(This piece  is written from my perspective - that of an American.) On September 11th 2001 my country, America, suffered a horrendous attack on our homeland.  With regards to that day and our national security a retired CIA officer said, “on that day the gloves came off.”  That of course is how the whole country felt.  We all saw the towers fall and could not believe it.  It was devastating and we all felt it nationwide.

    But the whole nation was not on the inside.  We were not privy to the daily briefings from the CIA to the president.  The CIA has missed a lot with regards to terrorism.  They allowed the underwear bomber to go through and almost bomb Detroit, they took ten years getting Osama Bin Laden even though he was chilling in a giant walled mansion in the middle of a city we have probably a hundred operatives in plus drones flying around, they didn't find out about dissent in North Africa and the Middle East until they read it in the New York Times and of course the worst was the whole WMD in Iraq and links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda thing that led to the trillion dollar “mistake” we are still mired in.
    Had we been privy to those memos perhaps we would have demanded the gloves came off before that.  For example, a good time to have those gloves come off would have been when the CIA got one thing right in August of 2001.  At that time President Bush was handed a memo from the CIA entitled, “Bin Laden determined to strike in US.”  In the memo he and his administration were told Bin Laden and Al Qaeda operatives were planning to hijack planes and to follow the example of an earlier attack on the World Trade Center Towers. (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB116/index.htm)
    Why our leaders didn't at least ramp up security on airlines and around major US targets like the Trade Center for instance we may never know.  Either way the attacks happened and the gloves came off, but for what?  When we said the gloves came off what did that mean?  Here we are ten years later and we are still involved in a war in the same place we went into after 9/11 to get the people responsible for the attacks on Manhattan.
    But Bin Laden is gone and we have no word on any idea that the war is over.  Why?  We have been hearing about the minerals suddenly discovered there, and that they would make whoever gets the contracts to mine them fabulously wealthy.  But what does that have to do with the attacks on September 11th, you know the reasons we went there?  What's this LBJ endless war stuff?  We got the guys we went in for.  Forget the rich guys that want us to foot the bill for nation building so they can have time to get richer off our money while paying little to no taxes. 
    Let them work with the Taliban if they they are that blindly greedy, it's not our problem.  Al Qaeda was our enemy not the Taliban.  In fact just before the attacks on 9/11 the Bush administration approved a $43 million dollar grant for the Taliban.  “That $43 million grant needs to be placed in context. Afghanistan's estimated gross domestic product was a mere $2 billion. The equivalent financial impact on the U.S. economy would have required an infusion of $215 billion. In other words, $43 million was very serious money to Afghanistan's theocratic masters.” (http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3556)
    They became our enemies when they refused to hand over Al Qaeda's leaders specifically Bin Laden.  But we finally got him why the heck are we paying billions per month with no exit strategy?  Why no signs about getting out of there?  We are footing the bill here and we're almost broke with huge bills due.  What kind of endless war strategy is this, what person or persons are responsible for the constant scam here?  Guys we won!  You said it Bin Laden was the goal.  Job well done, a little late, but done.
    Speaking of winning why are we still being told about the way to win in Iraq?  Why are certain  aspects of the media still selling us on this?  It was a mistake!  We went in because we were told of WMD – even George W. Bush admitted later there were no WMD.  We were told there was a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein he admitted that was not correct either. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M-ClS5uwNo)
    What the heck are we going to win?  Are we waiting for the world to forget that we claimed there were WMD?  Are we waiting for the world to forget there was never any connection between Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein?  That Hussein actually hated Bin Laden?  Are we waiting for the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy?  Is that the goal?  When the president ran for office he told us all this stuff was bunk, that he knew it and that he would end the nonsense.  So if he knows that - why are we still there?
     Are we trying to “stabilize” the nation so oil companies can profit?  Is that what we are paying trillions for?  Do we have trillions to spend?  If so why are we borrowing from China?  Do we just like the adrenaline rush?  We don't have the money and the president knows it, told us so and promised we would stop the hemorrhaging. 
    Are we there so Halliburton can keep making billions off tax payers?  Are we there so oil companies that are incorporated in other countries so they don't pay US taxes can get rich of of our sacrifices and indebtedness?  Why are the wealthiest among us trying to get rich off of the middle class?  They should be ashamed of themselves and the people that promised change from Bushisms with regards to policy should be delivering on those changes instead of continuing them.
    The current Decider In Chief needs to think about what he promised and deliver.  Between now and November of 2012 he along with his party need to get on the same page about something and convince the Republicans that there are places they can work together on the issues.  He told us all these things would be changed.  What will he tell us this time around?  He will make the changes he didn't last time around or that he never meant to make the changes in the first place?  Right now they are continuing the Bush Administration's policies and have not even tried to pretend this is change.  They can't.  So far, it ain't.
    To read about my inspiration for this article go to www.lawsuitagainstuconn.com.