I look at people who criticize the war in Iraq and shake my head. So today, I am going to write the column that never should have been needed to be written. The concept to be discussed should have been focused on by the president from day one. It should be discussed in every debate of the Iraq policy. Ever professor who discusses Iraq should at least give equal time to this idea. The idea, oddly enough, is Hope.
How do you stop terrorism? On an immediate scale, military action to stop terrorist training camps and terrorist cells is a viable policy. In the long run, however it will create more terrorists by antagonizing non-terrorists to action. This is where the critical thinking of most liberals stops. They go no further than saying, "This war will just breed animosity and hatred towards the United States." This is where our media, our education system and our politicians have failed us.
To stop terrorism, you have to understand its cause. Why don't we have mass terrorism in America? I don't like liberals; why don't I strap a bomb to my chest and go kill some? Why, because I have hope. I have plans for my future. My motivation to preserve my life orbits around a light dimmed in many terrorist-breeding nations: the light of Hope.
Some people say that poverty causes terrorism, but the truth is that poverty and terrorism are symptoms of the same disease: despotic governments. A Palestinian child born on the West Bank will never grow wealthy or influential. They will never know peace or security in their world. They are told on a daily basis that they will never amount to anything because the Jews are oppressing their people. If you are this Palestinian teenager, raised in that kind of environment, what is going to stop you from strapping a bomb on your chest and killing some Israeli soldiers? It sure won't be Hope, because no one ever told you that you could be a doctor or a lawyer or a surgeon or a teacher.
So how do you fight terrorism? You create a place where Hope can live. The United States has chosen Iraq to be this place of re-birth. Our goal is to give people in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, North Korea, Lebanon, Yemen and Jordan a belief that there can be Hope.
Hope isn't going to miraculously sprout in Iraq just because Saddam was overthrown by our military forces. The people have to want it, and they do, but it will still take time.
As time progresses, Iraq will change. The plan is to make it a modern nation, where people can worship freely. Where children can study and grow to participate in government. Where people are told that their lives have value, because they can be anything they want to be. Iraq will be the shining light on their hill, the one that the Middle East will turn to for their leadership in the future.
This is how you fight terror. This is why Iraq isn't a distraction from the war on terror; it's the next battle ground. Not fought with guns or bombs, the next battles will be fought with ideas: freedom, liberty and justice for all.
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