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AS THE DUST SETTLES - page two (back to page one) I do fear about the current clamour for war. God knows I understand New Yorkers' need to defend themselves, I understand that many of them are angry, and they have every right to be. But war is not a word to be used lightly. War is something we should take every possible step to avoid. "What are we supposed to do, then?", an American might ask, quite rightfully. "Just sit back and wait for them to attack us again?" Of course there's no perfect answer to that question. But do we need to send more of our children to their deaths? Do we need to add Afghani innocents to the death toll? Will retaliation and revenge bring back the loved ones? Sadly, no. Actually I've been impressed that at the time of writing, the powers that be in America haven't yet launched a military strike, which indicates that they're at least attempting to pursue the diplomatic route. And this is what I feel we must press for: to bring the terrorists to justice via recognised international legal channels, not to sink to their level (and play into their hands) by bringing about a war between America and the Middle East. While my heart goes out to all Americans in the midst of all this, I don't feel comfortable with Bush and his cronies at the helm. I've not agreed with many of his policies and statements since he bluffed it into office and nothing he has said during this crisis has restored my confidence. The phrase "War on Terrorism" is almost nonsensical: a war is declared between states, not between states and nouns. Terrorism is a target so amorphous, so dispersed, as to be impossible to defeat. There are terrorists in every country in the world, including the USA, and of every political persuasion. We can't drop bombs on all the terrorists in the world, and Bush knows it. Why set himself up for a fall? There's a new terrorist born every day- we will never beat them entirely. I can't trust the motives of anyone willing to get into a war. It can't be a "war of good against evil", as Bush describes it - because the terrorists themselves obviously believed themselves to be good and America to be evil. Both sides can't be right. No, instead, any war has a darker subtext: often money, or oil, or the economy, or the arms industry. It doesn't make the terrorists right, it doesn't mean that I don't mourn the tragic loss of so many in New York, Washington and Pittsburgh: it just means that there can be no high moral aim in starting a war. Our kind of war is no better, no more righteous, no more holy, than the terrorists' kind of war. So I reckon we should be afraid when George Bush says he wants Osama bin Laden "dead or alive", with his "head on a plate", especially before having shared any evidence with the world. This isn't some Wild West caper. It's much more complicated than that- and the US government knows it. For a start, they funded bin Laden during the Cold War, using him as an agent against the Soviets. And according to reports, the US Government gave $43 million to the Taliban as recently as May, in exchange for their banning all narcotics and therefore stemming the flow of heroin from Afghanistan. Pakistan has been extraordinarily co-operative so far, but its people may not want to side with the US for long. Similarly many other Middle Eastern nations are likely to be drawn in to any war, and many of them might also resent America's supplying of arms to Israel and ongoing presence in Saudi Arabia. This is a potentially huge subject that goes way beyond retribution for the World Trade Centre attack. I have no idea how all this will progress, but I pray with the greatest respect to the dead and their families that we can progress towards a peaceful conclusion. As I write this there is some very promising news suggesting that Israel and Palestine might cease fire, at least for the time being. And that's all we long for now: a little hope. comment on this article e-mail this to a friend start a discussion  thought index Problems? Questions? Suggestions? Contact me: mail@tobyslater.com back to top back to home page |
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