The 11th anniversary of 9/11 came and went relatively quietly. The phrase “9/11 changed everything” has gone from a political slogan to cash in on to a trite and in many ways obsolete proclamation. For Iraqis, it’s still true.
Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Yet the post-9/11 shift in American foreign policy and the Bush Administration’s false accusations of Iraqi involvement started nearly a decade of occupation and changed the face of Iraq forever.
On 9/11/2001 Iraq had virtually no terrorism. 9/11/2012-era Iraq has several terrorist attacks a day, and a death toll that is on the rise again after a short period of relative calm, as the fighting in Syria flares up the fighting in Iraq all over again.
The fighting in Iraq is sectarian in nature, and the terrorist groups have nothing to do with 9/11 either. But without that intervening incident, the US occupation may never have happened, and Iraq might not be one of the most violence-torn nations on the planet.
(via silas216)
