September 11, 2001

It might seem, 10 years on, that little has changed: The US is still held responsible for all manner of wretchedness in the world, and Germany is still navel gazing, only breaking off to emit cries of moral outrage at the killing of al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.

A decade after the worst terrorist attacks in history, publishers are printing books that set out to scientifically prove that September 11, 2001 was not a day that changed the world.

'Before' and 'after'

Such helpless attempts to interpret what, by human standards, is an almost unimaginable catastrophe as just another historic event might be comprehensible from a psychological point of view. But they are are politically wrong and morally reprehensible.

September 11, 2001 did in fact change the world - like no other day in the previous decades. There was a "before" and an "after." The date represents a moment in time when ideas, models of thought and political theories were buried - and the ideological voids that were created have largely yet to be filled.

That is particularly true in the West. Over the past 10 years, it has frequently been too hasty to demonstrate understanding instead of rising to the challenges posed by Islamic terrorism with clear concepts and proposals.

One of the most absurd examples was the fearful reaction to a couple of poorly executed caricatures of the prophet Mohammed. But even that was surpassed by the discussion - particularly rife in Germany - about whether the killing of a mass murderer such as Osama bin Laden, in whose name the Islamic culture and religion were abused, was in keeping with international law.

A simple statement, twisted

Such debates go to show how profoundly the 9/11 attacks shook western values. Two days after the attacks, George W. Bush, who was definitely not one of America's great presidents, declared the intention to "go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in the world."

But Bush's simple and decisive statement seems to have been lost amid all the justifiable outrage over Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib and the thousands killed during the war on terror. The clarity and certainty of his position has been stained, making a mockery of those in the World Trade Center who had to decide between burning to death or jumping from a height of 400 meters. Ultimately, it makes the roles of victims and perpetrators interchangeable.

Never accept terrorism

We have also largely lost sight of the concrete and hopefully irreversible consequences of Bush's statement: Namely that Afghanistan is no longer beholden to a group of radical theocrats with no respect for mankind, and that Iraq is rid of a dictator and is en route to becoming a democracy. Even the revolutions in the Middle East are ultimately the result of a clear and repeated avowal of democracy and freedom.

Terrorism, on the other hand, must never be accepted. Not even as a backhanded means of power - as some supposedly understanding people interpret it to be. Deutsche Welle's multimedia special underlines this point through stories about people, regions and about prospects, 10 years after 9/11, 2001 - a day that changed the world.

Author: Marc Koch / tkw
Editors: Jennifer Abramsohn/Rob Mudge