|
October 29, 2001
Alexander Cockburn
The Left
and the Just War
John Pilger
Hidden
Agenda
of the War on Terror
David Krieger
Nukes on
the Loose
Jack McCarthy
Neo-Nazis
and 9/11
Marina Kalashnikova
The Brzezinski
Interview
Richard
Manning
Terrorism:
a definitive history
October 27, 2001
Edward
Said
A
Vision to Lift the Spririt
October 26, 2001
CounterPunch
Wire
Genocide
Scholar Gagged
Over Comments on the
Bombing of Afghanistan
Rahul
Mahajan
Poisoning
the Well
Sen. Russ Feingold
Why I Opposed
the
Anti-Terrorism Bill
John Troyer
Put
the War to a Vote
Norman Madarasz
What It
Means to be
Against the War
Patrick
Cockburn
Northern
Alliance Attacks
US Bombing Strategy
Richard Lloyd Parry
Terrible Images
of a "Just" War
October 25, 2001
Ghassan
Andoni
Raid
on Bethlehem
N.D. Jayaprakash
From
Hiroshima to NYC
Evan Schultz
Memo
to Ashcroft:
Read Marbury
The Sunshine
Project
Assault
on the BioWeapons
Convention
Sarah
Turner
Cashing
In on Patriotism
Latin American Colloquium
on Systemology
The Meridia Manifesto
Noam Chomsky
The
New War on Terror
October 24, 2001
Michael Colby
Radioactive
Mail?
Lori Allen
Life
in an Occupied Land
During Wartime
Peter
Swire
New
Anti-Terrorism Bill
Poses Old Risks
Irina
Malenko
A
Non-Western Voice
David
Vest
Welcome
to Web Hell
Patrick Cockburn
Battle
of Mazar Gets Nasty
October 23, 2001
Steve
Perry
Anthrax,
Cipro and the Bailout of Bayer
Carl Estabrook
Just War
or
The Rule of Lawlessness?
Patrick
Cockburn
Errant
Bombs at Bagram
George
Monbiot
War
and Oil
Robert
Jensen
Crushing
Academic Dissent
October 22, 2001
Hamit
Dardagan
The
New Newspeak
Tom Turnipseed
War
on the Poor
Patrick Cockburn
Killing
Mullah Omar's Child
David
Vest
The
War on Women
Shepherd
Bliss
Advice
from a Vietnam Vet
Hani Shukrallah
Capital
Strikes Back
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
INSIDE
EXCLUSIVE
TO
COUNTERPUNCH
SUBSCRIBERS
Published Oct. 3, 2001
8-Page Special
Issue
Aftermath
Diary
Ashcroft's Onslaught
on Civil Liberties
Ridge Long Groomed
for Cheney's Job
Those CIA Killing
Bids Never Stopped
The Not-So-Great
Mayor Giuliani
Crop Duster
Ban
Will Save Lives
Madeleine Albright's
Deadly Legacy
How the Bin
Laden Women
Fled Bel Air
Tom Ridge's
Vietnam
Same as Kerrey's?
A CounterPunch
Journey
to Ramallah
A Word About
God
Nostradamus
Jam-maker
Search
CounterPunch
Read Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
Responses to 9/11:
Chomsky, Russell Banks,
Zinn, and Alice Walker
A Free ebook from
Seven Stories Press
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
Buy
This Explosive
New Book at an
Amazing Discount!
Reviews of Gore:
a User's Manual
|
October 30,
2001
Toward the Terrorist Anti-World:
Appropriate Reactions
By Francis A. Beer
We have all watched in horror as hijackings, building
implosions, and anthrax incidents have intruded into our comfortable
world. These events have involved countless individual tragedies,
including the victims themselves, their families, friends, and
associates. We shall not easily recover from the physical and
psychological trauma.
We are now searching for answers. Who
did these things and why? What should we do now? One body of
opinion suggests that World War III is upon us. According to
this view, Western civilization itself is under attack. It is
faced with radical evil and needs to use whatever force is required
to eradicate it. The many people who die, innocent as well as
guilty, civilians as well as soldiers, are the necessary cost
of maintaining American freedom and Western civilization. The
United States, to recall the words of earlier times, will pay
any price, bear any burden, to make the world safe for democracy.
This vision is clear, but the path is
uncertain. As United States military forces deploy for action
across the globe, one wonders if vast military actions are likely
to achieve their aims? Can all of the guilty be so easily located
in the distant mountains and deserts of the world? Is bombing
completely innocent civilians consistent with our values? Will
we encourage our allies or repel them? Will we persuade the billions
of people in other cultures that they want to be our partners?
Do we wish to follow policies that risk escalating the already
terrible losses toward the very much higher casualty levels of
World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam? Though one could
ask the same questions of those who undertook the attacks, we
can, for the moment, only try to answer them for ourselves.
Another path lies before us. Taking time
to gather our breath, we should deliberately survey the terrain.
What are our domestic resources to deal with the situation? The
Hart-Rudman Commission on National Security for the 21st Century
recently presented a report that suggested setting up a special
agency to coordinate United States efforts against terrorism.
The creation of an Office of Homeland Security is a step in this
direction. We hope that this office will focus the considerable
American resources in this area, while simultaneously maintaining
our civil liberties.
Our allies have already committed themselves
to work with us. Many of these allies are concerned that the
strongest medicine might make the disease worse rather than eradicate
or contain it. We need to take seriously their views, working
with them both individually and within the global web of international
institutions. French President Jacques Chirac has suggested creating
a special United Nations agency that would focus on international
terrorism. A special UN conference on terrorism would also be
important.
The United States has recently weakened the international community
on which it depends by withholding its UN dues. It has expressed
intentions to withdraw unilaterally from agreements on the environment,
international war crimes, and anti-ballistic missile defense.
We have just started to turn this policy around by finally paying
our long-overdue UN bill. We should further realign ourself with
the consensus of world opinion in other areas as well.
While the United States should use appropriate
force, this force should be strictly limited to what is consistent
with rational objectives. Prior American use of cruise missiles
on innocent people in foreign countries has unsurprisingly enhanced
the very enmity that underlies terrorism. We are currently using
non-military means diplomatic consultations, economic incentives,
and appeals to shared humane values to deal with the situation.
These non-military avenues should be expanded. We should also
place the highest priority on reevaluating our foreign policy
in the light of recent events. We must take seriously the way
that our international trade, aid, and debt policies increase
popular frustrations and terrorist recruitment in poor countries.
In consultation with the international community, we should ask
see how legitimate opposition grievances in other countries might
be addressed in a more democratic context.
We need to place all these efforts in
the frame of a larger strategic question: How will our actions
produce a world in which terrorism is less likely to grow, a
terrorist anti-world? We now focus narrowly on our immediate
response to the terrorist attack. We also need to remain true
to ourselves and our long-term vision for our own society. How
do we work to create a more democratic, just, and peaceful future
for ourselves and for all the other people on this planet? CP
Francis Beer is a professor of political
science at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has just published
a new book, Meanings
of War and Peace.
|