Stunned

By ian

Have you ever had a moment in your life when somebody you that you knew well pulled a complete 180? Today an acquintance of mine did something that completely stunned me.

A few days ago, I sent out an e-mail encouraging several of my friends and collegues to particpate in Peace One Day. I knew when I sent it that many of the people that recieved it would unfortunately pass it off as junk mail or ridicule the idea of it, but I felt that letting them know about it was important. Several people who recieved it actually replied and had made a commitment or forwarded it along. Unfortunately one person sent a reply that surprised me.

The e-mail was copied from a blog entry about negotiating with terrorists. The e-mail is a story in which peacemakers repeatedly try to negotiate with terrorists and everytime the terrorist kills the peacemaker. After several repetitions of this scenario, the story ends with the following: 

Generations pass and not much changes until one day when the son of a peacemaker decides that the old strategy simply won’t work. He walks up to the left side of the line a little early. As the terrorist approaches the right side of the line the peacemaker shoots him. Another terrorist approaches to replace the first, and the peacemaker shoots him too. This scene plays out several more times. Then a terrorist approaches carrying a white flag, but he also has weapons. The peacemaker shoots him. A terrorist next approaches with a cease fire resolution from the U.N. The peacemaker shoots him also. A large group of terrorists approach and the peacemaker shoots them all and drops a nuclear bomb on the city they came from. The peacemaker continues killing the terrorists until the terrorists are all dead.

There is finally peace on earth and the United Nations takes the credit.

His reply to my e-mail completely changed him in my eyes. This is quite possibly the most intolerant and hateful paragraph I’ve ever read and frankly this viewpoint is probably a significant source of terrorism.

It seems that so many people think that terrorists only motive is death and destruction. While there may be certain leaders and groups that only want destrucution, the simple fact is that there is a reason behind things. It may be easy for Timothy McVay to bomb a building or a lone suicide bomber to destroy a market place, but people fail to realize that Al Queda and the Taliban have tens of thousands of supporters. This isn’t just a crazy person with a death wish or vendetta, these terrorist groups gain support because people believe in their cause enough to support their methods.

The war on terror isn’t a war against people, every terrorist killed provides the story needed to recruit two in his place. The war we’re fighting now isn’t a war on terror it’s a war on terrorists. If we want to make any headway against, the military component of the war must be paired with a diplomatic effort.

That’s enough on my soapbox for now. I’ve got more to say, but I don’t really feel like saying it until I have a chance to think a bit more. I’m truly amazed that there are people that believe dropping a nuclear bomb on a city will end terrorism.