Your TerrorWonk has been moribund lately. I'm not bereft of ideas or things to say, but rather of time to say them. If you follow me on Twitter you'll see I'm pretty busy.
But I'm the TerrorWonk, if I can't say something on 9/11 maybe I'm in the wrong business.
Wonkery is about analysis and the go-to tool in our time is cost-benefit analysis (CBA - which if done right is also CYA.) Is this thing we are going to do or have done a good idea - is it working, do we like what we are getting out of it? It isn't always just about numbers. Moral considerations are also costs, heavy reliance on drones may have a non-tangible cost to America's reputation. Disguising special forces as a NGO workers for a rescue operation may have a cost in endangering the NGO workers in the future.
I've done these analyses on 9/11s past. But not today.
As a nation we've done some smart things and some stupid things since 9/11. But ON 9/11 nearly three thousand people died for no good reason. Their deaths were due to eschatological fantasies of a band of fanatics. We saw some stunning examples of heroism that day twelve years ago and in that our souls can find some comfort.
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