Attacking Afghanistan is not a way to end terrorism
Michael Frazer GS's sneering ad hominem attacks against peace activists ("All We Are Saying is Give War a Chance") is uninformed and cavalierly dismisses the real issues facing people of conscience. Those who wish for a just response to the tragedy of Sept. 11 cannot accept war as an answer.
First, there is already underway a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. After two decades of civil war and several drought-ridden years without harvest, Afghanistan is one of the world's poorest nations. The threat of bombing has sent thousands of refugees fleeing their homes for inhospitable countryside without prospects for food or shelter. Sealed borders now separate humanitarian aid organizations from 5.5 million Afghanis estimated by the United Nations to be dependent on food aid this winter. Of course, as this crisis escalates into catastrophe, it will fall particularly hard on women and children, not on terrorist cells.
Under these circumstances, the large-scale military action being pursued by many in our government will cause civilian deaths on par with those caused by the terrorists. We must not view the tragic loss of life on Sept. 11 as a demand for yet more lives, this time of innocent Afghanis. This view is not a "treasonous level of disloyalty" but a direct expression of an American ideal of human equality.
Second, retaliatory carnage caused by U.S. military attacks will not prevent terrorism conducted by networks as diffuse as the poverty and systemic injustice on which they rely. A military strike by the world's most powerful nation against one of the poorest will certainly exacerbate hatred and likely bring about the perverse result of increased terrorism against the United States.
Finally, the acts of racist bigotry and violence occurring throughout the country during the past weeks cannot be seen as independent of the prevailing attitude of revenge and calls to "Give war a chance."
Violence is not a solution; it is an assurance of further violence, the target of which is beyond our control. Curtis A. Deutsch GS Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
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