Not the Evil Mr. Bush, the Poor
Francois Locoh-Donou, MBA2
Issue date: 10/1/01 Section: Perspectives
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In response to the attacks of September 11 on the World Trade Center, Mr. Bush gave us a simple explanation: “We were targeted by the forces of evil because we are the greatest beacon of freedom in the world…. We will retaliate fierce fully…. We will make no difference between the terrorists and those who harbor them”. In other words: “We are the good guys, the bad guys are worse than we thought. Let’s go kill them and get rid of the problem once and for all!”.
So let me get this right. We go out and eliminate Osama Bin Laden, along with his soldiers, his supporters and his sponsors. In the best case every nation cooperates with us and we lose only a few more lives in the hunt. In the worst case we enter into a global West Vs. Islam war and Bin Laden has succeeded where Saddam Hussein failed. But let’s assume everything goes right. We destroy Bin Laden’s terrorist organization. In the United States, we tighten security on airplanes, in airports and perhaps in all public locations. We increase funding for the CIA, the anti-terrorism units and the National Security Agency. Will we be safe then? No, unfortunately.
Why? There are hundreds of Osama Bin Laden wannabes who are ready to take over from him; hundreds more who are ready to die for his cause. We cannot find and kill all of them. So perhaps we should look further than “the evil forces” Vs. “the greatest beacon of freedom” and try to address the root causes of terrorism: Inequality and injustice.
Terrorists are born out of fanatism – be it religious or political – and fanatism is born out of poverty and ignorance. The Nazis were born out of Germany’s severe recession in the 1920s, and the national sentiment of injustice that resulted from Germany’s defeat in World War I. The Talibans were born out of Afghanistan’s complete destruction in the war against USSR. And Osama Bin Laden only exists because people who have nothing to lose support his cause.
So let me get this right. We go out and eliminate Osama Bin Laden, along with his soldiers, his supporters and his sponsors. In the best case every nation cooperates with us and we lose only a few more lives in the hunt. In the worst case we enter into a global West Vs. Islam war and Bin Laden has succeeded where Saddam Hussein failed. But let’s assume everything goes right. We destroy Bin Laden’s terrorist organization. In the United States, we tighten security on airplanes, in airports and perhaps in all public locations. We increase funding for the CIA, the anti-terrorism units and the National Security Agency. Will we be safe then? No, unfortunately.
Why? There are hundreds of Osama Bin Laden wannabes who are ready to take over from him; hundreds more who are ready to die for his cause. We cannot find and kill all of them. So perhaps we should look further than “the evil forces” Vs. “the greatest beacon of freedom” and try to address the root causes of terrorism: Inequality and injustice.
Terrorists are born out of fanatism – be it religious or political – and fanatism is born out of poverty and ignorance. The Nazis were born out of Germany’s severe recession in the 1920s, and the national sentiment of injustice that resulted from Germany’s defeat in World War I. The Talibans were born out of Afghanistan’s complete destruction in the war against USSR. And Osama Bin Laden only exists because people who have nothing to lose support his cause.