On September 11, 2001, I knew the following were true:
1. The atrocities were directly due to the negligence and incompetence of the Bush administration
2. War with Afghanistan was both inevitable and a disastrous mistake, strategically and morally
3. It would end exactly the way the Vietnam war ended
My prescience was not that special. That’s what’s so frightening. Millions of others felt the same way, but no one in a position of influence or power did. Or if they did, none thought it was politically astute to condemn Bush for his criminal stupidity or loudly oppose the sheer madness of invading Afghanistan.
There is indeed a world climate crisis. And a world health crisis. But not coincidentally, there is a world intellectual crisis among leaders.