Today marks the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

In the days, weeks and months following these attacks &8212; the worst on our soil &8212; our nation stood united behind a simple mantra: Rebuild and retaliate.

Our nation, temporarily weakened, would recover. We would rebuild our economy and return to our normal lives.

Furthermore, we would launch a military offensive designed to root out those responsible and bring them to justice.

Today, however, our nation has changed drastically. We are at war, but with the wrong nation &8212; none of the terrorists came from Iraq, but Saudi Arabia is an &8220;ally&8221; with too much oil. Our presence in Afghanistan is waining. And Osama bin Laden remains free &8212; speaking to us from some cowardly outpost somewhere in the Middle East.

While our economy has rebounded, our political allegiances are once again torn. The Bush Administration continues to use fear tactics to advance their agenda, and the Democrats seem to be against everything but offer few alternatives.

It seems, we may have learned nothing.