We Lash Out Blindly
By SEAN HANNON

March 20, 2003

The act of terrorism on Sept. 11 was an indisputable trauma to our national psyche.  The agents of Bin Laden did not simply bring down two skyscrapers and 3,000 innocent lives. They turned off the light on every American’s sense of security and thrust us into the dark with real bogeymen. Ever since then, we have been flailing our arms about like an angry, frightened Helen Keller in an effort to wrestle back our sense of security. Despite the recent capture of a key Al Qaeda mastermind, we are still traumatized and lashing out blindly in all directions.

We need to recognize and acknowledge this aspect of our condition. It is the only thing that comes close to explaining what our collective fear has allowed our present government to do:

• Initiate war on nations that haven’t attacked us

• Threaten first use of nuclear weapons

• Disregard a world crying out for peaceful solutions

• Vilify any nation that does not march lock-stepped with us, or refuses to be bought

• Circumvent our own Constitution and civil liberties

• Spy on ordinary citizens and build dossiers on such things as library usage

• Place people on blacklists who have suspicious, Arabic-sounding surnames

• Make suspected terrorists - American and foreign - disappear indefinitely without representation

• Instill fear of being arrested for dissent if you are an American muslim

• Condone and very likely practice brutal torture

If we allow fear for our security to justify our acting EXACTLY LIKE THE ENEMY, then who has really won? Osama Bin Laden’s violence is having a transformative effect on our national character, and he’s loving every minute of it. When the bombs fall on Iraq, killing thousands of innocent people who never attacked us, he will have successfully ignited his Jihad.  If we remain on this course, Osama Bin Laden will continue to live on inside of us, smiling like a Cheshire cat, as we timorously embrace our darker nature.