Turning Point 911 and the War on Terror is a documentary about some of the ways 911 changed America and its government. While the documentary does a good job walking viewers through the lies, wasted money, lack of integrity, and many of the failings that resulted in America spending 20 years in Afghanistan only to have the Taliban resume control over the country, it pretends that what happened in Afghanistan is not illustrative of America.
America unequivocally lost in Afghanistan. In 20 years of war, America spent more than $2 trillion, killed more than 150,000 Afghanis, many of whom were civilians, got thousands of Americans killed, and returned the Taliban to power. Even the slight gains in areas like girls going to schools and women participating in politics are now being reversed. Perhaps even more significant than the losses listed above are the ways the war in Afghanistan highlighted the truth about America.
As the documentary clearly shows, America highlighted for the world to see how immoral, unprincipled, and unjust America has always been. When faced with the choice between actually living up to its reported ideals and resorting to racist, classist murders, America always chooses the latter. Americans as a whole are more motivated by bloodshed than they are by adhering to principles and honoring positions of character.
America spent more money killing Afghanis, destroying their country,, and returning the Taliban to power than is held by all Americans who owe student debt. Watching the documentary chronicle some of the hundreds of billions of dollars that even the American government admits were wasted in Afghanistan while Biden tells the American public their cruel student loan debt cannot be forgiven was a reminder of how corrupt America has always been. America always has money for war and to line the pockets of corporations that make weapons, but it almost never has money to improve the lives of the American people.
As a lawyer, it hurt my heart to have the documentary remind me of the ways America stopped even pretending to be a society of laws after 911. As the documentary highlights, about 40 people will die at Guantanamo Bay without ever facing trial, because they were tortured so badly and in violation of all international norms that they cannot be tried fairly unless stories of their torture are told. Since their confessions arose out of torture, those confessions would not be admissible in any forum that hinted at legitimacy.
And because you couldn’t discuss what happened in Afghanistan after 911 without discussing the disaster of what took place in Iraq, the documentary also reminds of some of the lies told to convince too many Americans that a totally unjust war was necessary.
Watching Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden, and a host of their underlings repeatedly lie about what was happening in Afghanistan and Iraq was infuriating. None of those people should be respected, never mind trusted with public office.
From drone attacks on civilians, suspension of anything pretending to be a system of justice, widespread torture, uncontrolled spying on Americans, and in so many other ways, the aftermath of 911 showed everyone what America truly believes and values. Sadly, as is always the case, way too many refuse to accept the truth.
Turning Point 911 and the War on Terror won’t result in needed change, because America’s corruption is so complete that useful change is almost impossible. Still, anyone interested in learning more about what happened around 911 than most people know should watch Turning Point 911 and the War on Terror.