Issue #1
September 2001
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The War Metaphor
September,2001
With the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we are embarking on a doubly dangerous period. It is doubly dangerous because not only do we face danger from terrorist activities, but also a domestic danger that our zeal to protect ourselves from faceless antagonists will end up in a severe curtailment of our civil rights and liberties, and a transfer of enormous amounts of power from our legislative and judicial branches to the executive branch.
The war metaphor has been seized upon by all segments of our polity, from the Daily News and Post in New York, to moderate and liberal clergymen and politicians across the country. Even a pacifist and liberal minister like Forrest Church (son of the late Idaho Sen. Frank Church), senior minister of New York's All Souls Unitarian-Universalist Church, referred to September 11th's tragedy as "the beginning of World War III." We must pursue the sources of terrorism vigorously, and eradicate threats to our safety, but we are NOT at war.
In a prime bit of demagoguery, Newt Gingrich called upon Congress, during a TV interview, to issue a declaration of war. When asked by the interviewer, "Declare war against whom?", Gingrich replied that it didn't matter - the important thing was to place the country on a war footing, with all that that implies for Presidential "freedom of action".
War is declared against governments, not groups of thugs and fanatics. When we resort to a war metaphor in aid of a virtuous cause, we end up trampling on the liberties of our own people. The War on Drugs is a case in point. If it should be proven (beyond a shadow of a doubt is not necessary - a preponderance of the evidence will do) that a foreign country is responsible for directly launching the terrorist attacks, or financed them, or harbored the terrorists with knowledge of their plans, or are currently providing them with a safe haven, then a declaration of war by Congress against those states may indeed be an appropriate action. Lacking such a determination, and lacking a specific adversary state or states, the war metaphor should be abandoned in favor of an international and national criminal justice effort.
What resources do we need to bring these killers to justice? We need good police work, by local state and federal bureaus. We need complete cooperation from foreign police agencies, including those in the middle east that have been stonewalling us on earlier terrorist attacks. We need cooperation from all nations and international financial organizations to lock up and make unavailable the funds necessary for the terrorists to continue their operations, and we need to take appropriate action against those permitting funds to reach terrorist organizations. We need to destroy terrorist bases and capture the leaders. This may require military action. What we don't need are more stringent domestic laws or executive orders that make a mockery of the Bill of Rights, and an unleashing of police agencies to stop, detain, search, wiretap or otherwise interfere with citizens in the absence of probable cause.
The Roman Empire was born with all parties claiming that their actions were in defense of the Roman Republic. Let's not emulate that hypocracy.
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