Jack Lessenberry: President Gore and 9/11

You may be reluctant to be dragged back into thinking about Sept.11, now that we've just completed a weekend of wallowing in remembrance of the tragedy that killed nearly 3,000 people. No, as far as I can tell, nobody breathed a word about the more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians who died as a consequence of OUR actions following the "terrorist" attacks. Nor did anyone say much about the nearly say much about the nearly 7,000 US soldiers and "contractors" who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since,in wars still going on for no apparent rational reason. That doesn't mean Sept.11's victims of irrational Islamic terror shouldn't be remembered. Just as we should not forget that their families aren't alone in suffering, or that countless other nameless families weep in nameless villages as a result. And we should remember too, that it could have been very different: When we look back on Sept. 11 today, it is hard to imagine that it could have been worse. Much worse. Just consider - what if Al Gore had not been elected president 10 months before? What if we 'd had as president a man who was cheerfully ignorant of foreign policy? A man who had said that he was hot to invade Iraq and avenge his father, or complete his father's mission, and who said from his Texas ranch the day after the terrorist attacks that he "thought Saddam had done it". We almost did. I mean, of course, George W. Bush, the former governor of Texas, the guy who now does TV commercials for Halliburton. You may have forgotten this, but he almost became "president". He would have, too despite losing the popular vote, if Al Gore hadn't won Florida by a mere 9,547 votes on November 7, 2000.