Mark S. Blackburn,  Veteran USA

The below letter come from best-selling author John Robbins, author of "Diet for a New America (1987),"  "Reclaiming our Health"(1998),"  "May all be Fed" (1993), "The Food Revolution" (2001).  

-Mark

WHAT SHOULD WE DO NOW?

JOHN ROBBINS


Something truly terrible and tragic took place on September 11th, 2001. If I
could, by giving my life, somehow prevent that from having occurred, I would
do so in a heartbeat.  I know I am not alone in this.

But none of us can undo what has been done.  The question, now, is how will
we respond?

Will we experience both our vulnerability and our unity as a nation as never
before?  Will we see that even beset by such terrifying death and
destruction we are capable of compassion, courage, heroism, and honor? Or
will we do as the bin Ladens of the world would want us to do, seeking
revenge by retaliating with massive violence in the Middle East, thus
providing them with a new generation of suicidal terrorists, eager to fight
against "evil America" in this "holy war"?

I am no stranger to the desire for revenge.  Like President George W. Bush,
and most likely like you, I have felt it surge through me in recent days.
Contemplating what took place on September 11th, are there any among us who
have not, at least momentarily, felt their blood boil with outrage, and with
the demand that these mass murders and all those behind them pay with eye
for an eye?

But at such times, when our hearts are filled with bloodlust and our eyes
look everywhere for revenge, it is extraordinarily important that we
remember the awesome truth behind Gandhi's prophetic statement:  "An eye for
an eye will only make the whole world blind."

This is the very truth that bin Laden would want us to forget.

Bin Laden and his cronies have set a trap for us.  It would serve their
purposes perfectly for us to mount indiscriminate and ongoing air attacks on
Afghanistan, killing enormous numbers of innocent people, thus causing
fanatics to flock to their cause.  Do you think the civilian population of
Afghanistan would be protected in well prepared underground hideouts?  Not
likely.  But bin Laden and the Taliban rulers would be.  Nothing would
please these deranged psychotics more than for us to kill children in Kabul,
thus enabling them to raise the armies of terror they've always dreamed of.
And even if we killed bin Laden in such a bombing attack, it would only
render him a martyr in the eyes of those whose support he craves.  He would
like to see our efforts cause extensive civilian casualties in Afghanistan,
because this would push even moderate Muslims toward hatred of the United
States.

There is one thing, though, that Osama bin Laden would like even more than
for us to mount a reckless bombing attack on Afghanistan.  And that would be
for us to rush headlong into Afghanistan with ground forces in an effort to
control the country, for such an attempt would only demonstrate before the
whole world our impotence and stupidity. Remember that the Soviet army tried
for years, and failed, and they had the advantage of being close at hand,
knowing the terrain, and they had numerous people who spoke the native
languages.

You could hardly think of a more effective way to destabilize the
peace-loving Moslem regimes upon whose support the United States now
depends.  An American invasion of Afghanistan, for example, could easily
ignite a civil war in Pakistan, with the distinct possibility that Pakistan'
s government, with its nuclear arms, would then fall into the hands of
extremists supportive of the Taliban.  No American response could better
serve bin Laden's evil purposes.

If we are not to fall into the trap set by bin Laden and his cohorts, what,
then, are we to do?

I believe that we must ask the mainstream Islamic world for advice.  We must
go to them and ask them what they would have us do.  And then we must listen
to them, and deeply.

It is not the strength of our military and our ability to punish that will
enable us to meet this challenge, but the strength of our hearts and our
ability to listen.  To form an alliance with peace-loving Muslims, we will
have to understand and take seriously their concerns. This will mean
reorienting our policies in the Middle East - not, of course, to pacify bin
Laden (who does not deserve to be pacified, and could not be in any case),
but to bring him to justice in a way that undermines his purposes and
retains the support of moderate Muslim states.  If we lose this support, we
play into bin Laden's hands, and risk world war.

