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Two Structures That Altered American History: The World Trade Towers and the Superdome
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—BBC NEWS VIDEO: Americans Hold September 11 Memorial At Ground Zero, September 11, 00:02:12

EDITORIAL

September 10, 2005

Original Article (Spanish)

Trade Tower Remains

Four years ago today, the world's people could hardly contemplate what they saw on their TV screens. Before the overwhelmed eyes of millions, New York's Twin Towers, proud symbols of Western capitalism, collapsed, turned to dust under the impact of aircraft full of passengers and fuel. It was a terrorist act that until that moment was unimaginable, and which deeply changed the United States and the world.

The fourth anniversary of one of the worse attacks on innocent civilians in history finds the great power embarrassed and perplexed. But this time it is not due to the hatred of an external enemy, but the fury of a hurricane which has left the magical city of New Orleans and neighboring regions submerged, has turned nearly 1 million people into refugees and has left a still uncertain number, perhaps 10,000 according to the mayor, dead.

Annual Tribute in Light Where the Towers Stood

Two black Septembers, that of September 11, 2001 and that of today in New Orleans. The world has joined together in feeling the pain of that great nation. But lamentably, these events have exposed problems in the upper echelons of the power structure of the country. Neither then nor now, have President George W. Bush and his circle been all that popular. The unanimous criticism that the Bush Administration has received for its lack of action prior to "Katrina" - even from the official channel of conservatives, FOX - has recalled Bush's initial reaction of loss and stammering in the hours following the attacks on New York. 

In an article entitled, "Falluja Floods the Superdome," New York Times columnist Frank Rich wrote that the anniversary evokes, in addition to the terrible images of four years ago, the no less frightful reality of the nation's lack of leadership at critical moments. We can all "enumerate the many differences between a natural catastrophe and a terrorist attack," said Rich, speaking of Bush's delayed reaction, "But character doesn't change: it is immutable, and it is destiny."

The eventual reaction of President Bush then transformed him into the testosterone-laden  leader of the war against terrorism. He proclaimed, like a western sheriff, that he was going to capture the perpetrators "dead or alive"; he was seen embracing workers in New York, standing amidst the rubble; ordering the bombing of Afghanistan; and proclaiming "mission accomplished" on board an aircraft carrier after the invasion of Iraq …

Who cannot remember where they were four years ago today? The 11th of September, 2001, is engraved in the collective memory of a globalized and televised world. It was a historic event that has abruptly altered global affairs, the product of a strike against the very heart of capitalist culture, Westerners and Christians by a fanatical Islamic sect. Soon later came Bush's unilateral response. None of us must forget how he frittered away broad worldwide support for his anti-terrorist crusade; how he failed to capture Osama bin Laden; how he disregarded both the U.N. and allies such as France and Germany in deciding to invade Iraq; and why today a reunion is impossible and his popularity has plummeted to such depths.

It must never have crossed the feverish mind of Osama bin Laden, who had [on 9/11] served on a platter the opportunity for Bush to galvanize the healthy and righteous indignation of his country and worldwide opinion, that the second devastating blow at the superpower's soul had occurred when the Mississippi overflowed. This time, not at the symbolic heart of Wall Street, but at something deeper and more visceral: at Bush's own self-confidence and internal strength in the face of catastrophe and crisis.

[Editor's Note: Actually, it was Lake Pontchartrain that overflowed].

If the 11th of September unified Americans around values like solidarity and patriotism, and overshadowed class and race, "Katrina" has had just the opposite effect. The hurricane has exposed ineptitude, inequality and lack of leadership to such an extent that all anyone discusses is that the Head of State was indifferent or incompetent in the face of the tragedy.

Comparing the aftermath of Katrina to the situation in Iraq, another New York columnist wrote that by leaving the poor to their own devices in a flooded New Orleans - that capital of jazz that has offered so much joy to Americans - was like Bush abandoning injured soldiers on the field of battle. 

The tragedy arrived as the climate of public opinion in the United States was already quite negative, amid the costs and horrors of Iraq, corporate scandals, and the uncontrollable rise in the price of gasoline ... With 'Katrina,' the delayed reaction to its damage and the disconcerting and dark insensitivity of White House strategists, the collective morale of the country has suffered a blow.

It is a perception of national embarrassment and an abrupt recognition of deep internal imbalances.  Katrina has brought to the fore racial considerations that were believed to be extinct.  Widespread poverty has entered center stage, rarely news before, but a bitter, little-seen reality for the better part of the southern United States. 

Former First Lady Barbara Bush

The images have begun to shake the country, like those of 32 old people in a nursing home who died under water. Or infuriating declarations, like that of the president's mother, Barbara Bush, who suggested that, as the refugees were already very poor, they ought to feel quite good to be in the Houston Astrodome, where several thousand of them are housed.

[Editor's Note: The former first lady's exact words were, "So many of the people here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them. … What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. Almost everyone I've talked to says: 'We're going to move to Houston.'"]

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And what of the self-esteem of the United States? The confidence of its people in its leaders and institutions? There are some who predict that Iraq mixed in with "Katrina" could produce a political earthquake. Inversely comparable to what happened in the 70's, when after the humiliation of Vietnam, the fall of the crooked Nixon and the failure of the Puritan Carter, voters said "no more" and preferred to put an ex-Hollywood actor into the White House rather than a lifetime politician.

Reagan, a charismatic leader of the right, was really a cowboy that maintained his domestic popularity by forcing the evil ones of international communism to bite the dust. This is not the case for Texan George W., who could be the last laconic byproduct of a corporate conception of politics and democracy that is now very much on doubt. 

It is still hard to see how all this will affect Washington's global priorities and its policy of providing economic aid to countries like Colombia. So far, it is only possible to observe how, between the shifting sands of Iraq and the muddy waters of the Mississippi, the credibility of the President of the United States and his government today stagnate.