About that Lost 9-11 Unity

I was born in 1949, just a whisper away from WWII, still audible to my young ears. My father flew F6-F's in the Pacific, off the escort carrier Sangamon. They took a kamikaze off Okinawa in 1945. My two older brothers were born in 1944 & 1945. Their father was killed in 1945. My father met my mother and they married in 1948. Not different at all from others of those years.
My mother once said this about America then, "The unity was incredible!"

You see where I am going with this narrative. Around what goal were we "unified" after September 11th? A resolve to find and defeat Al Queda, no? To defeat the terrorists, wherever they may be, no? The language from the AUMF says:

"That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons."

I can see from the language some people might say it suthorizes military action against only those "nations, organizations, or persons" involved in the September 11th attacks. But re-read that "...or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future (attacks)..."

On February 6, 2003 in front of the UN Colin Powell said

"But what I want to bring to your attention today is the potentially much more sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network, a nexus that combines classic terrorist organizations and modern methods of murder. Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by Abu Musab Zarqawi, an associate and collaborator of Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda lieutenants. "

Zarqawi carried out the bombing of the Golden Dome mosque, which fueled the Sunni-Shia violence, the so called civil war. It was a calculated attempt to create chaos and death, headlines Al queda would exploit to achieve their main goal, as Zawahiri said in a letter to Zarqawi interrcepted in, I believe, April of 2005, that is, "To drive the Americans from Iraq". Yesterday the Dogs and Ponies of the Senate, repeatedly asked General Petraeus, "Yes, so what if you say we are winning, when can we leave?" Are they ignorant of the goals of our enemies? Are you, my fellow Americans?

The unity of 9-11 evaporated because people did not make holding onto it a priority. I fault the Democrats for splintering off into their urge to achieve political gain from a war we did not choose, and must not flee from fighting. I fault the President and various Republicans for not saying, "Learn about these enemies! This is serious, deadly stuff." I fault the Press for not caring to dig into unpleasant facts because the policy America is set upon was decided by someone they despise, and carried out my an institution they hate, the military. I reserve use of the word blame for the place blame belongs, upon us, the citizenry. Whosoever has not bothered to learn what they must about this vicious, irreconcilable enemy, has only themself to blame for squandering the unity we all had on September 12th, 2001.