Terrorizing the Terrorists > IDEAS & IDEALS

• 목록

Watching the appalling terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and on the Pentagon building in Washington, U. S. A. on last September 11, on the television, I could not believe what was happening before my eyes. At first I felt I was seeing a movie. It could not be real. When I realized it was real, fear unknown and unfelt before possessed me. I felt oppressed in the chest. I could not breathe well. My open mouth did not know how to shut. In the inferno of fire, smoke, dust, noise, and fleeting people I saw the Apocalypse, the end of the world. I was thrown into panic. I could not do anything. I think I was trembling. Thus, the terrorists succeeded, momentarily though, in terrorizing not only American people but also a man in South Korea thousands of miles away from the place of real catastrophe.

      We have already known, seen and experienced various kinds and scales of terrorism in the past around the world, and it is still going on at present somewhere. What makes the attack on September 11 new and particular lies in its unprecedented magnitude and daring madness. They attacked the very heart of the United States: a nation of peace, freedom, democracy, economic prosperity, military super-power. And it was not an isolated act by some crazy individuals as before. Like the military attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in 1940, this surprise attack had long been planned, organized, coordinated, and executed by a group of men headed by a crazy man but of unusual ability, money and intelligence under the protection of a government, killing more than six thousands innocent people, the biggest number of casualties in peacetime single man-made catastrophe. This attack provided a cause good enough for the United States to proclaim a war against the perpetrators of this crime.

      At the cost of 6,000 innocent lives not only The United States of America but also all the freedom loving nations on the globe have earned a priceless lesson from the attack. Until now, although there had been warnings of terrorism and we were ware of its possible danger, we did not recognize it so acutely until the September 11th. For the Americans it had already taken place several times before, but it was always somewhere far from the American soil, and victims were mostly military persons. While the virulent germ of terrorism was growing within, they were preoccupied with the MDS (Missile Defense System) only, possible missile attacks from the nations across the continent or ocean. They were too strong and mighty to be wary of this kind of attack, too proud to be threatened, too innocent and ignorant to realize the envy, hostility and hatred harbored by some people on the earth towards them. I cannot still understand how could Pentagon itself, the symbol of American defense, be so defenseless.  What, if the terrorists had attacked with a nuclear bomb? It is death to think of the possibility, but we came to learn that it is not unthinkable.

      After all, terrorists, whatever noble causes and ideals they uphold, are mad and sick cowards. They think they can achieve whatever they want by terrorizing and killing people who have nothing to do with their business or purpose. Like Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost, who seduced Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as a way of vengeance against God, the terrorists of all sorts, Bin Laden included, are wreaking his fury and vengeance on happiness of man. They feel morbid pleasure by inflicting pain and destruction on happy people. They are sick and crazy in that they can be completely indifferent to and even jubilant at the destruction of human lives, even their own. This state of mind is far from courage or bravery. Despite his holy image and justification of his cause and act, Bin Laden is a psychopath, a murderer, and now simply a fugitive from justice.

      With the terrorist attack on September 11 in New York and Washington, we have witnessed the birth of another kind of evil. It had long period of pregnancy and gestation and finally it was born. This evil got a name, and like all kinds of other evils on the earth, it will have its life. What is certain is that it will not go away that easily. The avenging war Americans are now waging will end eventually by getting rid of Osama bin Laden dead or alive and by toppling the incumbent government of Afghanistan that supported  the terrorists, but only politically and temporarily. There will be another Bin Laden after him in the course of time with another cause, face and name. Evils die hard once they are born. We cannot root them out once for all. Evils have their own origin, purpose and life. Eventually we have to learn how to live with them.

      Terrorists are, like rattlesnakes in the bush, very dangerous and harmful to man, but so long as we are alert enough to the danger and contain them well and carefully in a bottle or in their den under the ground, we are safe. We cannot not kill all the rattlesnakes because they bite innocent people, and we need not. People are bitten by the rattlesnakes mostly when they do not pay enough caution to these dangerous animals. From now on we must be more alert to and vigilant against the possible danger than before. There must be tighter security measures to protect our freedom, not at the expense of it. Already Osama bin Laden  and his followers are said to be hiding in an underground cave just like the rattlesnakes do in winter. His glory is over. He has had his day. Like Satan after the seduction of mankind he has fallen into the state of a serpent.

      We got terrorized on September 11 by the terrorists. Now it is time for us to terrorize the terrorists. To catch, destroy and stop them from perpetrating their abhorrent acts are the job assigned to the specially-trained persons. But for the common civilians, like you and me, who are the real target of terrorism, there seems to be virtually nothing but to be scared and worried. But I say No! We are the real warriors of the battle. The objective of the terrorists is to scare and terrify us. If we are scared and terrified, and hunker down in your room, they win. The best way to scare these terrorists to death is to resume our travelling home and abroad by airplane as quickly as possible, as if nothing had happened. Travellers are the real freedom-fighters who are not even conscious of their real courage and bravery.
                                                                                                    (October 10, 2001)