Counterstrikes may incur more attacks

  Jonah Lalas Lalas is a fourth-year
international development studies and political science student who
urges you to question your assumptions. Contact him at [email protected]. Click
Here for more articles by Jonah Lalas

Shortly after the United States bombed Sudan in 1998 in response
to attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa, Matthew Rothschild, editor
of The Progressive magazine, wrote, “The U.S. strikes may
have some unfortunate consequences. They may incite retaliation:
It’s quite conceivable that they will inspire more terrorism
against the United States and American citizens. Today the Clinton
administration is warning U.S. citizens to take extra precautions,
and airports across the country are girding
themselves.”

Rothschild’s statement in 1998 eerily foreshadowed the
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Similar to
recent events, the bombing of Sudan was driven by a desire to
retaliate quickly and powerfully. And just like today, the prime
suspect then was Osama bin Laden. Yet because of rash
decision-making, the target of the 1998 attacks was not a factory
manufacturing chemical weapons or housing bin Laden, but a
pharmaceutical factory that provided food to victims of famine.

Given the unnecessary violence the United States caused in the
past, we have an obligation to learn from history. Unfortunately,
the recent attacks on Afghanistan threaten merely to repeat it.

Not only do we run the serious risk of killing innocent people,
bombing will also strengthen the popularity of Osama bin Laden and
his terrorist forces. By attacking, we will play right into his
game of terror, a game where his power to turn people into deadly
pawns is dependent upon U.S. violence.

Not only will U.S. bombs increase danger for people in
Afghanistan, but it will also increase danger here. The government
can put as much money as it wants into security, but all you need
is one crazy person with a strong sense of purpose and a bomb and
people will die.

The attacks will also do more damage to the people in
Afghanistan, many of whom lack sufficient health care, education,
food and housing. Such desperate conditions help drive people to
desperate measures.

As Gotham Chopra of Channel One pointed out during his visit to
Pakistan, starving and desperate children go to Madrasas, schools
where bin Laden recruits future terrorists, because they can
receive three meals a day. In fact, there are children in
Afghanistan who, while they cannot tell you the answer to “1
+ 1,” can show you how to fire a gun. By ignoring the
impoverished conditions and simply resorting to attacks, we are
turning a blind eye to the real suffering that leads to larger
forms of violence.

And while government officials claim to provide humanitarian
aid, dropping bombs while dropping food on impoverished people
simply makes no sense.

We must look to other alternatives if we wish to truly weed out
the roots of terrorism. But first we need to differentiate between
the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. While the Taliban is a cruel
government, it is no more oppressive than our allied government in
Saudi Arabia. We must not forget that until recently, we worked
with the Taliban and last May even provided them with $43 million
in aid for helping the U.S. in the drug war.

Clearly, we haven’t nearly exhausted our diplomatic
relations and we have worked with this “evil”
government before. Now we must explore options such as those
suggested by UCLA professor John Agnew. In an interview with the
Daily Bruin, he stated that an economic relief package to the
Taliban for education, housing, and infrastructure may be more
effective in getting them to surrender bin Laden.

The $15 million he suggests may seem pricey, but it can not
compare to the lives, money and safety that will be lost with this
war on terrorism. Also, because the world is becoming smaller with
globalization, we must begin to look to strengthening the
International Criminal Court. We need to bring criminals to justice
through international law, not international vigilantism.

We can continue to stomp around and “kick ass” to
make ourselves feel good in this time of American insecurity, but
until we start learning from history and looking at the roots of
terrorism, our bombs will only continue to sow the seeds of
hate.