11 Commission Report’. It was released to the public in 2002, and oddly enough was a finalist for the National Book Award. Don’t bother reading it, the report is more than 400 pages of meandering without getting to the heart of the issue. Except for one line, “the most important failure was one of imagination. We do not believe leaders understood the gravity of the threat. The terrorist danger from Bin Ladin and al Qaeda was not a major topic for policy debate among the public, the media, or in the Congress. Indeed, it barely came up during the 2000 presidential campaign.”That particular line has stuck with me for years. It makes me wonder what else we’ve failed to anticipate, what other ‘failures of imagination’ are we guilty of?

In short, I hope we learn from history. Had the German people thought for themselves instead of listening to the ravings of a madman, then it’s possible the rise of the Third Reich could have been avoided. Possibly even averted World War 2. What if America had listened to the portents? What if we had listened to intelligence officials who screamed from the rooftops that such an attack was possible? What if we responded differently to the attack? Would radical Islam have continued to grow worse?

We may never have such questions answered. Today, let’s remember those who died. Not just the victims in the towers, but also the firefighters who gave their lives to save others. Real life heroes. (I always thought it was right for the rock band Skillet to feature police officers and firefighters in the music video for ‘Hero’) Let’s remember that today, we are all Americans.