23. 9/11/01 (Thank You, Mr. bin Laden)

Achilles died.

We’ll get back to that in a moment.

A few years ago, while I was still in uniform, I had what is called a “bad landing”. That’s what happens when a SEAL gets into an airplane just fine and jumps out of it just fine, but then experiences a less-than-optimal reunion with the earth.

The surgeon sliced into my throat and shoved my trachea, esophagus and artery out of the way so he could dig a damaged disk out of my spine. Earlier in the operation, he had carved a piece of bone off my left femur to fashion a disk-shaped chunk. This was now inserted as a replacement in my spine. He capped it all off by screwing a titanium plate into the vertebrae above and below the new disk, then zipped up my throat.

When the entire production was finally healed, it was exactly as the surgeon had promised: the neck was not only good as new, but stronger than before. With those two vertebrae fused into one, there is a negligible reduction of flexibility and a reinforced structure. I could take the same fall better now than with my original neck.

Achilles died.

Again, we’ll get back to that in a moment.

Osama bin Laden is no Superman. His image may now be more familiar to us than those of many of our greatest presidents. No matter. He is a living myth, blown up by the real affection of a handful of admirers and an unreal mystique to millions who are awed by the attacks accomplished in his name.

Osama bin Laden gets diarrhea. He has uncomfortable and embarrassing gassy moments, and he sometimes gets a little booger on the outside of his nostril. How do I know this? Because he’s human. When I teach “thinking like the terrorist”, I urge listeners to put our adversaries in perspective. To esteem him unrealistically is to self-inflict intimidation. It’s to give weight and energy to his cause, to the detriment of our own. They’re only guys, guys.

Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda inadvertently acted as a surgeon on the spine of the world. They cut into our throat in the hopes of finding the jugular to kill the patient.

They failed.

Before I “broke my neck a little bit”, my neck was natural and average. After the surgery I was sore for some months of healing. In the end, my spine was technically (but not noticeably) less flexible – and much better able to survive trauma similar to what had caused the original damage.

After the “operation” of 9/11, the patient (the world) was sore for a few months of healing. The patient was uncertain about the future and the prognosis for recovery. To the unacknowledged disappointment of the surviving attackers and their McQaeda franchises worldwide, the end result is the same. The attacks did not kill the patient. This operation steeled a spine.

Achilles is known for having been a great Greek warrior, invulnerable except for a small spot on his heel. During the replayed footage of today’s memorials, I heard one commentator’s original remark from that day that terrorists had found the Achilles’ heel of America. This was an inaccurate analogy.

Achilles died.

America and the world, however, are stronger than ever before.

Thank you, Mr. bin Laden.

Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.