9 Years

Nine years.....nobody would have thought that nine years ago today when the United States invaded Afghanistan that we would still be fighting a war today.  Nine years ago America had just been attacked in the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor.  Americans were revved up and willing to do just about anything to protect our country.  Oh how things have changed.
When we invaded Afghanistan it wasn't because we thought they had weapons of mass destruction, it was because Osama bin Laden and his crew of terrorists had just killed almost three thousand of OUR people and they needed to pay.  It was the first time in history that NATO invoked Article 5 of the charter, which states that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.  So we had the world on our side and were ready and willing to fight and die for our country and to get justice for the almost three thousand lives lost that fateful day.  We bombed the mess out of Afghanistan and the terrorists, but never could quite get Osama bin Laden, a task we are still trying to accomplish nine years later.  However, the question arises quite often, if we had focused ALL of our energy on Afghanistan instead of chasing some, let's say, questionable information, could we be out by now?  Could this war be over already?  We will never know the answer to that question since we can't turn back time, but it is a possibility. 
Two years after invading Afghanistan we invaded Iraq.  Why?  Well, there have been many explanations thrown out there so you can believe whichever one you would like, but the fact is we did invade, right or wrong, it happened.  However, the motives were different.  Iraq had never attacked us, but they did harbor terrorists.  Was that justification?  Or the fact that we had "information" that they had WMDs, was that justification?  Even if they did have WMDs was it really our place to invade since we were already fighting a war?  Could we not have let the international community handle it the way they wanted to on their time?  Some people might say that we were looking for a reason to invade Iraq.  An old beef between political leaders.  Take your pick from the reasons.  But as soon as we invaded Iraq the attention from Afghanistan dissipated.  The people that had attacked us were forgotten.  The new enemy, an old enemy, the not-at-the-moment enemy, Iraq had done nothing to invoke our attack.  But, Americans were still revved up from 9/11 so any terrorist was a good target.  At first Americans were very supportive and the media was too.  However, over the past 9 years as our men and women have died and paid the ultimate price, people have begun to wonder if a war in Iraq was worth these soldiers' sacrifice.  Whether this war was really worth fighting.  As more and more soldiers were sent home in flag-draped coffins to grieving families, the country began to turn.  No longer was the war seen as worth the sacrifice.  America grew tired of fighting a war that was never ours to begin with.  The media began to turn and question whether we were fighting for the right reasons, or any reason at all.  When the country began to turn on the Iraqi war they also began to turn of the Afghan war.  Have we forgotten what Afghanistan is really all about?  Have we forgotten the almost three thousand lives lost?  Have we forgotten the terrible men who committed those heinous acts and continue to today?  I think so in a way.  Our focus for so long has been on Iraq that we forgot why we began fighting in Afghanistan in the first place.  Let me remind you, a man named Osama bin Laden.  He has been quoted as saying that it is his and every Muslim's duty to acquire nuclear weapons to use against America to kill us.  He will not stop until he is dead.  So unless you want to continue to be attacked by terrorists, by all means protest the war in Afghanistan.  Now the war in Iraq is a different story, but Afghanistan, there is no question why we are fighting there.  Maybe people just need a little reminder.  So here it is, 9 years ago today almost 3,000 lives perished at the hands of 20 heinous men.  Our cities were attacked, our buildings destroyed, our people killed.  Every single person in this country was affected on that day and millions more continue to be affected every single day.  Let's not forget that day, because if we do......well I don't really want to know what our country will look like then.