So what is this war about? Not about occupation, nor about national boundaries. Not even about political affinity, since the Russians are on our side. Not about religious belief, as the moderate Moslem republics are also on our side. It's not about freedom and our American values, as GWB proclaimed, since the coalition includes members who are opposed to our views on these things.
So, what kind of war do we have? We have exactly the kind of war that these Moslem extremists claim -- a holy war, but not holy in the sense of mainline religions. It is a holy war in the sense that human nature struggles between the noble and the profane, between the common good and individual selfishness. A war between those who accept the responsibility of individual freedom and those who rely on cultural dogma. Is it any wonder that these terrorists come from the most economically downtrodden regions of the world, and in the case of Bin Laden, have forsaken the pleasures and conveniences of modern life for the equivalent of neanderthal existence in a cave? Or that they suppress the most basic of human rights and desires?
Terrorists want to accomplish one thing and one thing only -- the total reduction of modern technological civilization, through fear and intimidation, to a basal existence which is ruled by primal instincts.
Our response must be unequivocal and direct. Since they are attacking the most advanced display of our civilization, the WTC, we must respond with the most powerful weapons that our civilization can muster. Where they succeeded in turning our own technology against us, we must turn our technology against them. And where they are not yet successful in using our technology, we must use it while we still can. Whether through the international electronic banking system, through penetration by special forces, or through the use of selective chemical, biological, or nuclear attack, we must ensure that, for the next few centuries, the power of modern civilization is established, a power that no rag-tag group of discontents can contest. |
