Thanks everyone for your interesting comments. Ok....Here we go.....
Simon said:
I think the main thing would be to stop manufacturing and exporting weapons and having a more ethical foreign policy, particularly when it came to arms.
Simon, what do you think is unethical about US foreign policy, especially international arms sales?
Looking at the bigger picture, the inequality and oppression that breeds terrorism needs to be addressed with fairer trade etc ... There is a cause-and-effect link between things like "farm subsidies" and bombs going off round the world.
I agree with you up to a point. Do some US policies on foreign relations and trade anger other nations or people? Yes. However, do most of them do the same things, but on different products/commodities with even other countries? Yes. And do they do it back to the US? Yes. Could trade and other relations be conducted more fairly? Yes, and we should all try to influence these as best we can. In free countries, we have the power of the vote, of public debate, etc. Now that we're not JW's anymore, why not get involved in the debate over various issues that affect us personally, or our community?
That aside, I firmly believe that no level of oppression (or perceived oppression), no economic disparity, no trade sanction ever gives anyone the right or excuse to perpetrate violence against innocent civilians in order to terrorize others into bending to their wishes. NEVER! All who do such things, no matter the validity of the cause, are immoral criminals who should be removed from human society (yes, that is a nice way of saying they should be killed (as in armed conflict), or executed (after a fair trial) ).
I believe in tough action but we should not abandon ideals of justice in the persuit of security because if we do we will never reach it.
I agree, Simon. In my opinion, the "War on Terror" has three fronts. The visible military action against states who sponsor/support/shield terrorists and their training camps. Second, the investigation and prosecution, internationally, of terrorist cell members. But the third front should be a committment, just as firm and resolute as the military one, to build better national and personal relationships with the nations and cultures from which the terrorists usually come. I don't see this second front being pursued with any vigor, but it should be. We will never be rid of the terrorist attacks if we don't first work to get rid of the underlying causes, one of which is primarily religious fanaticism (of course, that's a whole 'nother thread). What needs to develop is a mutual respect for each other's cultures, and the elimination of the belief that either of us must force the other to "convert". The BIG question is, how do we achieve this? Any Ideas, folks?
An even bigger issue is the fact that most of these countries are totalitarian states. Just as in the WTS, they are fed one-side information and indoctrinated by the State, or State sponsored religious leaders, so they don't know the truth, or even how to identify it. They only know what they are told. So, in the long term, I believe that for the world to actually achieve anything akin to lasting peaceful relations between most of the countries around the globe, the totalitarian states must go, and freedom must prevail. Does this mean that the "free world" should go on a jihad to wipe out the dictatorships and communist regimes of the world and replace them with governments that provide basic freedoms and human rights?
It reminds me of a line in the movie "First Knight", where Sean Connery, as King Arthur of Camelot says, "Either what we hold as right, and true, and good...*IS* right and true and good....or we're just another robber tribe." Either our current best efforts at democracy - including the struggle against Terrorism, a global free market ecomony, and defending human rights - *IS* the best we humans have developed yet for the common good, or we're just another petty nation with its own dillusions of grandeur.
And, if these are the best we've come up with yet, then don't we have the moral right, even responsibility, to liberate the countless billions of humans from their tyrannical and oppressive leaders? What greater service could we perform, for the common good of humanity, than to eliminate the greedy and ruthless oppressors, such as in Iraq.
What do you folks think?
Brandon (eagerly awaiting your further opinions )
