__ESSAY_________________________________
The Looming Showdown
A “war to end terrorism” cannot succeed unless Americans recognize why so many people hate our country.
By Philip F. Lawler
The morning breezes have been blowing from the north this week, so at morning Mass we have heard the popping sound of gunfire in the distance. At the military base across the river, reservists—called up after the terror attack of September 11—are renewing their acquaintance with the M16. America is preparing for war.
I am no pacifist. I am grateful for the presence of American soldiers, and happy that they are honing their skills with these early-morning exercises. But when their shooting drills coincide with our worship, I am struck by the realization that those of us in the small chapel have “chosen the better part.” If indeed America is at war—and I do not doubt it—our prayers will prove more useful than their guns.
In New York, a rescue worker planted the Stars and Stripes on top of the mound of rubble that once was the World Trade Center. Again I am grateful for his stirring act of patriotism. But a flag planted in a pile of debris is an ambiguous symbol. In the famous moment during World War Two when the US Marines planted a flag on Iwo Jima, they were proclaiming our nation’s victory. Surrounded by the devastation of Ground Zero in New York, the flag might be taken as a sign of determination that we must prevail, and confidence that we shall prevail, in the struggle against terrorism. But no one could say that we have prevailed—or, for that matter, guarantee that we will.
Now imagine that, instead of a flag, someone had planted a cross on top of the rubble. Even in such an ugly setting, the message of the cross would immediately be clear to all passersby. Whenever it is found at scenes of devastation and bereavement, the cross reminds us that our present suffering is part of a much larger cosmic struggle, in which our Lord has already won the final victory—in which, even now, he invites us to share.
The cross and the flag are not incompatible symbols. If our cause and our conduct are just, we have every right to combine patriotism with piety. But if the flag displaces the cross—if our national pride is not tempered by Christian faith; if our Church officials think of themselves more as “community leaders” than as disciples and shepherds—then we endanger both our faith and our nation.
In our looming showdown with the world’s terrorists and their sponsors, we Americans cannot afford to ignore the religious dimension of the conflict. Whether or not we recognize this struggle as a religious conflict, our enemies certainly do. Many thousands of devout Muslims see America as the “Great Satan,” and understand the struggle against us as a battle to preserve Islam from the forces of secularism and degradation. By our response to terrorism, we could reinforce that perception, and cause the conflict to escalate into a full-scale worldwide religious war. Or we could demonstrate that we are the real representatives of moral decency—and thereby deprive the terrorists of their most effective weapon.
Why do they hate us?
After a traumatic event, we all feel the natural human urge to “just talk about it.” So allow me to tell my own story. When the grim news of the terror attack reached me on September 11, I was editing the “World Watch” section of this month’s issue. I finished that task, and sent the material off to the typesetter, sending a copy by email to the Publisher, as I always do. Father Fessio sent back a comment that the “World Watch” material was “much more significant in light of today’s tragic events.” When I asked him to explain that comment, he said that he had been struck by the many reminders of “the number of people that hate the US or Christianity or both.”
Why do so many people hate America? Why are young men ready even to die in order to harm us? If we cannot answer those questions, we cannot hope to conquer terrorism.
President Bush has declared that the US was attacked by the “enemies of freedom.” But the Islamic zealots who rail against the “Great Satan” do not criticize the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They speak instead about the moral decadence of Hollywood and MTV; they fuel the passions of their supporters by depicting a regime that promotes sodomy and abortion, and urges other countries to do the same. It is enormously significant (although, to this day, I am not aware of any American publication other than CWR that has taken note of the story) that before seizing the American embassy in November 1979, the Iranian mobs inspired by Ayatollah Khomeini first sacked the offices of Planned Parenthood in Teheran.
There are political causes, too, that serve to focus Islamic hostility against the United States: the plight of the Palestinian people. Although not all Palestinians are Muslims, Islamic extremists have convinced their followers that the conflict in the Middle East is fundamentally a religious affair, which pits Israel—backed by American power—against Islam. So when the Israeli government drives Palestinian families from their homes, shuts down their shops and schools, restricts their movement across their own land, and shells their refugee camps, the US bears part of the blame. For half a century America has been unswerving in support of Israel, even when Israeli policy violates Palestinian human rights and UN resolutions. (In the week after the September 11 attack on the US, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent tanks into Palestinian towns on the West Bank, canceled a scheduled meeting between his foreign minister and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, rejected a cease-fire offer, and announced that his government would make absolutely no sacrifices in support of the US war on terrorism—thus making it quite clear that American support for Israel is a one-way street.)
The Catholic tradition of just-war teaching draws a distinction between a just cause for war and the just conduct of a war. The hijackers who crashed passenger airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September evidently were convinced that their cause was just, and that consequently they could justify even this hideously immoral conduct as a wartime necessity. If the American response to this terror attack entails the willingness to kill innocent civilians, then we shall be following the same twisted logic.
