Sadly everything that was written in Doug Bandow's Sept. 10 article, "U.S. now less secure, less free," is true. In the 10 years since the 9/11 attacks, civil liberties in the United States have been reduced and many people have adopted the neoconservative or war-hawk attitude that many in the Bush administration and Congress had during the time after the attacks.
I remember vividly that day since I was teaching fourth grade at the time. I could see the look of fear on my students as each of their classmates was pulled out of school by panicked parents who feared that the petrochemical complexes near Houston would be targeted next. It showed a new generation of young people that America was not immune to terrorism caused by those who do not agree with the policies of the U.S.
With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan nowhere near any reasonable end, this generation will not grow up with all of the civil liberties that their parents and I experienced during our youth.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.