Iraq caused the U.S. to lose focus in the war on terrorism

All around the country on Sept. 11 the nation paused to remember.

There was the image of ground zero, where the twin World Trade Center towers once stood, juxtaposed with the visuals of a solemn president and a new memorial honoring those who died that day at the Pentagon.

The sound of silence would be interrupted by the wail of a lone bagpipe, and later a reading of the names of victims who had died in New York City.

Seven years later and the United States of America, although having moved past its long night of mourning, still had time to demonstrate its collective grief for those who perished in the worst attack on American soil.

The events of 9-11 would lead us to declare war on an elusive enemy and, in so doing, took us to a place where more than 4,000 Americans have died.

Iraq is still very much a part of this nation’s conscience as many more Americans return from that country scarred for life, and as candidates for president argue whether the "surge" worked.

But I wonder if we’ve forgotten the other war — the one most Americans believe was the correct war to fight.

Do we even remember Afghanistan?

On Friday, I saw a story from The Associated Press story with the dateline Kabul. Written by Jason Straziuso, it began:

"Insurgents killed two U.S. troops in Afghanistan on the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks Thursday, making 2008 the deadliest year for American forces since U.S. troops invaded the country in 2001 for sheltering Osama bin Laden."

I recall how hopeful the nation was with the military progress being made against the Taliban, and how confident we were that the bearded bin Laden would be forced out of his hiding place or die in it.

You do remember Osama bin Laden, right? He was the man who had everything to do with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and nothing to do with Iraq.

If only the nation could have stayed as focused — as it seemed, at least — as it was back on Jan. 29, 2002, when President Bush made his State of the Union address.

Standing next to first lady Laura Bush in the House gallery, and decked out in his brilliant tribal robe, was a smiling Hamid Karzai, who was then chairman of the Afghan Interim Authority.

While there was no banner hanging from the rafters declaring "Mission Accomplished," that scene was clearly meant to convey such a message.

But the president, obsessed with another Middle Eastern tyrant, would lead the nation to another war.

It was a major blunder on several fronts, including taking our focus and our resources away from the effort in Afghanistan.

There has been a resurgence of the Taliban, and American casualties are mounting in the country in which we thought a military victory had been achieved in 2001.

Last month, more U.S. troops died in Afghanistan than in Iraq, and the total number of American deaths in the Afghan region has reached more than 520.

Rather than argue about the impact of the so-called "surge" in military forces in Iraq, someone had better start paying attention to the surge in violence in Afghanistan.

To his credit, Bush on Sept. 9 announced he will send an additional 5,000 troops to Afghanistan in response to a request from top military commanders there.

I know people don’t like body counts, and our military leaders pretend they don’t even know how to count the number of enemies and innocent civilians killed.

Death, however, is a reality of war.

We must not become numb to the numbers. These are people who are dying daily in what has proven to be two mismanaged wars.

Somehow we must figure out how to bring an end to both.