Author Susan Sontag writes in the current issue of the New Yorker:

“The disconnect between last Tuesday’s monstrous dose of reality and the self-righteous drivel and outrightdeceptions being peddled by public figures and TV commentators is startling, depressing. The voices licensed tofollow the event seem to have joined together in a campaign to infantilize the public. Where is the acknowledgmentthat this was not a "cowardly" attack on "civilization" or "liberty" or "humanity" or "the free world" but an attackon the world’s self-proclaimed superpower, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions?"She continues, "a lot of thinking needs to be done… about the ineptitude of American intelligence andcounter-intelligence, about options available to American foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East, and aboutwhat constitutes a smart program of military defense..."

In addition to the issues Sontag raises, the U.S. withdrew from the U.N. conference on racism in Durban, South Africajust days before the attack.