Samain Moving Moon
If you, ______, the terrorists have won. Stop shopping. Stop flying. Stop going out at night. Stop eating Cheerios. You remember this dark comedic line delivered as a straight line by our highest governmental officials.
While clearing a cache of newspapers out from underneath our stairs, a collection hidden I imagine in attics and basements across the land, several headlines blared out. Taliban Keeps World Waiting On Turn Over of Bin Laden. Dateline September 19th, 2001. The Day The World Changed. An Economist cover from that same week.
The impulse that had me storing these and learning about Islam for well over a year has long since waned in strength. These artifacts no longer have the heat they did when I laid them one on the other over a decade ago.
As I took them out to the trash though, an idea did strike me. What if we said this? If you mount a global military campaign killing thousands of civilians, engage in pre-emptive warfare, torture any believed at all complicit, sweep up information on the entire US population and many foreign countries, and ravage the political culture at home, then, oh yes, then, the terrorists have won.