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Terror Does Not Occur in a Political Vacuum

As the grieving over this horrible tragedy continues, it is probably impossible to get past the immediate question of who is responsible. Yet, if we are interested in diminishing the prospect of terrorism everywhere at some point, we will have to address the question of “Why?”

For me, the starting point is the realization that any terror attack does not occur in a political vacuum. As hard as it is for citizens of this country who are socialized to assume that American power is always used benevolently and for only righteous reasons, there are questions and connections that require our attention. At the top of the list of questions are the following:

• Does the attack have any relation to the 10 years of economic sanctions on the civilian population of Iraq that have left more than 1 million Iraqi children dead?
• Is there any connection to the deliberate targeting of Serb civilians by the U.S.-led NATO bombing in Serbia-Kosovo two years ago?
• Were the attacks in retaliation to the contradictory American policy of supporting the terrorism of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein during the 1980s, when it served our self-interest, only to denigrate the very same people and instruments when it doesn’t serve our interests?
• Is U.S. support for Israel in any way connected to the continuous recruitment of suicidal Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank and Gaza?\
• Finally, are there people with resources, commitment, and training in the New World Order who see as false the high moral standing we assume for ourselves and our country on the terrorism issue and conclude, “What is good for the goose is good for the gander”?

People who ask these questions will reach different conclusions, as they should, in a pluralistic and intellectual climate. But asking these questions is a necessary and important step that most of us have not been willing or encouraged to take. In that way, our national leadership of the past two decades has failed us.

In the end, the worst thing we can do in our search for compassion for America’s victims is to lash out in revenge against civilians of other lands. The best thing is to realize that all victims of terrorism deserve our compassion and our commitment to stop the violence regardless of its source.}

Beau Grosscup, Department of Political Science, and author of The Newest Explosions of Terrorism: Latest Sites of Terrorism in the 1990s and Beyond