The Second 9/11

What could happen to us: - NY Times opinion

IN the autumn of 68 B.C. the world’s only military superpower was dealt a profound psychological blow by a daring terrorist attack on its very heart. Rome’s port at Ostia was set on fire, the consular war fleet destroyed, and two prominent senators, together with their bodyguards and staff, kidnapped.

The incident, dramatic though it was, has not attracted much attention from modern historians. But history is mutable. An event that was merely a footnote five years ago has now, in our post-9/11 world, assumed a fresh and ominous significance. For in the panicky aftermath of the attack, the Roman people made decisions that set them on the path to the destruction of their Constitution, their democracy and their liberty. One cannot help wondering if history is repeating itself.

9/11 will not be remembered for what happened on that fateful day, but what followed as the American people surrendured the constitutuion to "Nero". The "Second 9/11" The following years of dictatorship that almost caused this country to fall apart.

If we can not learn from the mistakes of the past, we are doomed to repeat them.