"I have wasted Time, and now doth
Time waste me"
- Richard II

                                                    
                                        
2003-03-10- 2:05 a.m.

Just One Political Song...

                                            To my mind, some of the most significant questions facing the United States, the United Nations, and the other major powers of the world, are what justifications or provocations we feel are legitimate enough to require the waging of war, what our goals and intentions should be once we decide to go to war, and even what war between nations truly means in this millennium.  It seems that in this era of a single superpower and growing modern morality, the notion of "total war" between not only the armies of nations but also their entire citizenries is over.  Events such as the deliberate and indiscriminate firebombing of Dresden by the Allies during the Second World War, where 110,000 Germans died, are unlikely to be repeated, at least by the major military powers of the world.  Since the end of Cold War, the armed force of the United States and its allies has been used essentially for either peace-keeping or what I can best describe as large-scale police actions, with specific and narrow goals such as the liberation of Kuwait, the capture of Mohammed Aidid, or the removal from power of the Taliban.  This is a significant departure from the meaning of war in human history.
Today, we as citizens of the United States and the world community are dealing with the grave and thorny issues of combating worldwide terrorism and simultaneously confronting the issues of aggressive dictatorships in Iraq and North Korea, both of which have been and may still be pursuing the development of weapons of mass destruction.  In the war against terrorism, we have already made the decision to use military force, but we have yet to decide what exactly we mean by that, or whom exactly we are fighting against, beyond Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda terror organization.  Beyond Al-Qaeda, we have shown little ability to reach any sort of conclusion or consensus about what organizations are terrorists, and even more disturbingly, any sort of notion about what the root causes of terrorism are, and any plan to address these causes to stop terrorism before it happens.  And for the few who we can acknowledge as terrorists, we have yet to come up with any consistent policy or idea of what to do with them: some we attack in the field, others we capture and interrogate while we quibble over whether they are to be considered prisoners of war, illegal combatants, or simple criminals.  Without consistent and determined strategies of how we intend to wage this war, and a clearly defined goal of what in fact our objectives are, there is little chance that we will win the war against terrorism.  
Right now, our war on terror is entirely reactionary.  After the devastating attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States has forced Al-Qaeda out of its stronghold in Afghanistan, captured or killed many of its members, gathered some degree of intelligence about its operations, seized some of its funds, and made halting steps towards improving security domestically.  But Al-Qaeda has found refuge in other nations, they still seem to have many members, who still manage to evade apprehension or attack, are still able to raise funds from sympathizers and to make large sums of money through the drug trade.  And most importantly, they retain the initiative.  It is entirely possible that the actions of the United States and its allies have stopped many planned attacks, both specific attempts of which the public has remained unaware for security reasons and by crippling the organization itself and forcing it into flight.  But the bombing in Bali is evidence that Al-Qaeda still has the means to carry out attacks throughout the world.  One thing that has been largely overlooked about the attacks of September 11 is that in addition to the massive toll in human lives, the consequences to the American and world economy have been devastating.  
Coupled with the dot-com bust and numerous instances of corporate malfeasance, the financial markets and corporations of the United States and the world have been crippled by the impact of the devastation of September 11th.  United Airlines has gone bankrupt; hundreds of thousands of workers of the other airlines have lost their jobs, while costs for airlines rise to cope with the threat of terrorism and fewer and fewer people choose to travel by plane out of fear.  Insurance premiums meanwhile rise, cutting even further into corporate profits.  The stock markets have lost millions upon millions in value since the attacks, impacting nearly every American, whether it is by the sudden emptiness of most pension funds or the loss of a parent’s college savings.  Meanwhile, the impact of the sagging economy creates huge budget shortfalls in nearly every American state, resulting in both drastic cutbacks and increased taxes, which nearly every taxpayer can ill afford.  Here in New York City, for example, we have already seen massive cutbacks in every public service, including such essential services such as the NYPD and the FDNY, while at the same time experiencing a massive increase in property taxes, and we are now facing a 33% hike in subway and bus fares.  The results of these desperate measures to balance state budgets, which unlike the Federal Government cannot operate with deficits, is coupled with over one million jobs lost nationwide and fears by many others that their jobs will be next, which results in huge decreases in consumer spending.  The impact of this is not only seen in the bankruptcy of K-Mart (costing several thousand more Americans their jobs) and other major corporations, but the devastation of small businesses that lack the resources to endure long periods of unprofitability.  In my neighborhood of the Upper East Side alone, I can count over thirty restaurants, bodegas, boutiques and stores that have gone out of business since September 11th.  And I would venture that the Upper East Side is one of the most affluent locales in the nation.
