The Unknown Attack of 9/11

September 11, 2001 will forever be etched in our minds. Three airliners were used like bombs to destroy thousands of innocent lives at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon -- even in a Pennsylvanian field. But, while we focused on the tragedy and vowed to stop future attacks, the terrorists were secretly detonating another "bomb", right within the heart of America -- one whose fallout would have far more impact than the physical 9/11 attacks.

It was called paranoia.

The effects of this explosion began to materialize just minutes after the Trade Center attacks. From constantly checking the skies, wondering if another attack was imminent to suspecting anyone who even appeared to be of Mediterranean descent, many expected the worst. They began looking over their collective shoulders in fear that someone already in this country would make them the next victim.

Finally, we were told that Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and chemical weaponry, evidently to arm terrorist attacks. Whether that information was the result of the suspicions borne from the WTC attacks or from CIA operatives, it steered us away from the one who supposedly spearheaded the attacks, Osama bin Laden, and toward a different Satan.

Nonetheless, the President ordered an invasion of the country, with our focus being to find the WMDs and other weaponry the Iraqi leader had hidden from the world. At first, we stood with him, thinking that we were actually going to stop terrorism in its tracks. We were going to take away their weapons of destruction!

Then we learned that, in fact, the information given the President was wrong; Iraq had no advanced arms! We started doubting the need for war, as well as the leader who led us into it. As families began to lose sons or daughters in the fighting, we began losing confidence in the entire Bush Administration. In the process, we were playing right into the hands of the terrorists.

Paranoia and fear leads to a lack of confidence in ourselves. Our response to the Administration's insistence upon the war evidenced itself in a swelling lack of confidence in its ability to govern. By the time we were entrenched in "Operation Iraqi Freedom," phone lines were being tapped; we were being frisked at security checkpoints in airports, government buildings - even special events; we were delayed in some financial transactions due to a newly-established "Patriot Act."

It all smacked of the McCarthy years, when the fear of Communism drove us into blacklists, loyalty oaths, and more.

As Mr. Bush's popularity took a nosedive, the price of oil was beginning to soar, meaning near-weekly price increases at the gas pumps. Pessimism over the situation in Iraq added to this mix, and our anger grew steadily. Some of this anger was taken out against each other, especially anyone who appeared or was known to be Islamic. Racial slurs, not unlike those that peppered the race riots of the 1960s, began spewing out of lips - only, this time, against anyone of Mid-Eastern descent. The terrorist-seed had grown from paranoia and fear to anger and hate.

The tally for the war was astronomical - billions of dollars appropriated at a time. We, as a people - some of whom lived through the Great Depression - believed that, eventually, this could bankrupt the United States and, until then, drive merchandise prices so high that even the smallest necessities would be unaffordable to the average consumer. As any insurgent group knows, the quickest way to bring a country to its knees is to destroy - or at least seriously disrupt - its economic system.

While most of us were fuming over the effects of the war, the Gulf Coast was hit with the largest hurricane of the past two centuries. "Katrina" decimated parts of Louisiana and Mississippi - but, while the Administration was called upon to take action to help the thousands of injured and homeless, none was immediately taken. Fortunately, the average citizen came to the rescue, digging in and helping until the government eventually set up assistance.

All of this shows two points very plainly: First, the terrorists have silently done here what it's doing with rifles, mortars and roadside bombs in Iraq: They've wreaked havoc among the people. Perhaps without knowing it, the Administration has played right into their hands to help them create this.

But they've also failed in one important matter: Although they've driven a wedge between government and standard citizen, they have not destroyed the willpower or strength of a people united. From Hurricane Katrina to the Virginia Tech massacre - from the wildfires out west to the grieving widows and parents of those lost in the war - we, the average Americans, outstretched our arms, opened our wallets, brought supplies (even willingly from our own stock), and cried, prayed, and worked to ease the heartache brought by these and other tragedies.

So, in one sense, the "silent bomb" mentioned earlier has exploded and caused collateral damage. But in another, it awakened everyday Americans to the need to support and depend on one another, rather than a government that, to many, has failed us.

As long as we recognize that need, and work together for the common good of each other, the terrorist's bombs - whether physical or subliminal - will never defeat us.