According to Box Office Mojo, Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center brought in $19 million this weekend, $26 million total to date.  What to think of that?  Well, United 93 didn’t even bring in $50 million worldwide and while I’m sure DVD sales added quite a bit to that number I would be surprised if the film grossed a total of $100 million from all sources and I think the same will be true of World Trade Center.  No matter how good the intent is with these films I think it’s way too soon for them — even five years later.  This horrific event cannot be made into the rah-rah, God Bless America, summer popcorn movie Hollywood likes to put out; no matter how hard they try.  Personally, I wish they’d just stop trying.

So, I’m flipping through the channels and I see this commercial for a coin commemorating the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.  The thing about the coin is that there is raised part featuring the outline of the Twin Towers that can be propped up.  Moreover, the Twin Towers outline is made from silver recovered from the ruins of the World Trade Center.  Maybe it’s me, but I find that to be the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen; in fact, I find most of the knick-knack crap related to September 11 to be disgusting.  Sometimes capitalism goes too far.

Jeff Jarvis says he’s a little sick of people tying American foreign policy to terrorism and cites a few examples of people who agree with him.  As usual, he doesn’t cite anyone who can intelligently disagree with him.  I have to say that I both agree and disagree with him.  On the one hand, it’s lazy and dangerous to say that it’s only American foreign policy driving terrorism.  You need to take a good, hard look at the dictatorial Middle East regimes we continue to prop up with oil money and weapons sales.  The people in these countries are disenfranchised, poor, and unable to find work, making them prime targets for cash-rich terrorist groups like Hamas, Hizbollah, and al Qaeda, and extreme religious groups who can provide food, shelter, and a voice to people who feel outcast in their own societies. Once these groups have entry into the lives of those people it’s not too long before the indoctrination into extremism begins.  Is that an excuse for suicide bombers, blowing up planes, or the death of thousands?  Fuck no, but for everything there is a cause.  No matter how stupid we might think it is, people get sucked into bad situations and do things that are terrible; and it’s not as if Islam is the only religion in which this happens.  How man times have Christian engaged in equally horrific acts of violence?  The difference, of course, is that we Christians speak out against and condemn these acts.  Where are the moderate Muslims?  Why aren’t they speaking out?  It’s long past time that you did.

All that being said, I think you can make a case that our policy in Iraq has become a clarion call for terrorist recruiters.  This was an unnecessary war at a time when we needed our attention focused elsewhere.  Was Saddam an evil son of a bitch?  Well, duh!  But was he contained?  Again, duh!  Since we’ve invaded Iraq tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens have been killed or wounded, 2,600 American soldiers have died, and estimated 20,000 soldiers wounded, our attention is taken away from other more important area like Afghanistan where the Taliban is still in control of large chunks of the country and regrouping, and our ability to stop terrorism before it happens is weakened.  Are the Iraqi people better off?  In many ways they are the same or worse; some of our own soldiers are accused of doing the same things we condemned Saddam for. This disaster has done more to encourage terrorism than any single thing we’ve done in the last ten years.

So, no matter how much Jeff Jarvis is sick of people tying American foreign policy to terrorism there are real questions and concerns that need to be confronted.  Putting our heads in the sand or getting our righteous indignation up won’t solve the problem.