During a recent forum at the Aspen Institute, Markle’s president, Zoë Baird Budinger, reflected on the 9/11 decade with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and other leading foreign policy thinkers.
Budinger argued that the death of Osama bin Laden did not mark the end to al-Qaeda and stated that America’s economic decline, falling stature with the international community, and unproductive Congress are all fall-outs of 9/11 and the country’s reaction to the terrorist attacks.
“I think this country was very unprepared for feeling vulnerable and we did not respond to it very well,” she said. “The place we are left in is probably exactly where Osama bin Laden hoped we would be left. We are left in a situation where we are economically weakened, both by wars and other circumstance, we are left in a place where our politics are divided and fierce, we are left in a place where we’ve declined in our influence over the world.”
