It seems all too easy to forget how important a day can be-or why it is important. On Sunday’s anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the Pentagon sponsored the “America Supports You Freedom Walk.” Superficially a stirring patriotic display, the event became a crass attempt at memorializing that fateful day. We hope future commemorative events will be as somber as the occasion deserves.
At 8:46 a.m. the President appropriately observed a moment of silence, remembering the moment the first plane hit the World Trade Center. However, the minute the Freedom March began, the day took on a less fitting tone.
According to news reports, several thousand people joined in the parade designed to memorialize 9/11 and support America’s troops serving abroad. Perhaps more would have joined this event, but all participants had to register by September 9. Organizers said that anyone who attempted to join the march without registration would be arrested.
Not that joining the parade would be easy-the two-mile route was surrounded with metal fences. And the media were corralled into three observation areas around the parade route. A Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense told the Washington Post that the march was designed to be “sterile.” This was not a Freedom Walk; it was a grotesque reminder of how many freedoms we overlook in the post-9/11 world.
The patriotic marchers arrived at their eventual destination, the National Mall, where they witnessed a concert by country singer Clint Black. Black’s notoriety comes from his song “I Raq and Roll,” a tune equating anti-war protestors with Saddam Hussein and threatening to bomb them. Black didn’t play the song Sunday, but his appearance alone conveyed the organizers’ offensive message: you cannot remember 9/11 without commemorating the war; you cannot be both a patriot and an anti-war protestor.
This event seemed designed to make sure people believe that the war in Iraq was a reaction to 9/11, a proposition that is simply not true. It seems impossible for the current government to recognize an important event with the seriousness of purpose and practicality it deserves. Coming on the heels of the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina and mismanagement of the war, the march highlights the administration’s obsession with control.
We whole-heartedly endorse any and all support for our brave soldiers serving overseas, but we will never support a fenced-in freedom march designed to alienate half the country. Next year, let’s remember 9/11 somberly as a united nation.
