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Do All Problems Have Solutions?

A formidable problem: A military with an arsenal of 10,000 nuclear weapons and a budget of $300 billion can’t prevent an airliner from becoming a bomb—what’s next? Despite current efforts, American society remains exquisitely vulnerable. Determined—albeit suicidal—individuals can threaten and kill ordinary citizens and possibly high officials. Nevertheless, Americans remain strong in the faith that all problems have solutions. They may be wrong. Consider the options:

1. The Bush administration will not commit political suicide by failing to respond, even if such an option lessened hostilities. The good Christian leaders who mourned at the National Cathedral rejected Christ’s option: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you.” (A beatitude omitted in the Cardinal’s homiletics.)
2. Perhaps a response is justified: quiescence might embolden adversaries. And yet, under the pretext of “ridding the world of evil,” the United States will likely commit yet another act of state terrorism by killing thousands of noncombatants in pursuit of political objectives (recall Vietnam, Libya, Panama, and Iraq). Why the blindness toward state terrorism; what’s the proper reckoning? Nation-states have killed a million noncombatants for every one killed by a terrorist. Another round of legitimized state terrorism might temporarily quell illicit terrorism. Unfortunately, it also promises to inflame hostility, thereby siring a new generation of terrorists.
3. It is tempting to recommend dramatic changes in U.S. Middle Eastern policy along with diplomacy. Unfortunately, this is not about to happen, and—even if it did—the fanatical rage of bin Laden and his followers seems intractable. Even under the best of circumstances, hostility toward America will only melt at a glacial pace. In short, it’s too late.
4. Better intelligence and intelligence gathering in high places might help, as would heightened security. But all-American optimism should be tempered by a sense of the tragic. Consider Kafka’s lament: “There is infinite hope, but not for us.”

Ron Hirschbein, Department of Philosophy