April 1, 2002

Should we 'understand' the terrorists?

Through A Glass Darkly, by John Myers, Internet Photojournalist

"In what sense should we attempt to 'understand' the terrorists?"

The question is the fourth in a series of essays on the Sept. 11 attacks in Straight Answers to Moral Confusion in National Crisis by the Institute on Religion and Democracy. The series authored by Alan F.H. Wisdom focuses on the role of America's churches in response to the attacks.

Wisdom notes that few church leaders have had anything specific to say about the attackers out of expressed fears that referring to the terrorists is "stereotyping" and "demonizing."

However, what has been said about them has encouraged church members to attempt to "understand" their motives.

Three top officials of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) urged Christians to "discover paths of forgiveness for those who perpetrate evil against us." What are we urged to "understand"?

They suggested we try to "understand the pain, frustration and sense of powerlessness that has led them to acts of violence."

The United Methodist Board of Church and Society asked Methodists to "study the root causes of terrorism, the history of Western involvement in the Middle East, and work to end terrorism."

What this suggests is the "root causes of terrorism" are in "Western involvement in the Middle East," Wisdom notes.

That's buying whole-hog into Osama bin Laden's prattle about his justification for attacking America is our nation's support of Israel versus the poor Palestinian suicide bombers.

The Presbyterian plea to "understand" the terrorists implies that if we do so, somehow their intense hatred of America will simply disappear. And underlying that is the thought that until we do "understand" the terrorists, the attacks are our own fault.

Wisdom notes this is legitimizing the terrorists' grievances, assuming if we meet their demands, the terrorism will stop.

The problem with that reasoning, Wisdom says, is "today's radical Islamist terrorists are driven by more than rational self-interest. They are driven by an oppressive ideology."

Wisdom adds, "The evidence so far available indicates that Osama bin Laden and his collaborators were not, for the most part, poor and powerless persons who had suffered terribly at the hands of the West.

"Indeed, many of them had lived quite comfortably in the West for several years. It is foolish to imagine that any concessions to America's enemies would turn them away from their announced ambitions to topple the West and its allies. Any changes in U.S. policies, in the Middle East or elsewhere, should be based on the merits of the policies -- not upon any illusory hopes of appeasing the terrorists."

The only understanding of the terrorists needed, Wisdom concludes, is to understand what their tactics are as our enemies, so we can overcome them, as America overcame the Soviets.

Though these essays were written about the attacks on America, these same truths apply to the current attacks on Israel by the Palestinians. You can't negotiate with suicide bombers, regardless of whether their attacks are in America or Israel.

The only response is fight back and root them out one by one.

Pleas for "understanding" terrorists is like the slick lawyer who asked the jury to "understand" his client accused of murdering his parents because the poor man is now an orphan.