I don’t mean to suggest that terrorism is the primary cause of the current economic woes of New York City or the United States.  But the damage to the economy from the terror attacks of September 11 numbers in the billions of dollars, a drain that the sagging American economy can only bear with great difficulty.  The costs of waging the war on terror are similarly debilitating, numbering in the billions of our tax dollars.  You know those spectacular laser-guided precision bombs that we dropped all over Afghanistan?  Every single one of those bombs costs the American taxpayers over one million dollars.  Even if you believe that those expenditures were not entirely necessary, the need for increased manpower and overtime at the FBI, CIA, and NSA has cost tens of millions; the cost of the creation and organization of the new Department of Homeland Security will almost certainly be in the billion dollar range.  These costs, along with decreased tax revenues, leave the Federal Government ill-equipped to offer much-needed aid to the states, and promise the return of large deficits and no money for other badly-needed uses, such as the bailout of Social Security, much less increased foreign aid to impoverished nations that are the breeding grounds for many of the terrorists that we are trying to fight.  And I haven’t even gotten to the really bad news yet.
Because the truth is that another major terror attack on the United States that disrupts the economy could sink it.  The point of boring you all to tears with all of this economic information is to explain that we are already at the point where we cannot afford to provide ourselves with even the most essential of services.  As jobs are lost and costs increase, tax revenues fall, resulting in tax increases and service cuts, resulting in reduced consumer spending which leaves us with even more jobs being lost.  And this process can simply cycle on and on until our nation’s economy collapses under its own weight.  How would we as a nation find the means to cope with the massive losses that another attack on downtown Manhattan again forcing the closure of the financial markets would incur?  Where would we find the resources to endure the costs of another total cessation of air travel?  And worst of all possibilities, what would happen if a biological attack on any major city forced millions of people to simply not go to work?  What will we do if we are forced to confront an attack so devastating that whole sections of our nation must shut down?  Our way of life is not guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; we are only able to exercise our freedoms and rights because we have the means to.  Remove those means, and the Bill of Rights will have no more value than the paper it is printed on.  Our status as the world’s sole superpower does not render us invulnerable.  Rome was once the sole superpower in the world, a republic not unlike ours, and like us, the foremost economic, technological and cultural center in the world.  In case you have forgotten, Rome fell.
This is why the war on terror is so important, and why our development of a national strategy in order to win this war is essential.  It is a virtual certainty that right now, Al-Qaeda is much closer to finding a way of attacking us successfully in this manner than we are to eliminating Al-Qaeda.  And even if we were to somehow completely stamp out Al-Qaeda tomorrow, it would be only a brief respite, because like the Hydra, two similarly intentioned and able terrorist groups would take its place.  The simple capture or elimination of Al-Qaeda just won’t do, not as long as we don’t find a way to change the life path of the next generation of terrorists before that is what they become.  We need to not just slow down but prevent terrorist groups from obtaining millions of dollars in funding.  We need to not hinder but render impossible the acquisition of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons by such terrorists.  We must, as a nation and as a civilization, determine what victory means in this struggle.  We have no hope of homeland security otherwise, because as long as there are terrorists with the intent and the means to attack us, they will always find a way to do so.  And this is an absolute: if we do not figure out what outcome we desire in this conflict, how we must change and how we must change the world, and how we hope to achieve this victory, we will not achieve it.  Refusing to confront the issue of how to stop terrorism itself is the one sure guarantee that the terrorists will win.


                                            

                                                

                                            
                                        
                                            
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Doesn't Take Much and That's Messed Up - 2004-03-15
 Like Water Under Bridges - 2003-09-08
 Jesus On The Dashboard - 2003-08-13
 An Administrative Announcement - 2003-08-11
 Don't Worry, It's Coming - 2003-08-02
 

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