To my dear email friend Carole, and all of you---
No one I have heard has EVER suggested that the terrorists who
carried out these horrible acts should NOT be found and punished, nor
would I say that---the problem I and others see it is that in the
rush of fear and rage it is too easy to forget how complicated the
matter of whom -and-how to punish has become.
Our government has told us that this is not a matter of a few cruise
missiles. They estimate dozens of terrorist "networks" scattered
around the world---and we know from the defeat of Russia there that
Afghanistan is not an easy place to conquer militarily, even with
ground troops. Terrorist cells don't have infrastructure that can be
targeted, and so it seems the the targets of our retaliation will be
"countries who support them"--and I understand that to involve the
targeting of civilians as innocent as were the victims here. Many
sources have also warned us against lashing out at anyone who seems
to be "Arabic" as happened to Americans of German ancestry in WW1
and of Japanese ancestry in WW2.
Beyond that, I believe we will never solve the problem of terrorists
and hatred against our beloved America until we find ways to address
the hopelessness and frustration of people in countries where Islamic
Fundamentalism (very different from Islam as a whole) has taken root.
These roots are historic and economic as well as religious--in fact
religious Fundamentalists have taken advantage of the hopeless
desperation of the people to come to power, offering a way to assert
themselves and gain some control of their lives. In other words,
there are many reasons why America, seen from their perspective as a
rich, powerful and exploitative "colonial" power, has been targeted.
Other Western countries have struggled with terrorism for
years--Spain against the Basque separatists, England against the
militants in No. Ireland. They can assure us that while there are no
easy answers, something short of all out war can be done. Should
England have bombed Belfast when IRA bombs blew up in London? Of
course not-- but before we can deal with the poisonous roots of
this attack we must identify the culprits and bring to justice the
ones who are not already dead.
I don't believe that bombing the Afghans into the stone age or
sacrificing the lives of more Americans in a ground war are the
answers--the hate only grows and the circle only comes around again
in time.
( You asked who I am ? A 79 year old Quaker, who is now seeing the
5th war of her lifetime, had a husband who served more than 4 years
as a conscientious objector to WW2 in the government's program of
"work of national importance under civilian direction" (receiving
$10. a month as pay) and 2 brothers -in -law in the Air Force and
Army Engineers , who respected Peter's position though they did not
share it.--- and who prays that we escape the emotional trap of
indiscriminate vengeance and try to understand WHY these terrible
things happen, so we can act to remove the causes, for the sake of
our children and their children.. )
--
Camilla Flintermann, former CG for Peter 83/70/55
Oxford, Ohio
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on the web at http://www.geocities.com/camillahf/index.html
"Ask me about the CARE list for Caregivers of Parkinsonians ! "
And visit the CARE webring at http://www.pdcaregiver.org
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