wise men say only fools rush in

By Todd Stadler · Thursday, September 13, 2001 5:59pm

More military jets flying overhead, and with them more thoughts.

I am becoming increasingly concerned about the direction the response to the terrorism is taking, and I'm not just talking about the idiots threatening and attacking mosques and people of Middle Eastern descent.

Americans, and moreover, their leaders, are justifiably demanding that we wage nothing short of war on those who committed this crime.

Comparisons are being drawn to Pearl Harbor, and indeed, more people died in this event than in that previous day of infamy. People point out that as we went to war with Japan that same day, so should we go to war with the terrorists and those harboring them. And as we eventually crushed Japan, so should we crush the terrorists.

But this is not Pearl Harbor. This is not the attack of one nation against the military of another. This is, apparently, a most cowardly act of a loose band of extremists, hiding somewhere in this world.

But I am perhaps more concerned that few in the media or our government seem to be considering why these attacks occurred. Although they may be the acts of madmen, it is very difficult to believe that they did not occur for some reason.

Now, I am in no way advocating blaming the victim, as it were. For the victims of this attack - thousands of New Yorkers, Pentagon workers, and airline passengers - were most certainly innocent. And I grieve and pray for their family and friends.

But is America, in fact, innocent? If you've been reading anything other than American mainstream media for the past forty years, you'd be hard-pressed to say that it was. Our official government policies - both economic and military - have killed many times more than were lost in these terrorist attacks. And most Americans are wholly ignorant of why.

They assume that we were attacked for no reason at all, other than that we are a beacon of freedom in this world. And indeed, we are. But our leaders haven't always risen to that ideal, and we have done much that is wrong.

Of course, saying so runs the risk of appearing un-American at this time when our country needs support. That makes me sad. For indeed, I grieve for my fellow Americans at this time. And I want to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again because I love my country.

And I cannot help but wonder if our time and money would be better spent truly securing our nation's airports. How many times have I taken a knife on board an airplane? Or how many times have I seen horribly lax security, such as when my friend accidentally got on board the wrong plane? This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and it will take serious amounts of time and money.

But our nation clamors for military response. This response will undoubtedly cost more money than I can imagine. Some of the missiles we will likely fire could each pay for a new scanning machine that detects ceramic knife blades, but their million dollar price tag will be gone in a matter of minutes. And my only question is - will it make us any safer?

With the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we were able to so completely stun a nation with our terrifying atomic power that they felt they had to surrender. An entire nation's way of life was changed, and now Japan is an ally of ours. But how do you do the same thing to an entity that apparently has no borders and no military?

I think we should look to a more parallel situation than the one that brought us into World War II.

In the months that led up to this attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, I read numerous stories of the attacks and counterattacks taking place in Israel and Palestine. Typically, a small group of Palestinians would in some way bring harm to a group of Israelis. Then the Israeli military would respond by assassinating key Palestinian people, or by bombing locations identified by them as terrorist-harboring. The Palestinians, outraged by such assassinations or attacks that would inevitably include innocent people, would vow revenge and kill more Israelis. And the Israelis would respond in kind.

To my mind, this is a horrible, stupid cycle that will not be broken as long as both sides vow revenge. For as long as each side responds by killing, then the other side will have a valid reason for grieving and responding in anger.

How is our situation any different?

Most of the countries we currently suspect of being involved, albeit indirectly, are poor, to say the least. They lack the ability to respond in any serious manner to a full attack by the U.S. military. Such attacks will undoubtedly devestate their land, their people, and their economy even further. Is there any doubt that that will lead to further terrorist acts? How else do you respond when your people are dying and nobody cares?

And is there any doubt that some of those terrorist acts will succeed? Certainly they will if we do not directly address the serious security problems in this nation from technological and information-gathering points of view. Incidentally, I hope this horrible act makes our nation's leadership rethink our plan to build a missile defense system. Clearly, missiles are the least of our problems, as they at least make obvious who fired them. But I fear that even if we do all we can to stop terrorists, there is no way to truly insulate ourselves from people who are so enraged that they will kill themselves.

And then, of course, there is the fear that in making our nation more secure, we will lose the qualities that make our nation great. There are people in power saying that we have too many personal liberties right now, which is contrary to a secure nation. But we cannot react to this terrorist act with fear and let those in power restrict our freedoms, as that has been done before elsewhere, and to disastrous results.

So what is to be done? I guess I'm still not sure. Certainly, to heed the demands of the people who did this horrible act, whoever they are, would be to give in to their vision of the world and the way it should be. And that is unthinkable. But to ignore outright what these terrorists are saying is every bit as wrong.

America cannot pretend at once to be an isolationist country and the policeman of the world. We cannot keep military bases all over the globe and tell other countries that we must look after only ourselves.

I urge us to strongly consider reviewing our government policies. I urge Americans to ask their government what it is doing and why. Because even if we do wipe out the perpetrators of this heinous act, destroying their equipment, their camps, their followers, and those who harbored them - even if we do all that, unless we change our policies towards other countries, we will still give people a reason to hate us. Of course, I do not believe that we can make everyone like us. But to ignore the effect our foreign policy plays in this matter is foolhardy, and there is much that can be done.

Today I grieve still for my country. But I do not want to do it again. So I pray, and pray, that America will truly take stock of this situation before rushing off to a rash act. I pray that our leaders will do the right thing. I pray for America.