Saturday, December 20, 2003
Chatter in the System
There are two ways to take the possibility of terrorist attacks over Christmas. And most of us, I think, will take a little bit of both. First, don't worry. What can you do? Behave normally and don't change your plans, but prepare to die? If you live along the San Andreas Fault or in Tornado Alley, you know the drill already. And to a certain extent, terrorist attacks are like tornadoes or earthquakes--they come with little or no warning, and if your number is up, it's up. The second way, of course, is to worry--and not necessarily about whether the van that just pulled up next to you in the mall parking lot is carrying a fertilizer bomb.
The Bush Administration has taken many drastic steps in hopes of warding off terror attacks. We have no idea, of course, how many have been averted in all, thanks to everything from taking out the Taliban to checking Grandma for plastique at the airport. But perfect security is impossible. And so, one day, inevitably, there's going to be another terror attack. And whether it's another September 11, a dirty bomb or suitcase nuke in a major city, an anthrax or smallpox plague, or something less spectacular--like a van full of fertilizer blowing up a mall full of shoppers--our government will clamp down some more in hopes of reaching that state of perfect security. General Tommy Franks thinks another major attack will mean the end of the Constitution amidst public clamor for military rule. At the very least, it will mean a sequel to the Patriot Act. And we'll live under those conditions for a few years, until the next attack comes. And then we'll clamp down again.
This is one way a totalitarian state can be born. And it's why I fear our own government far more than I fear Osama bin Laden or any shadowy terrorist who wishes us ill. The damage we have done, can do--and will do--to ourselves is great. If Bush's foolishly simplistic explanation for terrorism, "They hate us because they hate freedom," really is true, then by doing what we have done, can do, and will do to our concept of freedom, we let the terrorists win.
I am not suggesting we do nothing. I am suggesting that we accept that perfect security is impossible, and not take actions that produce unintended consequences we don't want in a fruitless attempt to make our security perfect. I am suggesting that we understand that action against terrorism is most effective at the lowest level--that local law enforcement and first responders, badly underfunded by the Bush Administration, are going to be able to stop certain attacks and bear the brunt of those that succeed (just as they did on September 11) and if we intend to keep people alive, we need to make sure they have the resources to do it.
And, most difficult of all, I am suggesting that we need to address the root causes of terrorism--stop thinking of it as an irrational pathology and start thinking of it as a response to real-world conditions that can be changed. To fight a war against terrorism is as ridiculous as fighting a war against blitzkrieg or a war against infantry--like blitzkrieg and the use of infantry, terrorism is a tactic in the service of certain ends, and until we recognize that, we'll go in circles forever, endlessly treating the symptoms and not the disease, and never get safer.
There are two ways to take the possibility of terrorist attacks over Christmas. And most of us, I think, will take a little bit of both. First, don't worry. What can you do? Behave normally and don't change your plans, but prepare to die? If you live along the San Andreas Fault or in Tornado Alley, you know the drill already. And to a certain extent, terrorist attacks are like tornadoes or earthquakes--they come with little or no warning, and if your number is up, it's up. The second way, of course, is to worry--and not necessarily about whether the van that just pulled up next to you in the mall parking lot is carrying a fertilizer bomb.
The Bush Administration has taken many drastic steps in hopes of warding off terror attacks. We have no idea, of course, how many have been averted in all, thanks to everything from taking out the Taliban to checking Grandma for plastique at the airport. But perfect security is impossible. And so, one day, inevitably, there's going to be another terror attack. And whether it's another September 11, a dirty bomb or suitcase nuke in a major city, an anthrax or smallpox plague, or something less spectacular--like a van full of fertilizer blowing up a mall full of shoppers--our government will clamp down some more in hopes of reaching that state of perfect security. General Tommy Franks thinks another major attack will mean the end of the Constitution amidst public clamor for military rule. At the very least, it will mean a sequel to the Patriot Act. And we'll live under those conditions for a few years, until the next attack comes. And then we'll clamp down again.
This is one way a totalitarian state can be born. And it's why I fear our own government far more than I fear Osama bin Laden or any shadowy terrorist who wishes us ill. The damage we have done, can do--and will do--to ourselves is great. If Bush's foolishly simplistic explanation for terrorism, "They hate us because they hate freedom," really is true, then by doing what we have done, can do, and will do to our concept of freedom, we let the terrorists win.
I am not suggesting we do nothing. I am suggesting that we accept that perfect security is impossible, and not take actions that produce unintended consequences we don't want in a fruitless attempt to make our security perfect. I am suggesting that we understand that action against terrorism is most effective at the lowest level--that local law enforcement and first responders, badly underfunded by the Bush Administration, are going to be able to stop certain attacks and bear the brunt of those that succeed (just as they did on September 11) and if we intend to keep people alive, we need to make sure they have the resources to do it.
And, most difficult of all, I am suggesting that we need to address the root causes of terrorism--stop thinking of it as an irrational pathology and start thinking of it as a response to real-world conditions that can be changed. To fight a war against terrorism is as ridiculous as fighting a war against blitzkrieg or a war against infantry--like blitzkrieg and the use of infantry, terrorism is a tactic in the service of certain ends, and until we recognize that, we'll go in circles forever, endlessly treating the symptoms and not the disease, and never get safer.
