there would be no "war on terror".

Without 9/11 there would be no "clash of civilizations"

Without 9/11 there would be no war in Afghanistan.

Without 9/11 there would be no war in Iraq.

Without 9/11 there would be no war in… (insert any country classified as part of the "axis of evil" or defined as being 'with the terrorists')

Without 9/11 thousands of U.S. troops would not have been sent to their deaths.

Without 9/11 hundreds of thousands of citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan would not have been sentenced to their deaths.

Without 9/11 there would be no inaction on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Without 9/11 there would be no civilian contractors in Iraq and the scandal that has followed them would have been averted.

Without 9/11 there would be no false military reporting (Pat Tillman, Jessica Lynch), and no crack down on the freedom of the press (banning photographing the returning coffins).

Without 9/11 there would be no Patriot Act.

Without 9/11 there would be no NSA warrantless wiretapping program.

Without 9/11 there would be no Camp Delta and no Camp X-ray at Guantanamo Bay.

Without 9/11 there would be no Military Commissions Act and no coordinated program of extraordinary rendition, indefinite detention and torture of those defined as “enemy combatants”.

Without 9/11 there would be no vast increase in secrecy and complete militarization of intelligence under the newly created office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Without 9/11 there would not be thousands of dead and dying emergency workers who are suffering crippling and fatal respiratory illnesses.

Without 9/11 there would be no vast increase in military and security spending that goes arm in arm with huge cutbacks in other key social programs (such as levees in New Orleans).

Without 9/11 there would have been no total abandonment of fiscal restraint, which has contributed to plunging the nation into an abyss of debt and looks likely to tip the world into a deep recession if not a complete depression.

And on and on and on.

Perhaps most importantly, without 9/11 there would be no "post 9/11 society/mentality".

Michael Ryder Meyer, former speechwriter for UN Secretary General there would be no "war on terror".

there would be no "clash of civilizations".

there would be no war in Afghanistan.

there would be no war in Iraq.

thousands of U.S. troops would not have been sent to their deaths.

hundreds of thousands of citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan would not have been sentenced to their deaths.

there would be no "axis of evil".

there would be no Patriot Act.

there would be no Military Commissions Act.

there would be no extraordinary rendition.

there would be no indefinite detention.

there would be no torture of those defined as “enemy combatants”.

there would be no NSA warrantless wiretapping program.

there would be no inaction on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

there would be no Camp Delta and no Camp X-ray at Guantanamo Bay.

there would be no civilian contractors in Iraq and the scandal that has followed them would have been averted.

there would be no false military reporting (Pat Tillman, Jessica Lynch), and no crack down on the freedom of the press (banning photographing the returning coffins).

there would be no vast increase in secrecy and complete militarization of intelligence.

there would not be thousands of dead and dying emergency workers.

there would be no vast increase in military and security spending.

there would have been no total abandonment of fiscal restraint.

And on and on and on.

Perhaps most importantly, without 9/11 there would be no "post 9/11 society/mentality".