We are not in a time of clean response but gray areas to deepen the conversation and open the space to all perspectives is perhaps the clearest hope.
I am not saying by any means that the terrorist attacks were justified or forgivable however terror has often been the response of the powerless to the powerful. The case of the American Revolution in its early days being a clear example. As Americans we justify our terror because the British were so powerful and oppressive. The Islamic Fundamentalist Movement has set the US in exactly the same frame and not simply as economically repressive but in a religious and cultural context. We can not erase the social-cultural-political past that has created an environment in which a significant percentage of the world perceives the US as self-centered and arrogant in its responses. Nor does the rest of the world look particularly caring when what they often express as appropriate responses are also self-serving to their interest. The opportunity is to move into a response on behalf of the future not the past. The danger of acknowledging mistakes is in liability. The danger in not acknowledging them is in creating disbelief and cynicism. The US wants to attack terrorists endangering the US while protecting terrorists that are aligned with the US or allies it hopes to gain in its "War on Terrorism." Thus immediately creating a gap that feeds cynicism. It seems to me the US and its allies should do 3 things immediately: 1) Disavow the use of terrorism directly or indirectly by the US in the future and remove immediately support from groups that currently use terrorism unless they are willing to disavow its use in the future. Which would have to include Israel which uses what is in affect responsive terrorism to combat the Palestinian problem. Otherwise the current war is open to cynicism both from enemies and friends and the "with us or against us" has a very demonic tone. 2) Provide humanitarian support immediately and without strings to all communities in the world who are in need of assistance. Starting with the middle east. This would probably mean utilizing NGO's. 3) Introduce programs of education in the US to communicate the teachings of the Koran and the accomplishments of the people of Islam. This should include television shows based on middle eastern Americans and their social reality similar to African American and other shows which raise awareness of normal life of our multi-racial democracy. Currently Americans have few images available to them of the middle east that do not relate to Islamic Terror or limitation of Christians and Jews in the Holy Lands. The face of Middle Eastern peoples as diverse, complex and human needs to be communicated so that the human face of who we are relating too can become real. -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu]On Behalf Of (David Koehler) Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2001 10:21 AM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: The Way of the Warrior Joe: I am not sure I fit into the pacifist category or not. Each situation demands its own strategy. To reiterate a theme I wrote about before, there is a "time for peace and a time for war" as it is written in Ecclesiastes. What I am concerned about is that we know which time is which. War seems to me to be the ultimate politics. In our current situation, we need to weigh the need to politically (and morally) bring the terrorists to justice (but not through vengeance) for the American people first, but also for the our world allies. Another front, however, is not only our allies, but our adversaries (not to include the terrorists). If we are to retain a leadership role in the world, it would be nice to have it be because we do the right things in a just way. Not just because we have military capability or economic ability. So whether or not a Healer, Visionary, Teacher or Warrior is preferred seems to me to depend on what's needed. Viet Nam was a mistake because it was wrong. What we were told were our interests were not in fact our true interests. (I have also been told that the recent US interest in Columbia is not to rid the world of drugs, but because there are large oil reserves are being discovered.) Thanks, David Koehler