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Imminent Self Destruction?
An eye for an eye leads where?
By TC Turner
Tuesday, September 11th, 2001-A hijacked airline plane was crashed into the
World Trade Center. Soon afterwards, another plane of innocent people met
the same fate. Yet again, only hours later, a third hijacked plane struck
the pentagon in Washington, D.C. as a fourth plane crashed in Western
Pennsylvania.
The immediate response from politicians and pundits nationwide was to
proclaim the horrendous events declarations of war. Newt Gingrich, on CNN
cried for blood, reminding the American public of Pearl Harbor and where
that attack led us. President Bush, responding to the atrocities, defended
our collective values, saying "Freedom itself was attacked this morning and
I assure you freedom will be defended." he further assserted that "the
United States will hunt down and pursue those responsible for these
cpowardly acts." The question we must now ask ourselves is what happens when
those responsible are found? Will they be executed or brought to trial? More
importamntly, what are the consequences of how we deal with the captured
terrorists? I mantain that the manner in which we treat the terrrists will
seriously affect our potential to win this struggle.
In the day s after the terrorist strikes, Congress unified behind the
president, passing 40 billion dollars worth of aid "to fund rescue,
security, and law enforcement efforts." Most interestingly, Congress has
extended the powers of President Bush, enabling him to "use all necessary
and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he
determines planned, authorized, committed , or aided the terrorist attacks
that occurred on September 11th, 2001..." With such extensive powers
President Bush could send ground troops into Afghanistan with the order to
seek and destroy all involved, even nominally, in the attacks. It is my
contention that such an act will lead to revenge murder, taking an eye for
an eye. Bush has stated his intent to wage war on those who perpetrated the
acts, but also on those who harbored, trained, and assisted those
responsible. This statement is reminiscent of Keyser Soze, the main
character from the movie The Usual Suspects. In response to the murder of
his wife in front of his family, Soze killed his children and then
systematically murdered everyone involved in the incident. He slaughtered
those who pulled the trigger, their families and even their friends. He
burnt their homes and their offices. By doing so, Soze obliterated the
principle he so admired in himself. He felt himself a man of great will, but
this will power became an act of monstrosity, perverting the virtue and
negating its authenticity. He defeated himself through revenge, taking an
eye for an eye.
the United States is in a similar quandary. On the one hand we have the
almost irrepressible desire for revenge at all costs, and on the other is
temperance, struggling desperately to maintain control. If Bush exercises
his newly authorized powers by sending in the military to assassinate those
responsible, then he will defeat the ideological principles he is trying to
defend. Our way of life involves inalienable rights guaranteed to all men by
the Constitution. Among these rights is the guarantee of a trial by jury if
indicted for crimes, and the supposition of innocence until proven guilty
within our legal system. The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human
Rights also mirrors these sentiments, maintaining "all are equal before the
law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the
law." I maintain that we as a nation must extend these rights to the guilty
terrorists, because to refuse them would be to cut the roots from our
ideological tree. By refusing these rights we make them alienable, and allow
for circumstances to arise where our inalienable rights are not protected.
Furthermore, If Bush has the military assassinate the terrorists then he
will have effectively proven the case of the terrorists. They have acted in
accordance to objective values they hold, values they believe to be THE
truth. By dying they prove the objective worth of their values, relative to
themselves. Now, if the United States abandons her cultural values, those
inalienable rights, then we will have folded our cards at this philosophical
poker game. To maintain the authoritative right in this situation, we must
stick to our principles. If we abandon them, we prove the superiority of the
terrorist's beliefs.
In order to prevent the undercutting of our ideological base, President
Bush must allow the machinations of justice to take over. Our military or
special forces must attempt to apprehend those responsible, and if possible,
bring them before a world tribunal. If, after the trial our Constitution
offers every man, they are found guilty then they may be punished. Only
through justice can our collective sorrow be healed and only through justice
can we uphold the values that have been endangered. If uproot our values,
then we will essentially be fighting for nothing, fighting only for revenge.
We will have become monstrous, a sad image of perverted virtues. As seen in
the Middle East and Ireland, revenge conflicts are not resolved, they only
escalate. To quote Richard Nixon: "Those who hate you do not win, unless you
hate them." We must put aside the murderous hatred of revenge and allow the
principles of justice to reinforce our cultural values. Only through this
shall we find salvation from the horrors of Tuesday September 11, 2001.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter T. Chattaway" <petert at interchange_ubc.ca>
Cc: "Over the Rhine listserv" <over-the-rhine at actwin_com>
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2001 3:29 PM
Subject: Re: Miami Herald
> If I may plagiarize something I posted to another list ...
>
> - - -
>
> > Leonard Pitts Jr. (Miami Herald)
> > Published Wednesday, September 12, 2001
>
> Yeah, this column's been showing up all over the place.
>
> > Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.
>
> This is the part that disturbs me. Any reprisals are likely to steel the
> other guy's resolve too, so unless we do them wisely and carefully, I'm
> worried that our response(s) to this could make things worse.
>
> > When roused, we are righteous in our outrage, terrible in our force.
>
> Why am I reminded of the scene from _Collateral Damage_ where Arnold says,
> referring to the terrorist who killed his wife and child, "I'm not like
> him," and the terrorist's wife/girlfriend replies, "No, not yet"?
>
> - - -
>
> --- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- peter at chattaway_com ---
> "I detected one misprint, but to torture you I will not tell you where."
> Winston Churchill to T.E. Lawrence, re Seven Pillars of Wisdom
>
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