Today marks the seventh anniversary of the tragic events of September 11th2001. We remember all those who died in the terrorist attacks and extend our prayers to the families who lost loved ones on that day. The world has not been the same since and we have seen great upheaval in the intervening years. The world is now a far more dangerous place and war and civil strife are now rampant where they were not before. There can be no justification for the acts perpetrated on that day. The taking of innocent life is expressly forbidden in the Qu'ran. This is a law of God and so must be observed by all.
The response of the Bush administration in the United States and their partners in the UK can not be justified either. Their first action was to invade Afghanistan, topple the Taliban and wage the biggest manhunt in the history of the world. This manhunt has yet to bear fruit but the "collateral damage" it has caused has been massive. Afghanistan is now producing far more opium than it was at the time of the invasion and this has seen an explosion in the supply of heroin available on the world markets. The number of people addicted in Afghanistan has also spiked massively. In addition many innocent civilians have lost their lives and their loved ones in that country. This will only serve to breed extremism and terrorism in the future. Before the "Coalition of the Willing" had properly stablised Afghanistan they blundered blindly into Iraq. Some estimates put the number of casualties there since the invasion at one million people. Extremists and terrorists have flocked there to fight what is seen as American imperialism. George W. Bush recently spoke about "success" in Iraq, but one must ask the question: If this is success then what would failure look like?
The reputation of the United States has been forever tarnished by the abuses of human rights that have marked the seven years since the events of 9/11.
The act the United States suffered cannot be justified by any means but neither than their response.
"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
