In 1999, the federal government spent about $10 billion to combat terrorism with over 40 federal departments, agencies, and bureaus participating with a role in combating terrorism. (1)
There is NO universal definition of terrorism. We once called them "freedom fighters" when the Taliban fought against the Soviets and now we call them "terrorists" since they fight against us. Terrorism is therefore defined differently in differing contexts depending on circumstance. And today's terrorists may again be tomorrow's friends. It is not inconceivable that Arafat who was once so dreaded as a terrorist by the Israelis that it was a criminal act to even meet with him and then he became a friend and now again he is a terrorist, but tomorrow he may again be a friend.
If everyone who ever perpetrated a massacre was a terrorist, then we would certainly qualify for our bloody history of massacres with the way we treated Native-Americans, our massacre of the Pequot Indians in 1636, the massacre of Filipino Moslems ("Moros") which was a bloody 8 year war with the Philippines, and the official acts of white mobs against African Americans in collaboration with the government, Mai Lai in Vietnam, and on and on and on.
We have a compartmentalized view of terrorism which may justify our world view at the moment but is not at all universally accepted.
This whole debate is NOT really about morality or laying blame or we'd have to shoulder some of it; it is ONLY about SECURITY and terrorist THREAT ASSESSMENT and SAFETY. We are constantly readjusting our concepts to meet our needs. The real losers to terrorism, like our war against Iraq, has been the random innocent targets of terrorism.
It is with out a doubt that our leaders and our propaganda system will build motivation and a sense of MORAL SUPERIORITY by unifying and building a concensus which will include GOD, COUNTRY with lots of PATRIOTIC FERVOR, the "last refuge of a scoundrel." There is no doubt that we will have a determined and motivated citzenry when we embark on our own crusade of mass murder.
"We will make no distinction between these terrorists and those who
harbored them." President Bush
It DOES matter how irresponsible my government has been at present and in the past and that angers me, but I still have a human response to all those deaths caused by this terrible heinous act of murder and suicide, and I FEEL LIKE I WANT MY REVENGE ALSO.
The problem is, I've seen too many wars and I know that there comes a time when we must want the killing to stop. THERE COMES A TIME when none of it seems to make any sense anymore. THERE COMES A TIME when revenge no longer seems like justification for doing what was done to us for us to KILL someone else. MAYBE THAT TIME SHOULD COME BEFORE WE START?
TheGolem http://g0lem.net/ http://pnews.org/
(1) [Combating Terrorism, GAO/4-07/2000]
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