It is critical that we remember that our problem is not with Islam, or with
Muslim people.  Osama bin Laden no more represents Islam than the Klu Klux
Klan represents Christianity.  Let us indict this man and his cohorts as the
mass murderers they are, and then, along with our Islamic allies, bring them
to world justice. Ben Laden and his compatriots are not only enemies of the
United States.  They are enemies of true Islam, and of the entire world
community.  For what took place on September 11th was more than a crime
against the United States.  It was a crime against humanity.  People from 80
nations perished in the World Trade Center.  There was a Mosque in one of
the towers.  At the time the first plane hit, 500 Muslims were gathered in
that Mosque in prayer.  Many of them are believed to have died.

Domestically, it is crucial in these times that we go out of our way to
treat peace loving Arab Americans with respect and friendship.  A group of
people in my local community have made themselves available to Arab
Americans, to go with them shopping if they would like that, or to walk with
their children on the way to school, or to stand by and with them
any time that they might feel unsafe or fear that they might be scapegoated.

As we take steps to reduce the risk of further terrorist attacks, we must
proceed calmly and deliberately, bearing in mind the need not to erode the
liberties and freedoms that are at the core of the American way of life.
The true patriot is not the person who, in the name of anti-terrorism, would
target people because of their race, religion, ethnic background, or
appearance.  The real American is the person who would have us uphold the
essential principals of a democratic society. The American dream can be
realized only in a world where liberty and justice prevail for all.

Since the day he took office, President Bush has been withdrawing from
almost every multilateral agreement and international treaty except those
that enhance American profits and power.  This is an administration that has
snubbed the world community and disengaged from treaties attempting to deal
with global warming, nuclear disarmament, population control, trafficking in
small arms, chemical and biological weapons, to name just a few.  This is an
administration that has defined American self-interest almost without regard
for the concerns of other nations, and sought to ram genetically engineered
food and hormone laden beef down the throats of the rest of the world.  But
now, suddenly, this is an administration that desperately needs the help of
the world. There are signs of hope.  As a London newspaper recently
commented, "Colin Powell, in a stunning and rare display of humility for an
American official, now acknowledges that in order to fight terrorism
effectively the U.S. is going to have to be more sensitive to the concerns
of other cultures."

Might the United States remember in all of this that our national purpose is
greater than pursuing corporate profit, and that we have a deep and
paramount responsibility to the wellbeing of all of the world's peoples?  As
the president of the State of the World Forum, Jim Garrison, puts it:  "If
out of the present crisis the United States emerges more connected with the
rest of the world, more willing to compromise national sovereignty within
the context of the needs of the larger community of nations, more willing to
live cooperatively within coalitions than outside them, then light will have
truly come from out of the darkness and redemption out of the recesses of
hatred and war. In one of the deepest paradoxes  of contemporary history,
the present crisis might compel America to. (realize) no country is an
island unique unto itself.and the only solution to hate is to stop the
underlying causes that produce it, working within the community of nations
to achieve goals that benefit the poor as well as the rich, the south as
well as the north, the developing nations as well as those more advanced.
Achieving this, America will fulfill the deepest yearning of one of its
founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, who wrote that he believed the real
destiny of America would not be about power; it would be about light."

If we would defeat terrorism then we must not only defeat the individual bin
Laden and his cohorts, but we must also defeat the systemic injustice,
exploitation and cruelty that provides fertile soil for terrorism to
flourish.  We must take actions that will lead to a thriving, just, and
sustainable world for all, for this is the only kind of world where
terrorism can not take root. The bitter historical events that came to
fruition on September 11th did not come from nowhere, but developed over
decades and even centuries.  Likewise the peace and understanding that we
seek, and which alone will make us truly safe, need be nurtured and
cultivated over generations of time.

It is to the planting, nurturing and harvesting of fruits worthy of all that
is good and beautiful in us that we must now, as never before, dedicate our
lives.  Because now, as never before, the world needs our wisdom, our
cooperation, our affirmation of the human spirit, and our understanding that
all humanity is connected.

Mark Blackburn

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Mark S. Blackburn, MBA

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