Although the event of September 11, 2001 was extremely tragic and left an indelible mark on every one’s emotion, but it also caused some people to come out of this tragedy as winners and some as the losers. Below are the names of most obvious winners and losers of this tragedy.
Winners
- Rudy Guilliani, Mayor of New York City who was about to end his term with somewhat of a disgrace due to his bitter and very public divorce and his affairs with his mistress. The news of his prostate cancer and its treatment and announcement of his impotency as testimonial that he was not having sex with his mistress while still married to his wife became a real soap opera for people of New York. His political career seemed to be over. But the September 11, tragedy made New Yorkers forget all that and think of him as an able statesman with very high approval rating. Wow! What a break for Guilliani!! To top that, the Time Magazine chickened out and instead of naming Osama Bin Laden, the Man of the Year, named Guilliani as the Man of the Year.
- George Bush, the President of the United States, who was not doing well before the September Tragedy and was not elected by majority of the people and perceived as stealing the election suddenly became the most visible and focal point of the event. His approval rating has broken all records and made him win supports from all corners. He could not have been luckier than that.
- General Purvis Mosharef, leader of Pakistan who took the control of the county by coup-de- tate. A man who has recently named himself the president of Pakistan who was supporting the terrorist groups in Afghanistan especially the Taliban till September 10, 2001 suddenly became the darling of the U.S. and being showered with lots of favors and removal of the embargo and promises for hefty financial assistance. He has traveled all over the western countries and being well received.
- Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Quaeda group who unknown to most of the world, has suddenly become one of the most recognized person in the world and a household name. A man who managed to shake the entire world with his action and transferred the United States from a free county with its economic might into a county that freedom has been restricted with sharp economy slow down. Furthermore, Bin Laden’s action caused a ripple effect throughout the globe.
- Gary Condit, Member of the House of Representative from California who was constantly on the new because of Shaundra Levy’s disappearance and his affairs with her. The September tragedy made the media and public to forget about him. He has quietly started gathering signature for his re-election.
- Norman Maneta, secretary of Transportation, a cabinet position from whom one would hardly ever hear, suddenly become a very important figure and his decision caused complete stoppage of air travel throughout the United States and also impacting the international airlines.
- Republican Party; who lost the control of the Senate to the Democrats and as the result their agenda was being slowed down by the Democrats have suddenly found themselves in the limelight and able to push some of their conservative agendas through the Congress and making them into law. For example laws impacting the immigration, search and seizure, and police power. All done with the excuse of fighting terrorism.
- Al Jazeera TVa television station operating from Qatar with 35 million viewers throughout the Arab world has been transformed into another CNN because of the September 11 tragedy. Any body with some political weight wanted to be interviewed by Al Jazeera T.V. station. United States, United Kingdom’s top officials have been interviewed by this television station. Although Al Jazeera enjoyed the respect of the viewers before the September 11 tragedy, now it enjoys even more with increased viewership. The Western world has been looking up to Al Jazeera for reliable news from Afghanistan.
- John Ashcroft, Attorney General whose appointment was somewhat controversial and holder of a position that does not generate any news has suddenly become household name with his face on the news everyday conducting news conference. He has also used his sudden popularity and importance of his office to promote laws that are somewhat controversial and unpopular. Unfortunately people are kept busy with the war in Afghanistan and not much has been discussed about these new laws that truly infringes upon individuals’ rights and freedom.
- Defense Contractors, having a Republican president and starting a war will only do more good for the Defense contractors which means more orders for weapons, planes, etc.
- Security Industry, the tragedy of September 11 created a boom for the industries that deal with surveillances, security and so on. Every corporation in the U.S. has either implemented or decided to implement some measure of security, which means more business for this industry.
Losers
- Dick Chenney, the Vice President of the United States who was more in the news than the President. In fact some believed that he was the president and George Bush was the Vice President. On the day of the tragedy, the Bush operatives packed Dick Chenney and put him in box and shipped him away not to be seen. All in the name of security and preserving the line of command and leadership. They argued that they were afraid if the President is incapacitated due to an attempt on his life, then chain of command and presidency would be preserved. If that that is the case, then perhaps they should hide the President so that no one could harm him. The vice-president historically has not played any important role in the U.S. government. Poor Dick Chenny, he is nowhere to be seen and heard from.
- Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda’s group. Although he was named in this article among winners, but in reality in the long term he is a loser. The whole world is literally looking form him, there is a prize of $25million dollars on his head. The award is very tempting for anyone including his entourage and close allies. He cannot even trust his own shadow. Undoubtedly, Bin Laden is the world’s most wanted man. It seems that his days are numbered. As the new videos about Osama Bin Laden are coming out, he looks more and more pale and broken down. Furthermore, his option for hiding places is diminishing rapidly as one cave after another being destroyed by the US bombers. By the time this article is being published, the news of either capturing or death of Bin Laden may be announced.
- People of New York, there is no questions that the New Yorkers got a very raw deal in this web of international terrorism and conflict. They lost their icon, the Twin Towers, plus 3900 people and billions of dollars in economic losses.
- U.S. Citizens, We the people lost big time, we lost our innocence, and we lost our freedom as the government has implemented new laws to fight terrorism that mean more restriction and burden on us. In effect we have lost our freedom of movement to some certain extent. We have suddenly become a timid society are finding any excuse not to go out and travel, especially by airplane. People are also being extra careful with their money and they are not spending as much as before as they are not sure what the future economy look like.
- Al Gore, the former vice-president and the winner of the 2000 election who lost it due to intervention by the US Supreme Court. He was scheduled to make a major address about the president’s performance and start his political activities for next election, but the tragedy of 2001 made him to reluctantly stand by his president’s side and support him in his decision on war against terrorism and the retaliation for destruction of the World Trade Center. It makes it very difficult to criticize the president during this sensitive time. Al Gore must now wait for more opportune time.
- Democratic Party, who had just won the control of the Senate and was ready to promote its own agenda now has to postpone all that and stand behind the president and support the President with his bills for fighting the terrorism. Some of these policies are against the Democratic Party’s belief. They do not like to see the US citizen lose their freedom in name of fighting terrorism.
- US Industries, before the September 11 tragedy, the American economy had started to slow down and there was sign of recession and the companies had started laying off people. But the tragedy of September 11 accelerated the process and the recession. It was announced after Thanksgiving that the US economy is officially in the recession. In particular the Airline industries and tourism industries suffered the most impact of the September 11 tragedy. Shortly after the tragedy, the Airline announced over 70,000 layoffs and this number was to be increased to 100,000 workers in the near future. Hotels and other related businesses have laid off their workers too.
- Western Asian citizens, erroneously called Middle Eastern, have become one of the big loser of this tragedy. This is because of profiling. It will take many years for the American people to feel comfortable around Western Asian people. We have already witnessed so many attacks on individuals and community and have heard of many stories of mistreatment both by private citizens and the federal authorities.
