Ali Khan [Washburn University School of Law]: "Five years later, the 9/11 tragedy is writ large. Unnecessary deaths litter the day, every day. Gratuitous barbarism shocks the conscience. The rhetoric of destruction intensifies. Individuals and nations committed to violence threaten international peace and security. The United Nations fails. The Security Council lingers, limps, and acts with half-hearted authority as it arbitrarily selects problems and solutions. The United States, the sole superpower, drifts away from the path of human rights and the rule of law. Muslim militants in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere show no signs of abandoning suicide bombings. The carnage defines the day.

The fifth anniversary of 9/11 comes amidst unprecedented destruction in Iraq and Lebanon. Twisted metal, smoke, screams, awe, and ruins of the World Trade Center no longer stand alone in the haunted memories of men and women who see butchery not through the distorting mirrors of nationalism or religion but with innocent eyes. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights challenges our sense of owning some deaths but not others. It shakes our muddled conscience with the clarity of its first Article: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." Poets of the world sob in unison without raising their heads to ask who has been killed by whom. The death of princes mourns the death of beggars. Partisan philosophers, however, harp on the mantra that there is no moral equivalency between "those" and "these" killers.

Tough leaders are hatching new plots to perpetuate the idea of senseless destruction. Al-Qaeda has released new videos to reaffirm their resolve to continue to kill until Muslim lands are liberated. Israeli and Palestinian leaders vow to meet again for fruitless talks. The US Vice-President reminds Americans that the deadly invasion of Iraq was justified. The UK Prime Minister makes a useless trip to the Middle East to assert his non-existent moral authority. State-sponsored assassinations and secret prisons find legal excuses in the rhetoric of "terrorism." Incompetent neo-cons are urging for a war against Iran, which refuses to give up its rights to undefined nuclear energy. The Sudanese government denies the massacres of Darfur. Madness rules the world. Pessimism darkens the hour. Law has become lawless. This is a sad day. But even today, I must muster hope and courage to teach law to a new generation of lawyers."