I have never understood the common refrain of "now we're at war" as if we weren't waging war in the Middle East for a conservative decade before 9/11 and bin Laden hadn't declared war on US military forces in 1996 and US civilians in 1998
We, Americans, felt invulnerable. Wars happened “over there”. Mostly it was dictators killing their own, and maybe the US was involved, maybe funding, maybe supplying weapons, but not openly, overtly at war. Most of the people in any country are just going about their daily lives, and have no control.
It's strange to me that nothing so big has happened in the 25 years since, considering how many wars that the United States has been involved in either directly or indirectly.
Is it because our national security really is that much better as a result of it, or maybe just that citizens aren't made aware of anything else, or has there really never been another attack on American soil?
Security has gotten a lot better. The TSA didn't exist until two months later in November 2001 and wasn't fully in place at all airports until late 2002. The 2005 UK bombings also forced even more security, which is how the UK became essentially a surveillance state.
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u/Playful-Profile6489 14h ago
I have never understood the common refrain of "now we're at war" as if we weren't waging war in the Middle East for a conservative decade before 9/11 and bin Laden hadn't declared war on US military forces in 1996 and US civilians in 1998