President Bush is right to say that we must rid the world of terrorism; that is a just cause. But what does it imply? This “war on terror” will be successful only if we convince the world that it is never justifiable deliberately to kill innocent people, no matter how important the cause. And if we are serious about sending that message, we must take a painful look at our own country’s policies.
The terrorists’ strength
One thing is certain: we cannot eliminate terrorism simply by killing terrorists. As long as their cause remains attractive to other zealots, new terrorists will rise up to take their places. Whatever else can be said about suicide bombers, they cannot accurately be described as “cowards.” They are prepared to die for their cause, confident that their fiery deaths will inspire others to take their places. A wholesale American attack on the lands that harbor terrorists—especially if it inflicts heavy civilian casualties—will drive thousands of young Muslims
into terrorist camps. It would be foolish to ignore the message of the 18-year-old boy who emerged from a mosque in Islamabad to tell a waiting reporter, “If America attacks Afghanistan, I myself will kill George Bush.”
One great strategic strength of today’s terrorists is their mobility. The US military is powerfully equipped to fight against other nation-states. But now we face a different sort of enemy: a movement that governs no territory, has no permanent bases, moves easily across national borders, and strikes unpredictably against very different sorts of targets.
If we are tempted to use proxies to root out the terrorists—sending Pakistani troops into Afghanistan, perhaps—we might pause and reflect on how today’s terrorist forces arose. During the 1980s the US armed and trained the Islamic fundamentalists who were fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. We helped them to bring together a force of religious warriors from all around the world: an estimated 35,000 avid young Muslims anxious to take part in a jihad. We did not anticipate that, 20 years later, the jihad would be turned against us.
Symbols of freedom?
The terrorists who struck on September 11 were not interested in gaining a military victory over the United States. The targets they chose were obviously selected for their symbolic, rather than strategic, importance. (The destruction of the World Trade Center does not cripple the American economy; it merely removes the most visible
symbol of US economic power.) The goal of the terrorist planners, clearly, is to hurt America, to humiliate us—to break down what so much of the Islamic world sees as the arrogance of American power.
But what could motivate someone to kill himself—and thousands of others—simply in order to inflict pain on a powerful adversary? There is a diabolical element in terrorism, certainly. There is also a fanaticism born of fear: fear of American cultural hegemony. As Islamic fundamentalists see it, America is the source from which a stream of secularism and hedonism flows out across the globe, threatening to sweep away ancient faiths and customs. The terrorists cannot overthrow the US government, but they do hope to break America’s spirit, and thus stop the cultural onslaught.
If we are honest with ourselves, American Christians must recognize that there is some merit in the Islamic critique of our culture. Although 90 percent of all US citizens identify themselves as Christians, we too have failed to stem the tides of materialism and self-indulgence. We speak now about making war on those who destroy innocent lives, but we have long ago made our peace with the “culture of death” within our own borders. The death toll from the September 11 attack is about the same as that of a typical Saturday morning at our nation’s abortion clinics.
An accurate understanding of our country’s situation does not imply that we should take a quiescent attitude in the face of terrorist attacks. We have a right to defend ourselves and a duty to defend others. But as we plan a response to the attack on America, we should examine our intentions carefully. The fight to end terror and protect the innocent is a noble cause; but we should not ask young Americans to die for MTV and Disney World.
One positive outcome of the terror attack has been America’s unabashed reliance on religious faith. In his public remarks President Bush has repeatedly called the American people to prayer, and frequently offered prayers of his own. Millions of Americans flocked to their parish churches, and began the soul-searching that could help to revive our country. Many perceptive preachers cited the same passage from the Second Book of Chronicles (7:14):
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
One Catholic activist offered some pointed reflections on that theme:
America is a great and powerful nation, and she is also a sinful one. Here one and a half million babies are murdered by abortion every year. American public policies have resulted in the promotion of abortion across the globe. So-called “family planning” programs, paid by us, the taxpayers, have resulted in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases to impoverished nations in the developing world. Through the media of television, movies, and recorded music, we export gratuitous sex and violence throughout the world. We do business with countries which make it a practice to trounce on the human rights of individuals, in the name of “free trade.” And we continue to elect people to public office from both major political parties who support these and other destructive policies that must be reversed. We cannot, as a nation, continue to fly from the face of God. September 11, 2001 showed us what it is like to feel totally helpless and at the mercy of a terrible evil unleashed upon us. Let us renew our resolve to turn from our wicked ways, reform our lives, and rest in the knowledge that then, he will heal our land.
The liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church provided the American faithful with some remarkable challenges. Two days after the destruction of the World Trade Center, the Scriptural readings enjoined us to “love your enemies.” When President Bush declared a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance, the date coincided with the feast of the Triumph of the Cross. Thus while our country was suffering, our Church reminded us that all suffering is vindicated if it is united to Christ’s sacrifice.
So my thoughts return to the little chapel across the river from the rifle range, where we assisted once again at the Sacrifice of Calvary. And my conviction is renewed that while America may soon need those rifles, my country needs the prayers much more.
Philip F. Lawler is the editor of
CWR.
Back to Catholic World Report October 2001 Table of Contents