Putting 9/11 in perspective

My friend Marc ("Creature") over at State of the Day has written an extremely good post putting the horrible events of 9/11 into historical perspective (alongside Joseph Ellis in the Times). You can find his post here. I recommend that you read it in full, but here's a key passage:

Personally I believe the reaction to September 11th by the Bushes has more to do with politics and greed, than it does national security. And this belief is coming from a person who lives in downtown Manhattan, who saw the first plane flying ominously low in the sky, who watched as the throngs of ashen people streamed uptown as I returned downtown after an abbreviated morning at work, who watched from his living room window as the smoke drifted from the site for days, and who had to smell the acerbic stench of the day for weeks afterwards.

I live in Osama's bulls-eye and I have enough perspective to know that, while September 11th was a horrible day, the overreaction and disgusting politicalization of that day just adds insult to injury. George Bush, Karl Rove, and Dick Cheney should be embarrassed by their actions.

They should be, but they aren't. And their "disgusting" response to 9/11 is one of main reasons why Bush has been such an abject failure (and a dangerous, divisive one at that) as president.