Does terrorism exist or is it just an excuse for bush and the neo-cons to go marauding around the world? my answer to that question is: both are true ...

We should not confuse bush's disasterous response to terrorism with the existence of terrorism ... there really are groups of people who hate the US and would like nothing more than to strike "back" at us ... the question becomes, what should our response be to terrorism? clearly, the military response, at least as implemented by bush and company, has been catastrophic not just to the US but to the entire world ... instead of working for global peace (does anyone still talk about such objectives?), bush has made a much more polarized world and badly weakened the US in the process ... our military is weaker; our Treasury is weaker; our global prestige is weaker; our alliances our weaker; and our national spirit is weaker ... all this weakness as many countries in the world, especially China and India, are growing much stronger ... the damage bush has caused knows no boundaries ...

So, if massive military intrusion is not a viable response to terrorism, what is? Democrats have spoken about using more military in Afghanistan ... They talk about how diverting troops from Afghanistan and moving them to Iraq greatly weakened our efforts to capture Bin Laden and stabilize the new Afghani government ... Do you agree with this? Perhaps it is true that "we had Bin Laden and let him get away" ... But do you believe we could have "built" a stable Afghanistan had we left a massive troop presence in place there? I just don't believe we can "build stable governments" by becoming occupiers ...

The response to terrorism, and surely I don't have all the answers, has to start with a very deep and honest examination of what motivates terrorists to act ... Why do they want to attack the US or US interests? Some seem to assert that even beginning such an introspective process is by default "blaming the US" ... I disagree ... We need to start with the simple maxim: "know thy enemy" ... This, btw, is not to say that the US is NOT at fault ...

The process for determining a response to terrorism should be:
         1. Why do they hate us?
         2. Are their reasons legitimate?
         3. Are their tactics legitimate?
         4. How should we respond?

Without great elaboration here, I believe the root causes of terrorism directed at the US are, to a very significant degree, reactions to US conduct in the world ... Most of this conduct can be traced back to corporate interests ... Corporations in certain industries, with the muscle of the US government supporting them, have sought to exploit citizens of foreign countries by laying claim to their resources (e.g. oil) or by propping up oppressive governments in their countries by selling them arms and "repressive" technologies (e.g. weapons) ... In the case of Middle Eastern terrorism, the strong bond between the US and Israel has also been a source of major problems ... the solution to that alliance is not to weaken the alliance but rather to use all the leverage possible to help bring about a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ... absent that, our alliance with Israel becomes a magnet for more terrorism ... so, in response to the first two questions about determining a response to terrorism, my view is that they hate us because of our conduct in the world and that their reasons are legitimate ...

Now, are their tactics legitimate? This is a very difficult question ... in fact, it is a question that I probably can't or won't really answer ... I cannot under any circumstances condone attacks against civilians ... so on that basis alone, I could readily condemn the tactics of groups like Al Queda ... While I can't condone their tactics, I can certainly understand them ... it is certainly not reasonable to expect groups fighting against the US to use conventional warfare ... it is nonsense to expect them to send bombers to take out our military installations or send a fleet of submarines to destroy our navy ... so, if not conventional combat, what else is left to them besides terrorism? my view is that by our rapacious conduct, we have essentially left them no choice ... i don't condone the choice but i also understand that they really have no alternative ... kind of a Catch 22, eh? if they do it, it's wrong, but there's nothing else they can do ... simplistic statements that "terrorism is evil" just don't "cover the waterfront" ...

And finally, how should we respond? Is there anyone you believe has a good answer to how we should respond? We're just getting into another "primary season" ... In the preceding paragraphs, I gave my beliefs of what is causing terrorism in the world ... I don't hear any candidates talking about US conduct as a cause ... I see that as a very, very serious problem ... I am deeply worried that they will never "blame the US" because that would be seen as un-American or unpatriotic and would be politically damaging to their campaigns ... and they might be right about the politics ... the problem is, that means our system of politics precludes telling the American people the truth and it precludes those seeking high office from leading us in the right direction ... perhaps someone not running for office, much in the manner of Martin Luther King or perhaps even Al Gore as an environment crusader, needs to "make the message safe for candidates" by standing on a tall soapbox and delivering the message ... or perhaps it might come from someone in the Congress whose seat is highly secure ... folks, we cannot continue our empire without the most dire consequences and someone better start delivering that message and rallying an opposition ... we are running out of time ...

The response to terrorism, as stated in the following article, cannot be military ... We are mired in tactical discussions about how to "protect our ports" or how to move troops from Iraq back to Afghanistan or whether we need a draft ... all of these things are TACTICS ... perhaps they are good tactics; perhaps not ... one thing's for sure though, they will not protect us if we don't radically change our conduct in the world ... how can we make others understand that and how can we get our government to move the country in the right direction?

source: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/01...