Free Terrorism Essays: America Driven by Hatred? :: September 11 Terrorism Essays

America: Driven by Hatred? America stands on the brink of a war that we won't win. We are in a position to decide exactly how many lives we'd like to expend in order to capture some phantom and subject him to our justice system for crimes against humanity. Unlike Vietnam, this is not a war where we can't see our enemy. Instead, this is war where we can't find our enemy. Osama bin Laden is our enemy and we must eradicate him, along with his al Qaeda. In order to do so, however, we must find him. This task will be extremely arduous, regardless of the number of people we commit to its completion. We will never know if we have eliminated all of the terrorist cells that existed under bin Laden, much less those cells that exist in the rest of the Arabic world. Perhaps, even more importantly, if we do capture bin Laden, our justice system will face an incredible test. Will we be able to overcome our ingrained hatred of the man behind the death of so many people and give him a fair trial in our democratic tra dition? We will never be able to defeat terrorism. We will never defeat people who wage war against us in God's name. Any action based in hatred, and more deeply, based in fear, cannot be overcome by violence. We can't beat suicide bombs with cruise missiles. As the shura, a group of 1,000 village clerics and mullahs who advise the Taliban, warned, "If infidels attack the soil of a Muslim country, jihad becomes in order for the Muslims of that country" (Afghan News Network, September 22nd). Afghanistan is a country inhospitable to troops, even without the assurance of jihad. We must ask ourselves, as Americans, if we could survive a defeat like the Soviets suffered in the 1980's. We may have to flex our muscles to the world in order to reaffirm our status as a nation of peace and justice. We may have to kill to save lives. How do these paradoxes ring true to the American ideals that arouse such resentment in the hearts of Arabs? A military victory may not be a moral victory. A military victory may not even mark the end of the war on terrorism. The death or imprisonment of one figurehead may just serve to galvanize an entire race of people.