I am tired … so very tired … Barring a miracle from God, the world seems to be on the brink of another war. Each time we have a war, I feel that we are pressing ever closer to the next big one where the whole human race will perhaps go up in a ball of flame. Grim? Certainly! But a reality and a probability that most of us seem to ignore. I am heartened to learn that there are a lot of people all over the world (and most importantly here in the US) who do not want war and are trying to act rationally and without anger or hatred in these troubled times. Unfortunately the question is whether our leaders are among those who are rational? I’ve heard from people who have said that we should let our representatives know how we feel about the prospect of war but then again the problem is that we as humans tend to keep on hoping that things will work out … till it is too late. So perhaps we should make an effort to let our leaders know how we feel before it is too late?
Of course, I’m am pretty cynical about how our leaders and governments will react to our exhortations because governments are like gargantuan beasts who are unstoppable once they gain momentum. Once they take a step or make a statement, they are afraid to go back for fear of losing face. Stupid when seen from individual perspectives but that’s governments for you … The battle lines are already drawn – the US has issued a statement that they will hunt down terrorism and the Afghan government has refused to take any action against Osama Bin Laden till they get positive proof. Unless one side relents (which is unlikely unless positive proof against Bin Laden is found), the world is likely to tumble over the edge in this game of chicken between two nations.
Incidentally, I found it ironic to discover yesterday via an article in the Boston Herald that Osama Bin Laden himself probably got started on his route of terror and carnage by courtesy of the US government. Is that likely to alter the outcome of the confrontation? Of course not! The US government of course will not admit to any culpability for their past actions and the Afghan government will not admit to any wrong doing on their part because they will say that Bin Laden has as yet not been proven to be conclusively guilty. Impasse …
I guess about the only thing that a normal person can do when confronted by this kind of situation is try to talk to their representatives … we are after all democratic nations, right? But the problem there lies in the fact that while the democratic system is perhaps the best governmental system we have, it is by no means perfect – especially during a time when emotions run rampant. It is likely that any people’s representative will consider his chances of re-election and his welfare when confronted with a decision where some of his constituents are against a war … For is it not possible that the silent majority is in fact for war? Should he risk it when it would be just several thousand (or a few hundred thousand …) innocents in a distant land who’ll get killed? Yes, I am very, very cynical but it is after all people we are talking about and none of us are perfect …
However, humanity has always had hope – it has been something that has sustained us through the darkest of times. So let us have hope once again. Hope that our governments will perhaps act justly, hope that our representatives will perhaps listen to our voices instead of their own hopes or the voices of lobbyists, hope that humankind can perhaps see the dawn of another millennium instead of perishing at the dawn of this one! Let us let our governments, our representatives, the people around us, anybody who would listen know that we do not want a war where any side might only find a pyrrhic victory and hope against hope that they will listen!!
I hold to hope with you.
As time continues, and my anger begins to abate (slightly) and I’m less prone to knee-jerk reactions (a state I feel much of the American populace is begining to come to), I still think some type of action needs to be taken. As things are currently going, there are striking parallels to the outset of World War II – which scares the hell out of me.
In the begining of Hitler’s reign of terror, he was ‘forgiven’ for his first attrocities of invasion and
takeover of other countries so long as ‘He would not do it again’. By allowing terrorists to continue to go unimpeded, things can only escalate to utter destruction. Pakistan, a country which has already supported terrorism in the past, has nuclear capabilities. What would stop the use of them, by these radical peoples that have no problem crashing a airliner full of innocents into a building full of innocents?
For the first time in my life, I truely fear what can happen if action is not taken. Now, I’m not promoting full scare ‘go in and obliterate a country’ type of warfare. That will do nothing. Taking out these terrorists may even do nothing. It may turn others to their cause – OR it may help to bring about some type of interaction that allows for this to end.
One thing is certain, if the Taliban (and thereby afghanistan), continue to support these terrorists – and refuse to hand them over to face justice for their actions that have been condemned, then action will be taken against them. The only thing going through my mind, over and over, is what if we had just gotten Bin Laden after the USS Cole and the other bombings his network was behind? Given, >HE< may not have been the direct mastermind, but it was (or so it seems thus far) his network of terrorists that are in place around the globe that did take part in it. Please excuse my errors in spelling, but I’m writing right off the cuff, very quickly. I just hope that something can be done to bring justice where it is due, and take this terroristic element out of the world – without harming innocents. (As an aside, which scares me as well…by killing the current terrorists, are we making their children into another generation of terrorists bent on revenging their fathers? It scares me, that this circle may exist…where the only escape is to either remove the freedom we Americans hold dear – and would rather die than give up…or changing a culture and opening them up to true freedom of information (which may have more drastic changes that could cause other problems, ad infinitum).
So what’s the solution? To not respond is to allow the terror to go unchecked and further tragedy. To respond will also lead to further tragedy. Dead terrorists become martyrs and noncombatants become victims – what do we do? The middle east has been a hotbed since long before the western europeans got involved. Brother has killed brother there since the beginning and these deep seated hatreds cannot be erased by the US standing by, only expressing horror at what we see, nor can it be remedied by our intervention. Afghanistan wanted our help during the invasion by the USSR. Are we responsible for creating the “hero” Osama bin Laden? Yes indeedy, and we were thrilled when the Afghan people threw out the Soviets. I could be naive but I think we really wanted the Afhans to determine their own destiny and not have it thrust upon them by someone else. Naivete was our downfall, we failed to recognize the internal problems already prevalent in that society. Problems which would have turned out little different if we had stood by and done nothing. We would still be hated, for not helping them, and they would have eventually thrown out the Soviets (the demise of the USSR would have made that possible) and the strongest faction (most likely the Taliban) would have still taken over. What can we do? It is a terrible thing and I do not pretend to have any great Soloman like solution. All I can do is pray, for the families of the victims, for choices of our leaders, for the choices of the middle eastern leaders, for the innocent lives which are ground up in a clockwork much bigger and more complex than I can understand. May God have mercy on us all.
>> are we creating another generation of terrorists?
I would have to say that as father teaches son there will be another generation of terrorists anyway! What we can do to get rid of current terrorists may buy us ten or twenty years of relative peace. I think it is a greater possibility that this next generation will forgive us than that the current generation will change their ways.