Time for More Answers

After the brutal attacks in New York and Washington D.C., the USA is preparing for a response. A measured response as one would hope for, given that it still appears unconfirmed if the prime suspect is indeed the central culprit. After so many saddening reports and numerous comments on the attacks and the aftermath, this article sets out to pose a short agenda of questions. The political implications of mounting an intensive and most probably a sustained military response are profound, especially with regard to international relations.

First of all, since the hijackers themselves are dead and gone, everyone associated with the preparations and implementation of the attacks need to be identified and held accountable. No simple task, but will it be carried out as a coherent international response, with an UN mandate as has been the case elsewhere? Why has there been no UN Security Council meeting on the matter? Without UN involvement, the US-led response coalition may soon find itself lacking truly global support. An international mandate is important to assure the success of both the immediate and the longer-term response efforts. It may also help ensure a reasoned instead of a heated response.

At the national level, concerns that democratic rights and procedures are being short-changed or bent for the sake of quick and publicly presentable retaliatory results need to be taken seriously. Will the retaliators truly win if their response efforts are conducted at the expense of the democratic values the terrorists are so keen to discredit and to destroy?

Furthermore, what can and will be done to address root causes of the anger and hate that have fuelled political extremism and violence around the world? Can one really rely on shadowy, “useful” fanatics, say to be involved in undermining political regimes considered, or even proven to be criminally opposed to democracy and human rights?

Isn’t a deep review of democratic state’s international involvements called for? Under what conditions have today’s suicide bombers grown up and lived, what is dear and close to them, what not and why? Who has been involved in contributing to such conditions, where hate and violence find so many twisted minds ready to destroy life? Isn’t one, real loving partner more precious than seventy heavenly virgins? What kind of people implant these kinds of ideas, already into the minds of innocent youngsters? Has anyone, any organization, government or institution been working to alleviate desperation, frustrations and suffering in those localities where fanaticism all too often finds it’s breeding grounds? Do such breeding grounds also exist and thrive in societies generally seen as “free and democratic”? If they do, how can this be explained, justified and most importantly, changed?

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