TAKE CARE, AMERICA

Yes, America, we are all in this together. The destruction of the World Trade Center was not just an attack on the United States, it was an attack on civilization. We have seen the tears and the emotion on the streets of New York and in the halls of Washington, from schoolkids, from ordinary Americans, from the president. And we have suffered with you.... in France, in Britain, in Germany, Belgium, all over Europe, and indeed far further away. We have seen the Pope, Queen Elizabeth of England, Romano Proddi, Jacques Chirac and other heads of state, their heads bowed in somber reflection, mourning those who have died.
    And yes, we have also seen Muslim leaders from many countries - from Jordan and Egypt, from France and Palestine, from Germany and Pakistan, expressing their horror at the events that have taken place.
    We have heard so many words of love and sorrow, even words of great hope. Yet we have also heard much talk of revenge, of retaliation; we have heard loud and popular calls for knee-jerk reactions, to strike back with force at the terrorists and those who harbor them.
    But take care, America.

    Three days have passed since the frightful events of 11th September, and you have not yet retaliated; for the moment you are benefiting from a deep groundswell of sympathy worldwide. Perhaps, at this moment in time, you benefit from a higher degree of sympathy and goodwill around the world, than you have done for very many years. Don't blow it.
    The deaths of innocent civilians are a tragedy wherever they occur: we mourn the loss of those who died in the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, and in the planes that were used to destroy them; but - apart from the fact that we have seen these particular horrors over and over again on television - there is no real reason why we should mourn them any more than the deaths of the young Israelis who died when a terrorist exploded a bomb in a crowded pizzeria, or the those of the innocent men, women and children who have died in attacks on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, or in southern Lebanon, or in Baghdad.
    So please, America. You have been wounded, we have all been wounded; but don't give us many more innocent deaths to mourn - in Afghanistan, in the Sudan or anywhere else. The consequences could be unimaginable.

    Ousama Bin Laden is perhaps guilty of crimes against humanity; he is certainly guilty of encouraging them. He should be brought to justice.
    But take care, America. "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" may satisfy some people's thirst for revenge, but it will not necessarily solve our current crisis. Your reaction must be one that will make things better, not make them worse. Don't do anything that will backfire on you, on us all.
    Bin Laden has been training people to fight with arms and bombs; but the most dangerous of our enemies are those who are fighting us - the western world - with subversion and with ideas. Don't drive even more people into their arms.

    Strategy experts say that we are now in a state of "asymmetric warfare", a struggle in which opposing sides use totally different arms and different methods. These are wars that cannot be won by conventional means - only perhaps by defeating the enemy at his own game.
    Bin Laden wants a holy war between Islam and the west. Yet however loud the calls from some sectors of American society may be, don't give Bin Laden what he wants, because that would be a war that cannot be won by either side.
    Don't kill thousands, nor even hundreds, of innocent people, in an attempt to capture one Bin Laden. Rambo tactics and more innocent deaths will do nothing to bring back those who died on September 11th - but they could cause a new wave of anti-American sentiment through much of the Islamic world. And that could inspire a new generation of kamikaze fanatics, who could do far worse than just destroy a few prestigious buildings and the people within them.

    This "war", if that is what it is, can only be won in one way, and that is by changing the way in which many people - perhaps even most people - in the Islamic world view the United States. Make them hate the USA even more than they do today, and the consequences could be disastrous for us all; make them appreciate the USA, and the future will have great hope.
    It won't be easy, but you can't afford to lose. So please, America, take care!

Copyright Andrew Rossiter 2001
All rights reserved.

WORDS:

backfire on you: be counterproductive, produce a result that is the opposite of that which is wanted - blow it: lose something in an unnecessarily spectacular manner - bowed: looking downwards - conventional: normal, traditional - drive people into their arms: make people turn to them for help - good will: positive opinions - groundswell: great movement - harbor: to shelter, to protect - holy: religious - knee jerk reactions: rapid responses carried out without thought for the consequences - Lebanon: the country north of Israel - means: methods - mourn: to express grief or sadness - retaliate: respond, react - solve: find an answer to - sorrow: sadness, regret - strike, struck struck: hit - take care: be careful - tears: water that comes from the eyes when a person cries - thirst: strong desire - worldwide: all over the world - wounded: hurt .