Cross posted at http://www.peaceisactive.com
Terrorism - Violence for the purpose of political gain.
Are the actions of our own government in the War on Iraq and the War in Somalia acts of terrorism?
It is easy to call a suicide bomber a terrorist because it is such an obvious act of terrorism. A suicide bomber uses violence in a very personal way in order to achieve some sort of political gain.
However, the United States also uses violence with the intent of achieving political gain.
In Iraq, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed or wounded by the violence ordered by President Bush. The President cited many reasons for why we needed to go to war, but all of the reasons had the basic goal of political gain for American interests.
How is it that 3,000 people being killed in New York is an obvious form of terrorism, but tens of thousands of people being killed by American actions in Iraq and Somalia is not seen as a form of terrorism?
Does it matter what the political goals are? Why is it terrorism if a group uses violence in their effort to control Mideast oil by overthrowing Middle East governments (al-Qaeda wants to overthrow the Saudi Royal Family), but overthowing Middle East governments to control oil (U.S. occupying Iraq) is not seen as a form of terrorism?
We are using a strategy of war and violence to make the changes favored by the Bush Administration. The goals and the changes desired are favored by many people, including myself, but that doesn't legitimize a strategy of war, violence, and terrorism. We have the ability to make the changes we want in the Middle East with strategies of peace.
In Somalia, the United States decided they again wanted to use violence to achieve desired political gains. We assisted the Ethiopian army as they invaded Somalia to kick out the Islamist rulers and the local clans who were in power. The goal was to create a new government that would be more favorable to American interests.
As in Iraq, the strategy of using violence to achieve political gains has not gone well. Many people in Somailia have been killed in the fighting and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes. The only reason this violence is not considered to be "terrorism" is because it is our government who is sponsoring the violence.
I know it is not patriotic to call our own government a terrorist organization, but the continued use of violence to achieve our political goals is causing death and destruction throughout the world. This death and destruction is said to be "worth it" because we have good intentions, but it doesn't remove the fact that we are using forms of terrorism in our war against terrorism.
We have the ability to live in peace.