The Nation Reflects on Its Early Opposition to Post-9/11 War and Rights Erosion
Marking 25 years since the attacks, The Nation recalls its initial editorial warning against retaliation, empire-building and civil-rights cuts.
On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, The Nation revisits its inaugural editorial response, published on Oct. 1, 2001 while Manhattan still smoldered. The article, featuring Patricia J. Williams’s image of a “paralyzing white wall of not knowing,” called for adherence to hard facts and rejected fear-based measures. It warned that brutal reprisals and empire-style actions would only intensify anti-American sentiment and that new draconian laws would undermine civil liberties.
The editorial urged a sober self-examination rather than jingoistic war. Over the subsequent two and a half decades, the magazine notes that many of those warnings were ignored as the United States pursued extensive military campaigns and security expansions. Writers David Corn and others maintain that “extremism begets extremism,” a lesson they feel remains unheeded.
Why it matters
The piece shows how early criticism of post-9/11 policies anticipated ongoing debates over war, security and civil rights.
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