There is a major tendency for people to presume that further security measures will somehow save us from potential terrorist attacks. This presumption, however, is an outright fallacy. Nothing will completely save us from the eventual terrorist who wishes to exact violence on our soil. Nothing.
Look at Iraq. You have a nation that is completely occupied with over 140,000 troops. You have a country where there is no Bill of Rights. You have a country that is basically under military rule 24 hours a day. Yet still, violence is rampant. In fact, the U.S. death toll in Iraq has surpassed the number of American soldiers killed during the first three years of the Vietnam War. And this doesn't even account for the thousands of Iraqi civilians who have been killed as "collateral damage."
The inescapable truth is that we are vulnerable to any group that has the will to attack us. Our borders are vast. Our nation's enemies are growing, in spite of the four years of "War on Terrorism." In truth, it's a war that cannot ever end. After all, the day we claim victory in the war on terror is the day we leave ourselves vulnerable to attack. Thus, our leaders have chosen to commit us to what is, in essence, a war that cannot end-- a war that cannot truly ever be won.
So what can be done?
As Noam Chomsky says, "There is one simple way for the United States to decrease very significantly the amount of terror in the world, and that is to just stop supporting and participating in it." You see, the prevailing belief is that if somebody carries out terror against us or against our allies, it's considered "terror." However, if we carry out terror (or our allies do), maybe even much worse terror, against someone else, it's not considered terror, it's "counter-terror" or it's a "just war." Not only is this just a political game of semantics, but it's a losing game altogether.
Article comments
1 - RKC
Our nation has gone far astray from the admonitions of George Washington, whose leadership was essential in forming this country.
Because we have strayed, we are no longer a great nation; rather we have devolved into a fearful flock of sheep who cower at the mere suggestion of an attack by those we have made our enemies by our failed foreign policy in the Middle East.
Washington's Farewell Address has been ignored, as shown below:
"Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all."
"So likewise, a passionate attachment of one Nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite Nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite Nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the Nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained; and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens, (who devote themselves to the favorite nation,) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation."
"Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens,) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove, that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defence against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive dislike of another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests."
"The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connexion as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop."
"Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing, with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard."
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And our nation has ignored the admonition of President Eisenhower, who in his Farewell Address warned of the danger posed by the military-industrial complex.
"Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions."
"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence â€" economic, political, even spiritual â€" is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society."
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
Note: President Eisenhower was contending with the Cold War at the time. The Cold War has been over for 15 years and we continue to spend as though the Soviet Union is still a threat.
IT IS CLEAR THAT WE AS A NATION HAVE FAILED TO FOLLOW THE ADVICE OF TWO OF OUR GREAT PRESIDENTS AND WE ARE PAYING THE PRICE.