The terrorists have won

Remember when Republicans demanded that Democrats not use Sept. 11 politically, that the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans be respected? Remember when the world was outraged over the attacks and united in its goal to stop terrorism? Remember when President Bush declared that he wanted Osama bin Laden "dead or alive?"

Of course it's hard not to remember these things because on the fifth anniversary of that day, the GOP is beating the drum again, hoping Americans will be afraid enough to support them in November.

The fifth anniversary is being used to drum up a fervor over the president's demands for more executive power. The images of the burning towers are once again appearing on TV screens and passions are stirred to hide the fact that bin Laden was never captured, the Taliban are re-emerging and the Middle East is in complete turmoil because of this administration. But the president needs more power to arrest, detain, try and convict enemy combatants without the protections of due process.

Sunday morning NBC aired an interview with the vice-president saying that there was no connection between 9/11 and Iraq. It was a momentous admission. Sunday evening in a retrospective about the effects of 9/11 NBC showed several groups affected by that day. They interviewed a family that lost a parent in NYC. They interviewed some children who attended the school the president was visiting at the time of the attacks. They interviewed a family of an Army sergeant deployed in Iraq for the third time since 9/11. The same network conflated the response to 9/11 with the war in Iraq after airing the interview with Mr. Cheney. So much for the free press.

In the days following 9/11, I appeared on a panel show on the Cleveland NBC affiliate. I listened as a rabbi; priest and imam called for peace and prayer, asked for respect and dialogue not fear and anger. I stood up that night and quoted Benjamin Franklin about sacrificing liberty for safety. I received a round of applause. I was approached in the parking lot by some guy who felt so strongly about what I said that he drove downtown in the middle of the night to thank me. On every other program demands for safety were shouted repeatedly. The argument went if you're not a terrorist you've got nothing to worry about with surrendering some liberties.

Five years later we are no longer as free as on Sept. 10, 2001. We are routinely harassed at airports, genuinely unaware of government policy, learning of secret prisons and torture policies, embroiled in Iraq for nefarious reasons and nebulous goals. We are not safer but we are certainly less free.

We've fundamentally changed our way of life. We look at all brown skinned people with askance. We listen to politicians preaching Christianity and are told to suspect all Muslims in a country that prohibits the establishment of religion. We are told that those who object are either unpatriotic or appeasers. We are now being told that these non-state terrorists are akin to the Nazis or the fascists. We are living in a country were fear trumps reason and irrational rhetoric shouts down debate.

One thing is certain. The terrorists have won.