At the start of the century critics opposed the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, torture, and the prolonged U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, but War on Terror proponents invoked 9/11 as a decisive justification. The U.S. response included an unapologetic carte blanche, with Vice President Dick Cheney vowing that the U.S. would work on the dark side and a shift in moral and legal norms. The Bush-Cheney administration pursued war even on false premises and eroded civil liberties and treaty protections. January 6, 2021 produced a violent Capitol riot with five deaths, many injuries, and sharply divergent partisan interpretations about intent and severity.
At the beginning of this century, there were many critics of the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, the American use of torture, and the prolonged U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, but War on Terror proponents always had a ready answer: 9/11, the deadliest terrorist attack ever on American soil. The American response to that fateful day was an unapologetic carte blanche, with Vice President Dick Cheney even vowing that the U.S. would work on the "dark side" henceforth. The rules had changed. So would morality.
If the Bush-Cheney administration had to build a case for war on false premises, encroach upon civil liberties, or go around the Geneva Convention, warhawks had their justification. If democratic norms, constitutional rights, and international treaties were going to be undermined-and they were -who were you to question what America did after 9/11? For many, particularly Republicans, this was sound reasoning. For many, no doubt, it still is. And for many Democrats, J6 is the new 9/11.
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