Are we better now thAn we were 25 yeArs Ago?
The images still haunt us.
The planes flying into the buildings. People running away in fear. Death and destruction everywhere.
In Oklahoma, those images were particularly strong. Just a few years before 9/11, the state lived through its own terrorist event with the bombing and destruction of the Murrah Building.
History seemed to be repeating itself.
And what, if anything, did we learn?
Experts will tell you that America learned masscasualty terrorism could strike domestic civilian targets without warning, fundamentally reshaping national security, physical architecture, and emergency response across the country.
We learned better analysis techniques.
We developed better tools for physical security.
We strengthened transportation systems.
Oklahoma City exposed the lethal danger of homegrown, anti-government extremism, whereas 9/11 refocused the nation on transnational jihadist networks, highlighting that the U.S. faces threats from both within and outside its borders.
In short, we became better educated.
But now, 25 years later, our political rhetoric has turned ugly and people on both sides of the political spectrum have again embraced the idea of vilifying those they disagree with.
Ten years ago, Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole, R-Moore, accurately described the issues, what needed to be done and the remaining concerns in a story in The Norman Transcript: “Part of that is a judgement by aggressive powers that the U.S. has neither the means nor the resolve to maintain its alliances and project American power to the degree it could,” Cole said. “Nobody takes us lightly. Nobody doesn’t understand what the capabilities of our country are. But being a little war weary in dealing with terrorist groups has tempted more traditional nationstate actors like the Chinese, Russians and Iranians.”
In the story, Cole continued, saying “from our ability to prevent terrorist attacks, to our privacy in a global security state, to the tenor of discussions regarding patriotism and the U.S. military, our world has clearly changed. But the Middle East is as unstable as ever, and as we continue to be engaged militarily in the region, new threats have emerged.”
America has been able to avoid another 9/11, he said. “But we haven’t been able to bring stability to the region. One of the most dangerous things for us is when no one is in control of an area. In Syria, there isn’t a government that controls that space, so you have this proliferation of militia groups. The world is still dangerous, and it calls for the maintenance of a robust, capable American military. We have to be wiser about where and when we use it and how we deploy it.”
The world, the congressman said, isn’t getting safer.
“It won’t be a peaceful world anytime soon,” he said. “The next president will inherit the most complex set of security threats than they’ve had in a couple generations.”
A decade later, Congressman Cole is speaking the truth.
It’s time we all listen.
M. Scott Carter is an award-winning political and investigative reporter with more than 40years’ experience covering federal and state government and politics in Oklahoma. He can be reached at scott.carter@swoknews.com. mailto:scott.carter@swoknews.com