What exactly is the war on terror? That is not a rhetorical question, it is one that I have had rolling around my head for about a week. I remember how I felt during the war on communism. Threatened. Frightened. But exactly how do you fight an abstract foe? It’s not like you can look at someone, their passport, voter registration card, student id or drivers license and tell. It is a philosophy. A way of thinking that is not contained by any organized religion or organization. There are places where they seem to congregate, but it appears that terrorism isn’t just being applied to people who want to terrorize, but to anyone that uses alternative, more destructive means to draw attention to their cause. Unfortunately, any time you start diluting in order to broaden the scope, the focus and intensity is lost.
Someone letting minks out of their prisons is not a terrorist. Someone who blows up uninhabited cars and destroys property is not a terrorist. They are vandals and breaking the law, but this does not strike terror in the hearts as did the twin tower disaster, London subway or the Madrid bombings. Dropping a biological or chemical weapon in some form of mass transit, that’s terrorism. Because it is terrifying. I remember watching the second plane go into the tower. It was so surreal. I kept thinking – did that just happen? Your mind starts going into overdrive trying to rationalize the irrational. The image of people throwing themselves out the window will be with me forever. What was the first thing I did once I realized that this was no accident? Got my kids from school. If anything was going to happen, they would be with me. The principal tried to convince me otherwise, but that’s what terror does. It throws us into primitive mode. Survival. Someone trashing an SUV, even if it belongs to me in my driveway, would not make me go into survival mode. It would alarm me. I would feel relatively threatened, but there is protocol in that I can call 911. But there is a huge, gaping difference between true acts of terrorism and some of the things that have happened lately that have been thrown under that heading for alarmist’s sake. There is no protocol for a terrorist attack. It is a shocking and horrifying situation where everyone is thrown into a panic. You can see it on people’s faces in any 9/11 footage. You can remember your own reaction. It is a completely different deal.
But back to my original question. What is terrorism?
“Terrorism” is defined by the US Department of Defense as "the unlawful use of -- or threatened use of -- force or violence against individuals or property to coerce or intimidate governments or societies, often to achieve political, religious, or ideological objectives." (pbs.org)
Does it surprise anyone that “violence against ….. property” is in there? That is so incredibly revealing. We are so involved with things that we put them on the same level as people. You can’t terrorize a picnic bench, a stereo or a car.
I remember when the IRA and the PLO were the big terrorist threats. Especially with the IRA, the bombings and the threat of bombings were extremely stressful. But there are always two sides to every situation. For the most part, the IRA wanted England out of Ireland. Crummy way of doing it, but take a quick peek at history and it turns out that England has long since been a very, very bad guest, always outstaying her welcome. The PLO, again, wanted Israel to sod off, as it were, giving them back their country.
Do I agree with the tactics? No, but here’s the kicker, I understand them. Whenever you have some bad-ass lording over people and country and making everybody miserable, you rarely see them respond to requests for change. Why should they? They are bad-asses. Typically, there is not much military muscle on the other side, so what do you do? You become a freedom fighter! Get rid of the oppressor. That usually involves using whatever means you have available to you, be they Molotov cocktails, rocks, or homemade bombs. Not many see the connection between the attack on 9/11 and other insurgency fighting. But for the most part, the sentiment of the rest of the world is that we (as in the US) don’t respect others, we take what we want, we stomp all over other people’s stuff and their rights, we dump toxic waste in their water, we overtake their economies, making the rules up as we go. Are we like that? The citizenry of this country? No. Absolute polar opposite. But that is how we are construed. Do you think anyone in their right mind would attack the only superpower in a way that the superpower could win? How ridiculous would that be? No. It would have to be covert, swift, devastating and hugely symbolic. And boy was it.
What I cannot understand about all this is Osama. For an administration so focused on “staying the course”…..why didn’t we? If it truly is a war on terrorism, then (ahem) go after the terrorist. It was proven that Osama was involved. We got word of it before, we got word of it after. Dead or alive. Yet he remains, cutting his what? Fifth video? Better than some hip hop stars.
Now we have this expanded net called the war on terror. The war on nightmares. The war on fear. Or rather the fear program. Because that is exactly what it is. It is all around, 24/7. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Good thing we’re in charge, eh? We’ll keep you safe….but first we have to make you feel threatened. Constantly. You don’t want those wimpy guys, those guys who believe in gay marriage protecting us, do ya? They want to sit and diplomatically resolve our differences with the terrorist that want to kill us? Not on my watch, sir, not on my watch! (you can almost see bush saying that can't you?)
I listened to Gush Limpjaw yesterday. What an idiot. Every time he would talk for the progressives, he would lisp. I suppose it was his comical yet feeble attempt to effeminate the liberal point of view.
“We don’t disagree with the motives of bush spying on Americans, we just don’t like the procedure.” Lush lisped.
What is up with that? You believe that the laws should apply to all of us, and suddenly your emasculated? Regardless, what was thrown out in defense of illegal spying? National security! Hey, he’s looking out for us. He’s like a vigilant mom with a kid on the internet. Quietly watching over our shoulder.
Shudder.
Gives me the creeps.
I just don’t buy any of this fear-mongering anymore.
I know it’s redundant to ask this question about Iraq, so I’ll ask it about Terrorism….is there a plan? Is there an exit strategy? Is there a time when we won’t be curled up in a ball in the darkened closet with duct tape and plastic sheeting around the door, with our bottled water, our hand cranked radio, flashlight, rocking constantly, reassuring ourselves that it will be alright?
This is what the citizens of superpowers do? I don’t believe there is a war on terrorism. I believe there is a war on terrorizing us and a war on Islam. Plain and simple. There are too many references to crazy Islamic militants, etc. This administration can’t say it outloud yet, because they haven’t quite figured out how to round up the millions of Islamic people in our own country.
How do you fight a belief? How do you battle a value system? How do you wage war against something that exists in someone’s mind? It is not a good enemy. It’s like making clouds your enemy. You cannot get your hands on it. You might get a leader or a second in command, but you will have an infinite number of replacements. Is the current strategy working? The foe that is invisible is impossible to defeat. If you want to change minds that will take more than bullets. That’s what a lot of people don’t understand. Talking and listening and demonstrating through actions and talking some more. Everyone is passionate about their views. Everyone believes they are right. Everyone would die for their country and beliefs. Ok. We get that. That’s ok. We just don’t have to go that route. We have seen it played out over and over again. We have, supposedly, higher levels of reasoning abilities that work. Through diplomacy, listening to other points of view, eventually something within each person, at different times, in different ways will click and see that there are alternatives, that there are better ways. Is that gay? Is that effeminate? I guess I’m gay, because I know it works. It takes an incredible amount of talent, actually. You have to be able to listen. To arbitrate. To patiently negotiate. And you have to be willing to empathize and compromise. Does that make you spineless? Have you ever sat through an arbitration with someone you could not stand on every conceivable level? No room for the weak, my friend. It is exhausting. But guess what? No one dies! No one is maimed! No one’s stuff is destroyed! We can be in a war on terror for the rest of eternity. In fact, that’s how long it will take to win. Or we can be a true superpower and lead by example. Wouldn’t that be golden? That’s not weak. That’s not idealist or unrealistic. It’s what wise people do. Wise enough to know that a war on the abstract is a war that is lost from the onset.