It is often said that one cannot know the beginning until he/she see the very end. And despite that fateful morning on the 9th of September, 2001, people still live under the ash clouds of the fallen twin towers, powerless to burst the bubble of gloom of present times to see where the coming time will take them. Time will be the one true factor that will take into account the true essence of the day that 4 American planes were used as tools to bomb the World Trade Centre. One can question whether September 11, 2001 was a critical moment in the pages of history, particularly for the third world countries. A thought always comes in the mind of everyone that what if the bombing of the twin towers never happened? How big an impact or a difference it would have made?
Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden would have tried to plan another devastating attack. Even though such an event might not have happened, America’s attacks against the Al-Qaeda probably would have continued in a very limited setting: Air strikes against the terror outfit’s bases in places like Sudan and Afghanistan. The “War on Terror” would have never come to light as a significant promise of a presidential administration and Osama bin Laden would have never become a force to reckon with.
Without the incitation of the World Trade Attacks, the House of the Congress would never have taken the responsibility to re-organise the security bureau on a national level since the time of Harry S. Truman, building the Homeland Security from different organizations. Airline travel would have had its drawbacks and massive security screening would be one of them.
If the attacks on September 11 would have not taken place, it would have whitewashed the American invasion of Iraq and possibly Afghanistan. Instead, we would have heard about covert operations, similar to the ones that the Clinton government launched in the year 1998, against countries that were giving asylum to bin Laden and his allies and words such as “IED” and “TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury)” would not have become something that is true for the American troops.
Without the invasion in Iraq and Afghanistan, there would have been no forward planning to divert the American armed forces towards counterinsurgency tasks. An imaginary 9/11 would have meant the coin of war would have not existed. U.S.A’s policy makers would have spent years making high tech naval combat in Asia their main objective rather than focusing on the political problems hampering the structured building of the Muslim occupied countries.
On the domestic front, the American political scenario would have unfolded in a lot of different ways. Assuming that, with no 9/11 in the picture to invade Iraq, the election year of 2004 would have majorly been a “peace time contest”, focusing mainly on economic problems.
Without the scenery of the war on terrorism, a Vietnam War would have been in favour of the Democratic voters, who are to the left hand side of the democrats and the electorate in the general sense. People might have elected someone who was a bit tech savvy in raising funds, someone who focused more on economic problems and would have towered over the peacetime election.
Even without the September, 2001 attacks taking place, the U.S.A would still be staring in the face of huge deficits- if the Bush tax cuts had been acted out and only if the stock and property safety bubbles had blown up and burst, with chaotic consequences for the world monetary system and consumer demand.
In truth, when historians write about a piece of history that is true to every word, 9/11 most probably will get less attention that the crash of 2008, which made way for the biggest global economic crisis since the Great Depression. Such macroeconomic imbalances would have made an economic estimation inevitable on a global level with or without the world trade bombings.
This article is not to cloud the memory of 9/11, its tragic deaths or the financial strain it bore on the country in its aftermath, but to put them in perspective. Even if 9/11 had happened or not, the world as we know it would have been the victim of weapons of mass destruction- not the terrorists or the nuclear bombs but the political dignitaries who unofficially sit on the board of the “Imaginary” world council of leaders.
Written by:-
Ruchit Rastogi