Unending Terrorism : Fear is Not Leadership

If you follow the news at all (the real news), it would seem that the whole world is at war, but the answer to defending against terrorism is not to drop more bombs and kill more people. The suffering, the grief, and the terror that so many people have already faced, and continue to face on a daily basis, needs to stop. The actions of our leaders, which I would characterize as State-sponsored terrorism, have made terror and acts of terrorism more likely, not less. If anything, the explosions in London serve to prove that Bush and Blair were wrong about “taking the fight to the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home.” Not only was their theory proven wrong, both men were also proven absurdly out of touch with reality.

The absence of attacks on U.S. soil does not mean that such attacks could not take place, nor does it mean that such threats are non-existent; as we have seen in Madrid and now London, those threats not only exist but the actions of our leaders have not made us more secure, but less safe. There are currently more than 100 chemical plants in the United States where an attack would endanger the lives of a million or more people. Despite the enormity of the threat, the Republican-controlled Congress has refused to impose reasonable safety rules and provide the funding needed to ensure our safety, largely because of pressure from the chemical industry. Likewise, the federal government has poured billions into airline security, while badly shortchanging railroads, buses, sea ports, and subways.

“Since September 11, 2001, Republicans have funded less than half a billion of the $6 billion needed to secure America’s transit systems.” - Nancy Pelosi

Click that link to see what Democrats have been up to. It might surprise some to know that they haven’t just been sitting on their hands and saying “No” to everything. They do have initiatives of their own, but without a majority in Congress, they are obstructed by the Republicans from addressing the national security problems in ways that would certainly be more effective than anything this Administration has done over the last four years.

Six billion on transit security sure seems like a bargain compared to the $200 billion or more that has already been spent (and misspent) on this indefensible and illegal war in Iraq. And that’s not even counting the human wreckage of lives lost, bodies maimed, and families destroyed. Wouldn’t it have been smarter to put the money where it could have done the most good to ensure our safety at home?

Al-Qaeda is not the only terrorist group in existence. It has rivals within the Muslim diaspora, and counterparts in other parts of the world’s cultures and religions. But it is safe to assume that the cause of these bombs in Madrid and London is the unwavering support given by Spain and Great Britain to the United States in pursuit of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and covertly elsewhere. These wars and other State-sponsored terrorism abroad have jeopardized peace and security throughout the world and here at home, and have galvanized the extremists who use terrorism as a tool.

“Ever since 9/11, I have been arguing that the ‘war against terror’ is immoral and counterproductive. It sanctions the use of state terror - bombing raids, torture, countless civilian deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq - against Islamo-anarchists whose numbers are small, but whose reach is deadly. The solution then, as now, is political, not military.” - Tariq Ali, Guardian Unlimited

Despite the assurances offered Thursday by New York Gov. Michael Pataki and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg that the best security system in the world is in place to protect people in the State of New York, Americans must understand that a guarantee of absolute safety is impossible. If you weren’t aware of it, I’ll tell you right now that London ranks probably somewhere near the top of the list of the most secure cities in the world; its penchant for surveillance cameras all over the city is well-known, guns have been taken out of the hands of the citizenry there, and they’ve certainly tried to be “vigilant” in preventing terrorist acts from occurring since they’ve had an awful lot of experience in dealing with the I.R.A., — but that didn’t make them invulnerable to terrorist attack. What will it take before people begin to realize that walling ourselves up inside 15-foot thick concrete bunkers with cameras watching every second of our lives and the government having total information awareness to the point of knowing what books we’ve been reading at the library — is not the answer?

Bush and his supporters are responsible for unleashing an unwinnable War on Terror after 9/11. With Afghanistan as an al-Qaeda base, Bush could at least identify it as a clear target. However, the supposed links between Saddam and al-Qaeda were as mythical as his WMDs. The Iraq invasion unleashed forces America and Great Britain have been unable to control, and they seem clueless about how to proceed from this point. Terrorists flooded into Iraq, a country left without stable government, whose military Paul Bremer disbanded.

“The reality is that the Bush administration’s choices have made Iraq into what it wasn’t before the war - a breeding ground for jihadists.” - John Kerry, NYTimes

On May 30, Cheney suggested the insurgency was in its “last throes” and that the military challenge was about to ease. (Last throes seem to last a long time, don’t they?) And then, Rumsfeld contradicted him by stating that “insurgencies tend to go on five, six, eight, 10, 12 years.” And Bush, of course, refuses to speculate about how long our military will be there, and urges that we “stay the course” and “show resolve” in the face of all this bad news. Meanwhile, they’re building U.S. military bases over there the size of Sacramento. I don’t think they intend for us to ever pull out of Iraq or Afghanistan. Our continued presence there, on the other hand, is clearly a risk to national security, which we can ill afford.

An Administration that can’t seem to admit to any mistakes is continuing to ask Americans to share its unswerving and unfounded belief that as long as we continue to wage war in Iraq, everything is fine in the U.S. Each day seems to bring another suicide bombing, claiming more civilian lives and adding more bodies to the death toll of U.S. troops that is now approaching 1,800. The real news about the war, news that you won’t see on television, coupled with the bombings in Madrid and London, the revelations of the Downing Street Minutes, the lies told to mislead the American people and our Congress into going to war, and the lack of any sort of plan for the occupation or even the eventual exit strategy for Iraq and Afghanistan… none of these things inspire confidence in this Administration’s ability to lead, but only to mislead.

The current approach is failing and it’s time for a change.

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Aine MacDermot is a Tech Editor at, and writes an Op/Ed column for Radio News America. This article also appears there.