President Bush and 9/11…10 years later

Bree Maxwell, Guest Blogger

September 11, 2001 will be a day that Americans never forget. I remember being in drama class in high school when my teacher told us what had just happened. At that time I was on a *forget* Bush type attitude so immediately I blamed President Bush for the attacks without waiting for any explanation. Ten years later I realize it wasn’t Bush’s fault, just like it wasn’t any American’s fault. I agree we should have gone on the manhunt for Osama Bin Laden, just not at the expense of this prolonged and costly war. But, overall, I have come to believe Bush handled things well — it just took me ten years to figure that out.

There are several things that I now look at differently. First of all, we (the government) knew an attack would happen but we did not know exactly when everything would “go down”. Second, when Bush was told about the incident while in Florida at the elementary school, he was very calm. Despite all the criticism, he should have been calm. If he panicked that would have terrified the children. The last thing he and the school needed was a bunch of secret service running around, terrified children in a frenzy, and a President that was not able to properly contain himself. Third, it had been reported that the Bush family has ties with the Bin Laden family. It’s understandable that this would cause controversy. If you do your research, Osama Bin Laden had been disowned by his family because of his radical beliefs. So, the Bush family having financial ties with the Bin Ladens is actually a great financial move for them. The Bin Ladens have major shareholdings in Mircrosoft and Boeing. I would have financial ties with them as well.

There are other things I have come to realize over the past ten years. Because of 9/11, Muslims are treated differently in America and airplane security has “improved”. It’s not fair to treat Muslims differently as all of them are not radical. I admit that in the wake of 9/11 I have been guilty of such bias but we must understand that even though this tragedy happened, not everyone is out to get us.

America’s history is definitely not without conflict and tragedy– some of our own doing (Civil War, slavery) and some inflicted by others (Pearl Harbor, 9/11). But, through it all, we have persevered and remained a great country. Continue to pray for our country, our  leaders and especially those directly impacted by the tragic events of 9/11.

Remember that politics run the world contrary to popular belief.

About the Author: Mother, daughter, student, worker, friend, sister…All of these describe Bryanta Booker Maxwell. Native of South Carolina and a 2006 Graduate of South Carolina State University where she received her BA in political science, Bree, as her friends call her, knows about politics as it is her first love in life. Since 2007 Bryanta has worked on political campaigns serving as a political consultant. But the 26 year doesn’t plan to stop at working for the politician until she is the politician. Married with a 5-year-old son, Bree has big dreams to make the world a better place.