Panelists address terrrorism
By ERIN LARUFFA
Associate News Editor
Students and faculty crowded into a DeBartolo classroom Thursday to participate in a panel discussion entitled "After September 11: Rethinking Terrorism, War and Security."
Organized by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the panel contemplated the meaning of Tuesday's terrorist attacks against the United States.
"After a day of prayer Tuesday and reflection yesterday, we gather as an intellectual community," said the panel's moderator, Scott Appleby, a history professor and fellow at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
Panelist Shirley Williams, a member of the British House of Lords, brought her European perspective to the discussion.
"We in the Western world have to forge a common response," said Williams. She added that she and her fellow Europeans feel sympathy for Americans.
Williams pointed out that unlike most of the world, the United States has been, until now, relatively free of terrorism.
"This is not the first time there has been a major act of terrorism," Williams said. "The remarkable fact is that for so long the United States has been invulnerable."
"Since the end of the Cold War," she added, "the United States has in some ways felt itself to be invincible, the great superpower that did not feel itself to be vulnerable."
Although some people might desire revenge, Williams said that retaliation is not a long-term solution to terrorism. Instead, Williams encouraged Americans to ask themselves, "What did we do wrong?"
"I would plead with you not only to think of retaliation," she said. "But to address the difficult part: how one deals with the sources of terrorism."
In part, Americans must recognize that most of the world is not as well off as the U.S. A long-term response to Tuesday's violence would therefore involve dealing with the causes of enmity in the world.
"Let us admit, if we can bring ourselves to do so, that we live a world of excessive inequalities," said Williams, citing the AIDS epidemic in Africa, the crisis in Indonesia and the hatred in the Middle East as examples. Furthermore, she added, the income of the poorest 20 percent of the world is 1/60 of that of the wealthiest 10 percent.
"Such a world feeds terrorism. People have nothing to lose," Williams said.
Panelist George Lopez, a government professor and fellow in the Kroc and Kellogg Institutes, said that the U.S. should respond to the attacks with "unprecedented" policy decisions. However, he added, Americans must act according to the rule of law.
"This is the time when the rules matter most," he said. In part, that means not completely destroying Afghanistan, the country thought to harbor suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden.
"We could turn Afghanistan into a parking lot tomorrow. And then what happens after that?" he said. He pointed to the problems the international community had with Libya, the country that was protecting the individuals who were believed to be responsible for the bombing of PanAm Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. However, because leaders involved in the crash investigation followed the rules of law, the suspects were eventually brought to trial.
However, another panelist, government professor Daniel Lindley, predicted that the U.S. will launch a counterattack, even if it is not the most appropriate response.
"We will conduct attacks. We will kill lots of people," he said. Further, Lindley said, it is impossible to rid the world of terrorism.
"We can just hope to slow it down," said Lindley. "Vicious surprises are the way of the world."
He explained that while such attacks are not moral, they are nevertheless frequent. It is also common for civilians to die in such attacks, and wars are much more common than Americans typically think, according to Lindley.
"War only seems rare to us because we fight our wars on other people's soils," Lindley said, adding that the "luxurious" position the U.S. has in the world is what makes Tuesday's violence such a shock to Americans.
"There's a lot of hysteria right now," Lindley said. "There's no reason for the hysteria. In the end, we will all be fine."
Although the final death toll will be large, it is a tiny part of the country's population, according to Lindley. He explained that he made that observation not to be callous, but instead to put the events in context to help Americans understand that the country will recover soon.
"Our greatest weapon is our values and our way of life," Lindley said.
The way U.S. consumers respond to the terrorist attacks will also have an impact on the world, according to panelist Layna Mosley, a professor in the government department and Kellogg Institute.
Mosley said that the U.S. economy has been keeping the rest of the world out of a recession over the last few months. The U.S. makes up a quarter of the world's economy, according to Mosley, and New York City accounts for 6 percent of the American economy.
"A recession is likely. We were already heading that way. This will probably make it worse," she said.
Mosley also said she predicts the U.S. surplus will disappear. As a result, Americans will have to take a look at what the government is funding, and may also have to pay higher taxes.
"U.S. citizens may have to make some tough choices," she said.
The Kroc and Kellogg institutes plan to hold more University-wide discussions in the near future to address the consequences of the terrorist attacks.
All News Stories for Friday, September 14, 2001
