Faceless terrorism and the US

I am opening a can of worms with this posting. This posting will be revised as more objective information is collected but expresses a sentiment I have held at least for nearly 5 years: there are reasons there are people who are not ignoring the US and may even hate the US.

I'll begin this long posting with my personal recollection of 9/11. I was serving in the Peace Corps in Ghana as a teacher. I was on break in between school terms and temporarily living in a office for volunteers in the metropolitan city of Kumasi (862,000). I found a another volunteer in the office who seemed to be in shock from either recent family news or these events that she shared with me. Given her recent family news, I did not find the story of a plane taking down the world trade center as completely credible immediately.

In Ghana, I was not inundated with the images that flooded the U.S. The office and my home had no TV - though many locals did have televisions. I slowly learned of 9/11 through the local newspapers. About a week after the event, I saw many graphic images on popular cardboard posters that serve as calendars for many people there. The images had bloody and ash-covered people fleeing and cowering, as well as images of those the US suspected of this act of terrorism. On the whole, I will admit I think that I was able this period with more detachment (for better or worse) than many Americans. [However, I did look over my shoulder more when travelling outside my town of Odumase Krobo (~10,000)].

I felt that worldwide there was a sentiment of injustice with the attack on the WTC. I remember walking the streets of Kumasi alone that same day (or the next). A Ghanaian stranger walked straight up to me, asked me my nationality, and I'm wondering to myself whether I am also an international target. I replied with honesty though a bit nervous, and the man gave me his deepest sympathies regarding what had happened. Most Ghanaians immediately expressed their sympathy after 9/11 because this clear act of terrorism disturbed them deeply.

As all things, time changed. Time changed in the ensuing months of bombing in Afghanistan for many people worldwide. The precise bombing was actually viewed with complete justification (although in my mind no definitive proof of casuality had been established). From the educated view of my fellow Ghanaian teachers, the support of the US's reaction came immediately even as my realization that the twin towers had been attacked came slowly. The realization that the US war in Afghanistan was killing many innocent civilians turned the worldwide support around, not the bombing itself. They read of deaths in the newspaper, they read of the errant missles, they saw images on their televisions, and, while I think they questioned the media-bias of some networks against the US, they were simply overwhelmed after 6 months of such news with the idea that the US may be stepping over the boundaries of justice into the area of revenge.

I think this idea has also reached the US, but it arrived along a different pathway. I think our realization that a war on terrorism is inappropriate (in part at least, because many people still feel it is justified) came almost selfishly with the death of our soldiers. It came with our defeats and our troubles in both Afghanistan and Iraq - maybe because we disbelieved all news saying that innocent people were dying and infrastructure was being ravaged by the US. Why? I don't know - but Americans are much more used to media manipulation, are unfamiliar with the people of Afghanistan and Iraq (and many other places), and I propose they are unfamiliar with war on the homefront [Soldiers know a great deal, but when was the last time the US mainland was attacked for more than 24 hours? - thus eliminating 9/11/2001 and 12/7/1942].

Both changes in perception (abroad and home) lead us to think about a topic so succinctly stated in a Newsweek issue, one of the few US media materials I received as a volunteer in Ghana, as "Why They Hate Us." A web search brings this hot topic with around 83,700,000 websites of individuals with their own opinions. This is an important matter that still must be addressed because the nature of violence seems to be rooted in hate (and circumstance - which is another topic too large for my small brain).

I don't mean to answer this topic today, but rather to renew our questioning as to the reasoning behind our current world status on terrorism.

I think it is completely valid to also turn the tables and perceive this situation from the opposite side of the table - so disgreeable to a number of Americans. What has the US done to terrorize other nations and people?



The presence of military to protect US interests overseas is incredible. And, frankly, I do not think we are simply acting as peacekeeping forces. The reach of the US military and economic arm is both resented and admired, but not by the same people. The former individuals and groups of all kinds (along with having other issues with the US) form the nucleus of America's fear. [Yes, Americans are afraid].

This rationale on how the US can possibly be viewed as utilizers of violence to intimidate (ex. above discussion of bombing in Afghanistan that continues daily to today) needs to be expanded and debated.

It is my second to last opinion that the USA's war on terrorism is perpetuating itself. Americans are more and more starting the realize this nature, but slowly. The patriotic fervor of "Let's Roll," "Mission Accomplished," and more is dying down as this war continues.

My final opinion (today at least) is that the whole idea of a war on terrorism is a strange new beast - that also must be addressed eventually. Someone told me a year or two ago that stuck with me as profound: we have had wars against political groups and individuals but this is the first time we have declared war on a method of war. See, terrorism is the face of a war without a face. Osama and disciples have not been forgetten but lose media attention to this method of attack to intimidate. Even, al Qaeda seems to have a nonmaterial form or phantom nature to this group. [Part of it, in my opinion, is that the US does not want to vilify an enemy that it is having little success in capturing].

Think of the philosophical impact of such a swing in attention and you'll see the danger that the US is entering in this war on terrorism. If there is no physical target to defeat, then this war can continue until the method of using violence to intimidate ceases. The latter is not a reasonable goal to accomplish. Thus, I fear that the war on terrorism will continue along into the future - long past Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and any other physical target the US select.


War on Terrorism - Wikipedia
Fighting Terror - CNN
War on Terror - Department of Defense
Combatting Terrorism - White House

movie: 7 Days of September