How did I feel Tuesday? There are no words to describe it. Those commentators who call this 'the new war' are right, I think. And I am afraid.
I am afraid of the terrorists. This was a relatively basic attack on America. Converting airplanes into missiles simply required people trained to fly. What are the prospects for chemical terrorism? They seem much worse. This is the new war. And in the new war, the attacks will get worse, I think. It's not difficult to imagine a day when the numbers of innocent civilians wounded is counted not in thousands, but tens or even hundreds of thousands.
I am afraid of Americans. The loss of life has been substantial and now the entire country wants to go to war, in the traditional sense. They want to see cruise missiles in the air, troops on the ground and a coordinated effort to annihilate those responsible. Papers and politicians across the nation are clamoring for revenge and for swift justice to be exacted on those responsible.
But those who are responsible, it seems, belong to a terrorist group. This is not a Pearl Harbor, where our enemy is a state. The United States may try to justify an attack on Afghanistan by saying that the state is responsible because it is harboring Osama bin Laden, America's public enemy No. 1. I am scared of an attack on Afghanistan for two reasons.
First, thousands of innocent people, most of whom are just beginning to hear of our national tragedy, some of whom have sharply different views about America, will probably die. Yet that doesn't concern most Americans. We Americans like to espouse a double standard: that all people are created equal, and bestowed with three inalienable rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; but we like to think that those unalienable rights only apply within our borders. One of my roommates likes to point out that the United States has probably killed thousands of innocent people in the past decade with its military power and economic sanctions.
Secondly, there is a serious danger that actions taken by the United States will only fan the flames of hatred in the Middle East, encouraging more violence and terrorism. How do you stop the cycle of violence? I don't know. Last week, I went to lunch with a friend of mine. We discussed race relations, and I said, 'Americans seem to have this knack for pulling ourselves apart, until by some external threat we are pushed back together.' And so one week later, here we find ourselves pushed back together. Thousands of civilians died because they were in America. But they were not the target. We, the American people, were the target. And that's what made Tuesday so harrowing. It wasn't a strategic attack. It was random. It could have been any one of us.
Of course, patriotism is a natural response. But patriotism fueled by anger is dangerous. That kind of patriotism has led to every major war in modern history. That kind of patriotism leads to an American public demanding the blood of those responsible. And with that blood comes the blood of innocent lives. How many innocent lives will be lost? We will see only with time.
Our response to terrorism must be proportional to the damage we incurred. But we also must act with a morality espoused in our constitution, avoiding a response that would take an unwarranted number of innocent lives. We must not cede the moral high ground, for without it, we become subject to chaos and the same kind of destruction that defines the Middle East.
I am encouraged by the administration's response thus far. It has restrained itself from rash action and instead has taken the time to find those responsible and coordinate a well-thought-out response.
Bush must check the American public's zeal with America's long-term interests. Any use of force must be carefully applied, and all human life must be equally regarded. If the United States were to heed to public opinion, it would seem that thousands of civilians would die and terrorists would simply be further incensed to enact more devastating acts of terror.
