|
The danger of negotiation
Terrorists cannot be talked out of attacking us
by Nickole Caspersen | September 19, 2006
On the fifth anniversary of the last successful terrorist
attack on this country, ABC aired a movie, The Path to 9/11, which showed the
events leading up to 9/11, starting with the World Trade Center bombing in
1993. The movie, which was shown in two parts, the first on Monday night with
the conclusion on Tuesday night, was disturbing to watch. First and most
obviously, it was disturbing because it painted a very clear picture of
everything that could have been done to prevent the attacks and save nearly
3,000 lives. Second, it provided a window to the mindset of those who wish to
kill us.
There were two scenes in particular that caught my
attention: a shot of then-president Clinton being lynched and burned in effigy
and another of terrorists repeatedly shooting a projected image of Clinton in
the face. Now, I am no fan of former President Clinton or the actions of his
administration while in office, but watching his simulated death was upsetting.
Those scenes showed the barbarity of our enemy, something too many are content
to ignore.
In America if we don’t like the way things are being run,
there are courses of action for us to take: We can oust a bunch of senators in
the next election. We can debate and discuss the issues in an effort to get
others to see them our way. We can send money to lobbyist groups who support
our views. In the global arena if countries have policies we don’t like, we can
do things like suspend trade with them. If in the terrible event we are forced
into war, our targets are military, not civilian, targets. My point is there
are civilized ways to bring about change, and we utilize them.
Right now there seems to be restlessness among Americans
regarding the War on Terror, particularly the Iraq front. The media buzz line
is diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy; things aren’t going as well as we’d hoped,
so it’s time to negotiate. It sounds nice, and it sounds warm and fuzzy, but it
is dangerous.
People who keep calling for negotiation seem to believe
that the terrorists follow the same civilized rules we do, but they don’t.
Their methods of bringing about change are death and destruction. They fly
planes into buildings, kidnap and behead reporters, use the children they
haven’t strapped bombs to as human shields. If given the chance, they would
lynch and burn the president. They do the most sensational things they can
think of to instill as much fear as possible. That is why they are called
terrorists.
Watching the news every night we are given the impression
if we just use more diplomacy, we will be safer. If we reach out and appease
our enemy, they will see we are being nice to them, and they won’t want to kill
us anymore. It is not true. If we negotiate with the terrorists and then
blindly trust them to leave us alone because we are leaving them alone, we will
be retreading the path to 9/11.
This article first appeared in the September 19 issue of
the Voyageur Press.
|
