Wajahat Ali & Michael Ratner on What impact did 9/11 have on America?

See these and others at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/06/impact-9-11-america

Wajahat Ali: 'The one nation of many communities is remarkably resilient, learning – albeit grudgingly – from her costly mistakes'

I have four Rs to offer for this anniversary of 9/11.

Remembrance. On that day, the two towers fell, but a nation of millions rose up as one. A decade later, the tragedy continues to reverberate around the world. There is forever a pre and post 9-11. There is no going back. The world still lives in the shadows of fallen towers. Some of us are still afraid of the bogeyman, both real and imagined, that lurk behind and in between them. We remember it as a day when 19 criminals hijacked a religion, and 3,000 innocent lives perished for the unfortunate realisation of their perverse, criminal ideology.

Sadly, their death continues to be exploited by some for the sake of profit: whether for an ever-expanding military-industrial complex that has mired the world in two expensive and myopic wars, an intrusive national security apparatus that at times makes us "feel safe" at the expense of "being free", or the promotion of extremist ideological agendas dividing Americans along religious and political lines.

Reconciliation – with our neighbours and citizens of different faith traditions and ethnicities who all share the same spiritual and cultural DNA of being "American," or at very least "fellow human". For those unfairly scapegoated and smeared simply due to wearing a turban, or beard, or having the wrong skin colour, an unfriendly passport, a multi-hyphenated last name, and for those unfortunates ones "at the wrong place at the wrong time", and the other footnotes in history barely remembered as the cannon fodder and collateral damage of errant missiles and improvised explosive devices, we hope you forgive us, as we try to move forward – together, again.

Resilience. For a nation attempting to break free from the looming shadow of a tragedy that, at times, made her succumb to her worst fears, hysteria and paranoia. Despite losing her moral compass, from time to time, in dealing justly with its neighbours both at home and abroad, the one nation of many communities is remarkably resilient, often learning – albeit grudgingly – from her costly mistakes, and still surviving in a volatile and uncertain economic and political climate.

Resolve, and hope that the United States – the multicultural laboratory of the world, the freakshow experiment running 235 years strong, the 21st century's cultural bouillabaisse, this unfinished rough draft, this perpetual work in progress, this fluke founded upon religious freedoms, tolerance, fairness, inclusivity and equal justice under the law – this nation resolves to implement in practice and reality the still unrealised, yet limitless, potential of its values.

• Wajahat Ali is a writer and attorney

Michael Ratner: 'The loss of liberty in the wake of 9/11 will remain the legacy we have left our children'


In the ten years since 11 September 2001, fundamental protections embedded in the American and international legal landscape over centuries have faced systematic evisceration, each encroachment justified by an endless war on terrorism.

The moment the Bush administration chose to label the attacks acts of war, rather than the heinous crimes they were, a careful groundwork was laid to allow for a future of cherrypicking which laws of war would apply and which would be ignored. As a result, thousands have been kidnapped: whisked away to detention facilities, from Guantánamo to medieval prisons like those at Bagram and Abu Ghraib, and to secret sites employing unspeakable acts of torture.

Detainees were held incommunicado, a fancy word for "disappeared": never informed of the charges against them. The few who were charged face trials before kangaroo courts called military commissions where newly-minted rules assure conviction; the majority, however, will remain prisoners of this so-called war indefinitely.

Habeas corpus, the legal means to test one's imprisonment in court, was abolished by President Bush and Congress. Though restored through legal challenge in the US supreme court, the Bush and Obama administrations, as well as the courts, continue to undermine that victory – best evidenced by Obama's retracted promise to close Guantánamo within a year of his inauguration.

Today, Obama has adopted almost all of the draconian Bush practices, save for permitting the worst forms of torture like waterboarding. But hooding, sleep deprivation and isolation are still permitted. The president has also ruled out any semblance of accountability for Bush administration officials responsible for waterboarding, practically ensuring its recurrence.

The United States is a changed country. Most don't seem to care. Until they do, the loss of liberty in the wake of 9/11 will remain the legacy we have left our children. None of us are safer. All of us are less free.

• Michael Ratner is president of the Centre for Constitutional Rights