20 years since 9/11

It has been 20 years since the terrorist attacks on the United States that took place on 11 September 2001. I can still remember that day clearly. The attacks took place in the morning of New York, which was night in Japan. I was one of the duty cadets at the academy that day, and I had just finished a meeting for duty cadets. Dropping by the main duty room, the news was on the TV. The first images of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center came in. And as a reporter was reporting about the first crash on the World Trade Center, the second plane crashed into the other tower. This was soon followed by the Pentagon on fire.

I then called my mentor, who was a retired US Navy aviator, and told him, "Sir, are you watching the news? You need to turn on the TV now." Back then, his wife was still a civilian working at Yokosuka Base (she worked in supply), and she subsequently described the long queues outside the gates of the base in the following days due to heightened security.

This event led to the war on terror, and the longest war waged by the United States, who spent 20 years in Afghanistan. Plus the wild goose case for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. These wars drew away resources that the United States could have used to invest in its own people and infrastructure to better compete with a rising China. Instead, the United States had its attention on the Middle East and Central Asia, diluting its focus on East Asia at a critical time.

It is definitely one of the most crucial world-changing events of our time.