Sept. 11, 2001: "Turn on the TV!" yelled my boss, an Air Force colonel, who led our Joint Exercises Branch at United States European Command (USEUCOM) in Stuttgart, Germany.
His command, bellowing throughout the vault we worked in, brought work to an abrupt halt. As TVs were turned on, the second airliner was crashing into its target, finishing off the World Trade Center, sending thousands to their deaths.
We were already scrambling to change our alert posture by the time the Pentagon was hit.
But the moment Flight 93 went down in a field: Shanksville, Somerset County, Pennsylvania — we all knew.
We were at war.
Courageous Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer articulated so poignantly what we were thinking, "Let’s Roll!"
The truth is al-Qaida and its affiliates had been at war with us for years.
For the most part, we ignored them, but the Feb. 26, 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the Oct. 12, 2000 attack on the USS Cole and many other indicators illuminated a deadly path to that September day.
While we correctly assessed this post-Cold War era would be very dangerous, the sobering question is whether we chose the right strategy in our Global War on Terror?
Our Choices
Predictably, the American people, joined by our friends globally unified, were shocked that al-Qaida’s repeated calls for "Death to America!" were much more than dangerous rallying cries.
In the days ahead at USEUCOM, this writer remembers how moved we were that our German friends held daily candlelight vigils, outside our barracks' gates to show solidarity.
In the early hours following the attacks, President George W. Bush in consultation with our allies and top leaders across government, chose the overall strategy that my fellow war planners would be working 24/7 to enable.
Within weeks, we would ring up the curtain on a war, one without an end date.
On Oct. 7, 2001 Operation Enduring Freedom commenced.
Fear-Quenched Debate . . . or The Lack of It
The emotions and fear we all felt, along with the uncertainty of where our enemy would strike next, drove the dialogue in every capitol.
The Patriot Act, under which Americans willingly traded liberty for the promise of security, became law with hardly a scuffle on the floor of the Congress.
The developing military plan favored an intensive response with billions in new capital: spending on expeditionary bases, and personnel; a ramping up globally.
Congress issued a blank check. A massive groupthink was underway in Washington D.C.
What were the alternatives? Few would visibly argue the overall path being forged, lest they be branded "un-American."
On Sept. 15, 2001 President Bush gave us a hint of what was to come, saying: "This will be a different kind of conflict against a different kind of enemy."
As a lieutenant colonel, combat planner at USEUCOM, and an Airman, I found great inspiration in those words.
I thought we would wage a global war, leveraging the best of our technologies in air and space, while conserving our most precious asset, our people, by keeping them from harm’s way.
At the time, it seemed to this writer that we would wage a fierce campaign, globally and do so strategically (unpredictably), utilizing our immense intelligence capabilities, while husbanding our resources.
Afterall, we certainly had more enemies than some terrorist organizations.
We did not owe a nation-building exercise to anyone.
Surely, we learned all those lessons in Vietnam. Sadly no, we did not.
Welcome to War Inc.
Afghanistan, Iraq, global basing, hundreds of thousands of troops, contractors, and non-governmental organizations, went off to war where the only detail that wasn’t designed was the end.
No off-ramp. No exit.
American blood, treasure, civil liberties, and trillions of taxpayer resources have been invested in the Global War on Terrorism over the past 20-plus years.
To what end?
Today, the Taliban are in better shape than when we arrived in Afghanistan.
We abandoned 75,000 friends of our nation with our abrupt departure.
Iraq is teetering on the edge of failed nation status.
Rogue state actors and terror organizations are waking up to a new era of Western weakness, led by the United States.
Along that path, certainly we have seen inspirational stories of the innocent lifted out of subjugation and certain death.
We can all take pride in the way our forces have bravely served in places where the devil himself would take pause. And yet, we must be brutally honest about what our path from the fallen Twin Towers and bludgeoned Pentagon has yielded.
Our blood, liberty and treasure have been squandered.
Americans must now come together as we did on that September day, 21 years ago.
Given the outcomes our national toil has wrought, there is no better way to honor the fallen and injured than to push our leaders for a sobering review and where appropriate, a full accounting of decisions.
This is not to armchair quarterback our way through the terrorism war, but rather to dig deeply into our choices to learn lessons we never want to repeat.
Let Sept. 11 always be a day of unity for our country where we recommit to our future generations that we will always be "the land of the free and the home of the brave."
Our nation is worth saving. Once again Todd Beamer’s words continue to ring true, "Let’s roll."
Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Blaine Holt is a co-founder of Restore Liberty, former Deputy Representative to NATO, lifetime member on the Council on Foreign Relations and Newsmax Contributor. The views presented are those of the author and do not represent the views of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, or its components. Read Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Blaine Holt's reports — More Here.
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