The justifications for the current war in Iraq and its connection with the often-mentioned “War on Terror” will likely be argued for decades. However, at least one thing is for certain: there are terrorists in Iraq.
Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni and two unknown Turks are only the most recent victims of the terrorists who remain at large in Iraq. According to The Telegraph, a British online newspaper, at least 10 kidnapping victims had been executed in Iraq from March through early July. Often, the terrorists demand that the victim’s nation withdraw from Iraq.
Kidnapping and often executing defenseless bystanders to coerce governments are as much terrorist acts as the Sept. 11 attacks. The media often refers to the kidnappers and murderers as “militants,” but in truth, they are terrorists.
They exhibit the hallmark beliefs of a terrorist: “The end justifies the means” and “People are things.” They are hardly militants. They do not attempt to defend their country from an invading army. Terrorists in the literal sense seek to force their will on others by the threat of continued violence-terrorizing not the military but the innocent bystanders. Lacking in conscience, they ironically depend on the consciences of their targets to value the victims as human beings rather than bargaining chips.
Dealing with such monsters is not easy. They give the impression that yielding to their demands saves lives. Often, victims’ families plead with their governments to give in to save their kin’s lives. There can be no worse course of action, however. Giving in to them sends one message: “Bully, torture and murder us and you will get whatever you want.” To give in once only ensures that they will continue to use terror inspired by the murder of innocents as a policy tool.
Of course, governments must also do everything they can to ensure the safe return of the hostage. Having to balance the life of the terrorists’ immediate victims with the lives of the their future victims is a harsh dilemma to face. Thus, there is a gray area that governments must work in when dealing with terrorists, granting them small concessions but never their demands. At the same time, the government must do everything within its power to protect society-both the lives and freedoms of its members-from the terrorists. Preferably, they can be arrested and tried, but a hostage situation like those in Iraq is an unequivocal justification to use lethal force. By devaluing their victim’s lives to bargaining chips, the terrorists forfeit their own right to life.
Sometimes, as has happened all too often in Iraq, the terrorists will murder their victims. The blood is entirely on their hands. The government should not be blamed for the deaths of terrorist victims. Furthermore, once a terrorist has killed his victim, he or she must be dealt with as a murderer. Until that point, they may have some reasonable grievance and the harm in pursuing their view of justice can mostly be undone. But once they have taken someone’s life to make a statement, they must be treated for what they are-murderers. Even if their demands were reasonable, they cannot be granted. To do so would condone their murders.
Even if the powers in Iraq, such as the United States and South Korea, wish to withdraw from Iraq, they cannot as long as such terrorists attempt to force the withdrawal. Not only would appearing to give in to terrorist demands spawn new terrorists, it leaves the terrorists at large and the people of both Iraq and the world at their mercy.
The phrase “War on Terrorism” is a misnomer. There is no war on terrorism. In war, there can be treaties and concessions. Terrorists are not warriors, they are criminals of the lowest sort, sociopaths who treat other people’s lives as playthings which can be thrown away at will. Once someone begins killing defenseless innocents to exhort a government or make a statement, there can be no treaties and no concessions.
In dealing with terrorists like those in Iraq, there is only the grim work of stopping and killing, if necessary, the evil few who treat others, not as human beings, but as things.
Nathan Alday is a senior aerospace engineering major. He can be reached at [email protected].