Terrorism, Freedom, and Social Justice

Abstract

Emeritus Professor of Economics, McGill University. The author has written extensively on human rights, economic development, and Canadian public policy.Barely into the 21st century, we may already have witnessed its defining event. The horrendous terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001 sparked a war on global terrorism whose end is too distant to predict. This much is certain, however; punishing the leaders of the Taliban and al-Qaeda - and even the most relentless worldwide pursuit of terrorists - will not produce what the United States government has aptly called 'enduring freedom.'It is reasonable to wonder whether a large commitment of coalition ground troops under United States leadership - that is, less reliance on Afghan-rebel proxies - would have shortened the war in Afghanistan, produced less civilian casualties, minimized the escape and release of enemy forces, and captured Osama bin Laden and Mullah Muhammad Omar. Be that as it may, two and a half months of round-the-clock United States air strikes joined with several hundred coalition 'special forces' and thousands of indigenous fighters to produce a stunning military victory in Afghanistan. Despite lingering pockets of resistance, the grossly repressive Taliban regime has been ousted, the al-Qaeda terrorists have been decimated, a representative interim government is in place, and a multinational peacekeeping force has been deployed.Yet this is only the beginning. Widespread lawlessness prevails, tribal warlords retain substantial power, and the Afghan economy is in ruins. The United States and the United Nations, in particular, are providing food and shelter for millions of starving, displaced Afghans. In human terms, one cannot exaggerate the importance of this effort. The blunt truth, however, is that from the perspective of the war on terrorism, it can have little more than band-aid impact.Let us not forget the over-arching objective of the war in Afghanistan: to pull out global terrorism by its roots, virtually eliminating the possibility that it will rise again from the ashes. This means building an Afghan society that will be reasonably stable, equitable, and - most of all - free. If there is any enduring antidote to Afghan-based terrorism, it is gender-sensitive freedom of opportunity, freedom of expression, religious freedom, and freedom from grinding poverty - in short, freedom to hope.Pursuing, capturing, and killing global terrorists and those who support them, and increasing domestic security, are the first lines of defence against attacks on freedom; they do not promote freedom, a delicate seed that must often be planted and must be nourished and renourished. Free societies - with their emphasis on the dignity of every individual - are not good breeding grounds for terrorists. By and large, terrorism thrives in weakly governed countries and in those that grossly violate human rights; Pinochet's Chile, China, Colombia, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, and Zimbabwe are vivid examples. The war on terror is not a matter of clashing Judeo-Christian and Islamic civilizations. Muslims are split between those who cry jihad and the great majority who wish to live in peace. This new war may well evolve as a titanic struggle between free societies and those (of whatever faith) that terrorize their own people and/or spawn fanatics engaged in global terrorism. In the long run, the link from freedom to minimal terrorism will be more significant than the reverse relationship.Even the administration of President George W. Bush, implacably opposed to 'nation building' before (and for sometime after) 11 September, has come to recognize that a free Afghanistan is the best hope for rooting out Afghan-based terrorism. Whether the international community is prepared to pay the full price of helping to achieve a free and stable Afghanistan - tentatively estimated at $15 billion over ten years - is another issue. …