| ARMS TRADE RESOURCE CENTER
RECENT NEWS COVERAGE: September 18, 2001 911 COMMENTARY The attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center have generated urgent demands for the Bush administration to retaliate against the perpetrators and take measures to prevent future acts of violence against U.S. citizens. These are worthy goals given the terrible human toll of these terrorist acts. But as we enter the “new world” that is emerging in the wake of the events of September 11th, we have a responsibility as citizens of a democracy to ensure that in its rush to fight terrorism, our government does not revert to failed policies of the past. Many of the responses that have been discussed – from bombing Afghanistan, to lifting the ban on assassinations by the CIA, to arming anti-government rebels in an effort to pressure regimes that are harboring terrorists – are likely to be either irrelevant to the issue of curbing terrorism, or to actually make matters worse. Let’s not forget that it was not that long ago that Osama Bin Laden was one of Ronald Reagan’s cherished Afghan “freedom fighters,” working hand-in-hand with the CIA in the effort to eject Soviet troops from Afghanistan. The founding members of Bin Laden’s network were recruited from the midst of the Afghan resistance, which the United States supported to the tune of $2 to $3 billion in arms, training, and infrastructure in the 1980s. The United States’ role in building up Bin Laden is just one example of the kind of unintended consequences that can flow from a narrowly focused, overly militarized approach to achieving key foreign policy objectives. Before we rush off to war, there should be a thorough public debate about the most effective methods of combating terrorism without killing innocent civilians abroad or undermining fundamental democratic freedoms at home. If this is truly a “long-term effort,” as the president has suggested, it should encompass economic, diplomatic, and domestic security components, not just military action. Reducing global stockpiles of nuclear weapons and working vigorously to promote negotiated solutions to key regional conflicts such as those between Israel and the Palestinians and India and Pakistan (over Kashmir) will do more in the long run to reduce the dangers of terrorism than meeting terrorist violence with “disproportionate” counter-violence, as the President has suggested.
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