[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald Photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]The Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy held a panel discussion yesterday to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

WAGE associate director, Alison Alter, said the forum, titled "Perspectives on a Post-9/11 World," was designed to help those in attendance understand America's new role in the world, as well as any challenges which may lie ahead for our country.

"We thought that we ought to mark the fifth anniversary of 9/11 with some reflections on how our world has changed," Alter said.

Panelists at the forum included Vicki Bier, director of the UW Center for Human Performance and Risk Analysis; Capt. Scott Mobley, UW professor of Naval Science; UW political science professor Jon Pevehouse; and UW history professor Jeremi Suri.

One student who attended yesterday's panel discussion was John Osborne, a UW junior who worked in intelligence in Iraq from April 2003 through July 2004. He said he attended the forum to learn about future threats to the United States.

According to Osborne, an understanding of history is a key component in preparing for the future, and in his opinion, not enough time has passed to appreciate the full effect of 9/11 on the nation.

"I think it's too early to tell, personally," he said. "And I think by having these sort of get-togethers and these forums, we'll be able to figure things out."

Retired UW faculty member Patricia Becker said she attended the forum to learn about possible solutions to dilemmas the United States has become involved in since 9/11.

"I think the country overreacted — I think we should have seen it coming," she said about the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, adding, "because we are doing the same thing to other countries."

Pevehouse encouraged students to "think outside the box," suggesting not only the definition of terrorism be pursued, but also that of counterterrorism.

"Is this about hearts and minds?" Pevehouse asked. "[Or] is this about bombs and bullets?"

In a brief address to the audience, Suri said the U.S. has historically responded poorly to destruction and made three suggestions for means of improvement.

The first of those three suggestions was for the U.S. to focus on "sound judgment," something Suri said is lacking in contemporary American society.

"You cannot judge someone unless you understand their social and cultural background, as well as their military capability," Suri said, "unless you look at the science of a situation as well as the humanity of a situation."

Speaking from a militaristic perspective, Mobley said the only certainty in America after 9/11 was the fact that terrorism became a bona fide threat.

Mobley continued with the theme of uncertainty and referred to the War on Terror simply as "the long war."

"It's not going to be something that ends tomorrow," he remarked. "We don't know how long it will last."

Pevehouse said his belief — which he acknowledged may be controversial — is American behavior has not changed all that drastically since 9/11.

He argued there were some immediate changes in the behavior of the American people and of Congress with regard to presidential power, but those changes would have occurred no matter who was president at the time.

"I think there have only been a few fundamental shifts in the way we think about the world," Pevehouse said. "We have returned back to some of the same pre-2001 patterns."

In Bier's presentation, she compared the severity of terrorist threats to the severity of other threats to human life, such as natural disasters and fatal disease.

"Maybe we need to reposition our thinking to focus on some of the biggest terrorist attacks — but also some of the biggest threats of other types," she said.