It's 9/11 and I'm conflicted...

I've watched a bit of the coverage of 9/11 memorials and to be honest I'm a bit conflicted.

This was a horrific terror attack against our nation but what came next is in my mind an even bigger tragedy.

It was used as an excuse to enter Afghanistan, and although Bin Laden was trapped, I feel like he was allowed to escape to push an even bigger war that has cost lives unnecessarily.  More than a decade later we're still there and no end is in sight.

Iraq is it's own special kind of stupid but it can be seen as an outgrowth of 9/11 too.  That country is and will remain a basket case for the foreseeable future.

In both countries we've expended more lives and treasure than the losses we suffered on that terrible day.

We reached for a military solution when an international law enforcement/special ops would have been a better option.

Yes.  I know.  That's hindsight.  Looking backwards you can see things with 20/20 vision.

But still.

9/11 confounds me.  It was a tragedy without a doubt.  But the greater tragedy continues to unfold.  That is what has me unsteady about this whole thing.  

Leadership is looking at this thing as a one day event.  I see it as the beginning of a decade of mistakes...one after another that we still allow to happen.

So forgive me if this day isn't memorialized on these pages.  You pause to remember after the tragedy is over.  In my mind it continues.