War, What Was It Good For?

In the 25 years since 9/11, we’ve fought a so-called war on terror. On one very obvious level, we’ve had success. There hasn’t been another 9/11-like act on American soil. On other levels, it’s unclear that we’ve made a lot of progress, especially considering that “our several military campaigns against extremism around the world [have resulted] in the deaths of almost a million people.” In The New Yorker, Robin Wright looks at what we’ve accomplished and what we’ve lost in our quarter-century war. The U.S. Was Never Going to Win the War on Terror. (Alt link.)

+ “She says it felt like just another job, and a duty to the city that had welcomed her. Like a lot of people who went to clean up at ground zero, she went armed only with her house-cleaning gear: a paper mask and rubber gloves. The hours were long. ‘We would have lunch in the rubble, in the dust,’ she recalls. ‘Then we’d go home wearing the same clothing we’d been working in.’ Since then, Lucelly has battled breast cancer and respiratory disease. She is among the tens of thousands whose health was severely compromised by exposure to the hundreds of tons of toxic debris the tower’s collapse released into the air.” NPR: They cleaned up Ground Zero. Now many are hiding from ICE.

+ You’d think a person who lied about his actions related to something as solemn as 9/11 would be forever shunned. Not elected president, twice. The muted response to Trump’s 9/11 fantasy is a media failure.