The Observer, September 8, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 2
Free Speech Zone: No progress made on the war
Free Speech Zone
This Monday will mark the fifth somber anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks; an event which shocked and unnerved everyone in America. In many ways, it feels like much longer than five years. Events unfolded and continue to unfold so fast that it is difficult to comprehend what is happening. The alarm and confusion which immediately followed the attacks resulted in a combination of mourning and anger.
In this state of mind, the United States invaded Afghanistan in Oct. 2001 with a vast majority of the people of the world behind us. While failing to capture Osama bin Laden, the operation overthrew the Taliban and upset much of Al-Qaeda's infrastructure. It seemed that the world was united in a global war against terrorism which was initially successful.
Since then, the Bush Administration has squandered most of this global support in a pointless and disastrous war in Iraq. Lacking a declaration of war from the U.S. Congress, conclusive evidence of weapons of mass destruction, or support from most of America's traditional allies, the United States dove headlong into a conflict which now consumes dozens of lives and billions of taxpayers' dollars each day.
Iraq is in a state of low-scale civil war which is extremely volatile and destabilizes the entire region. Meanwhile, bin Laden has still not been captured and it appears that the militant Islamic groups which espouse terrorism have only gained more recruits since 9/11. Likewise, the Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan and is becoming too much of a burden for the NATO forces there to handle.
The "War on Terror," whatever it is, is now more than ever a mysterious and superficial terminology used to implicate those whom the Bush Administration deems "evil." By simplifying complex issues to the point of pure misinterpretation and utilizing mesmerizing jargon (how many times has George Bush uttered the word "freedom" in the past five years?), the Bush Administration has been able to somehow acquire sufficient Congressional support while never actually articulating a coherent and consistent policy. The United States claims to be a catalyst for democracy in the Middle East while simultaneously propping up some of the most authoritarian regimes in the region and denouncing the results of truly democratic elections which return outcomes we don't like.
Lately, the president and his cohorts have tried to equate the War on Terror with some kind of all-consuming generational challenge such as World War II. Do not believe this rhetoric. While Karl Rove would love a low-intensity global conflict similar to the Cold War for its electoral benefits to his party, this conflict is a myth.
A war against terrorism will never entirely succeed; the United States military cannot kill ideas, no matter how hard it tries. The efforts to disrupt and terrify the American populace will continue indefinitely, and these forces can only be fought with good intelligence, as the recent arrests in London demonstrated. There will be more attempts to attack this and other countries, and some will likely succeed.
Ultimately, there is not a whole lot you, I, or George Bush can do about it. However, the policies of this administration have so appalled otherwise cooperative allies and general global opinion, that it is difficult to imagine a worse situation for the United States today, given the circumstances.
The real question at hand is whether the United States is safer than it was five years ago. The answer must be unequivocally "no." Our foreign policy of the past five years has been a lesson in calamity as the Bush Administration has managed not only to alienate the rest of the world, but to fail miserably at its policy aims while doing so.
It seems that any accomplishments that were made following 9/11 have been for naught. This complete fiasco is an affront to the memory of those who died in those terrible events five years ago and to the previously good name of the United States of America.
