The War Is Just And Necessary And Australia Is Right To Get Involved
Benjamin James Morgan
from over 80 nations were murdered in New York, Washington and
Pennsylvania when 19 terrorists supported by Osama Bin Ladens al-Qaeda
terrorist network hijacked four passenger jet airliners and
deliberately crashed them into the World Trade Centre and the
Pentagon. The fourth aircraft crashed into the ground after what was
believed to have been a heroic struggle by passengers on board. In
gaining control of these aircraft these murderers slashed the throats
of innocent air hostesses, slaughtering them without mercy. The
targets were picked for maximum effect, with the casualties and
economic impact calculated by Bin Laden before hand. They deliberately
targeted and killed thousands of NON-COMBATANTS.
Significant evidence gleaned by US and allied intelligence agencies
linking Bin Laden and al-Qaeda to the September 11 attacks has been
released to world leaders and the public, albeit in a sanitised form
to prevent the compromising of sources. The Taliban by their own
admission harboured Bin Laden and through the discovery of al-Qaeda
training videos are known to have been duplicitous in al-Qaeda’s
murderous efforts. BIN LADEN AND THE TALIBAN ARE LEGITMATE TARGETS.
Whilst elements of al-Qaeda may regroup in other nations, requiring
further allied military action, it seems unlikely that they will
receive the same level of protection or support as they did in
Afghanistan.
The world has been shaken from complacency, now fully aware of the
horror that confronts it. This was not the first attack, it is the
latest in a series of terrorist outrages committed or attempted
against Western Democracy, following on from an attempt to blow up Los
Angles airport in 1999, the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000
(17 killed), the bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
in 1998 (224 killed), the bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in
1996 (19 killed), the WTC bombing in 1993 (6 killed), the destruction
of PAN AM flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 (270 killed) and
others. Already further attempts have been made with Richard C Reid, a
Briton with links to al-Qaeda, providentially prevented from
destroying an American passenger jet on route from Paris to Miami.
Equally threats have been made against American and British interests
in Australia and other potential terrorist targets such as
Melbourne’s Rialto Tower.
Contrary to what many apologists might have us believe the solution to
terrorism is not solving poverty in the third world or changing
America’s foreign policy. Osama Bin Laden is one of the
wealthiest men in the world and many of the hijackers came from oil
rich Saudi Arabia. These attacks occurred because our democratic way
of life threatens the radical views of these villains, men who have
bastardised the religion of Islam, men who believe in the brutal
treatment of women, men who kill women when they are raped, men who
would deny women the right to an education and to take part in the
political process. Poverty has nothing to do with it. The only way to
stop these attacks from continuing is to fight fire with fire. If the
nations that harbour these miscreants will not close down the terror
networks they protect then America and her allies have every right to
conduct military operations to protect their own citizens. In
Afghanistan the Americans gave the ruling Taliban more than a month to
close down al-Qaeda and hand-over Bin Laden, they refused. It is A WAR
OF SELF DEFENCE.
The war is not racist nor is it anti-Islamic. Western nations are
multi-cultural and are better for it. We support religious tolerance
and the right to freedom of speech. The West is not against Islam,
NATOs intervention in Kosovo in 1999 showed that. Civilian casualties,
whilst clearly a problem in Afghanistan, have hardly been deliberate
as some Bin Laden apologists charge, the Allies have nothing to gain
by bombing civilians and are in fact relying on the support of Afghan
civilians to hunt down the terrorists. ALL THAT CAN BE DONE TO PREVENT
CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IS BEING DONE. Civilian casualties are always a
problem in war, yet current munitions are more accurate than ever
before, decreasing the number of non-combatants at risk. Where as
during World War Two it took 5000 bombs to successfully destroy 1
target it now only takes 5 bombs to achieve the same result.
Those who believe that the war in Afghanistan is not Australias war
are naive. One only has to recognise just how interconnected the
entire world is to realise that an attack on the US is an attack on
Australia. The US economy is on its knees and may well take the
Australian economy, and the livelihood of thousands of ordinary
Australians, with it. With the decline of the Japanese economy America
has driven world economic growth over the last decade. The September
11 attacks, coupled with a downward trend in the business cycle have
left the US in recession, threatening to plunge the world into a
painful economic downturn, with more the 250,000 airline jobs lost
worldwide since September and the attacks estimated recently by Time
Magazine (21st January 2002) to cost 1.64 million US jobs by the end
of 2002. Hundreds of thousands of Australians live and work in the US
too, 20 of whom were murdered on September 11, 2001. QANTAS flies
daily to and from the US and runs the same risk as US airliners in
being hijack and used to the terrorists despicable ends. Equally if
Australia wishes to continue to host international sporting, cultural
and political events such as the Olympics, then we have to accept that
we may well be the target of terrorist who will seek to attack
American or British interests in Australia. Such is the GLOBAL NATURE
OF TERRORISM, in that in attacking US interests they need not be
confined to the US. There are plenty of Americans living in Australia
and plenty of American targets in this country, an attack on which
will lead to many Australian casualties. Australians must wake up and
realise that the only viable course of action is to fight side by side
with the US and to wholeheartedly support Allied military and naval
action against terrorist networks world-wide. Such is the only way we
can ever hope to rid ourselves terror’s scourge.
In the wake of the September attacks some have suggested that a more
appropriate course of action for the US to adopt would be to use the
international outrage evident resulting from those attacks to
pressurize nations that harbour terrorists to hand them over, rather
than to go to war. In the face of such the obviously clear and present
danger of further attacks this would have been gross negligence,
endangering the lives of many more innocent civilians. Equally through
the conduct of operations in Afghanistan the US and her allies have
gained significant intelligence which has lead to the arrests of 15
al-Qaeda terrorists in Singapore, foiling a plot to attack numerous
targets in that country including the Australian and British High
Commissions, US Navy ships and US personnel. Likewise the
interrogation of terrorist personnel captured in Afghanistan and the
scrutiny of captured documents and videos has lead to the discovery of
potential targets, al-Qaeda plans and operating procedures, and the
existence of terrorist operatives as well as recruiting and financing
networks world-wide. Had the US waited any longer to respond or
adopted an approach of appeasement then further attacks seem sure to
have occurred with significant loss of life. Equally, vast amounts of
intelligence, vital to the security of Western Democratic nations
would have been forfeited.
According to Time Magazine (21st January 2002) by mid January 2002 the
international dragnet has snared 1,500 suspected terrorists worldwide
in more than 50 countries. Despite this intelligence estimates put the
number of potential perrorists with al-Qaeda training at in excess of
10,000. Organisations and individuals with links to the 19 Sepember 11
hijackers operate in at least 63 countries world-wide, obviously
requiring considerable effort on the part of global law enforcement
and if necessary allied military action.
Anything that threatens Americas involvement in world affairs is a
danger to Australian national security. As the tragedies of World War
One, World War Two and the Cold War aptly illustrated, the involvement
of the United States in world affairs is vital to global security.
Despite this many condemns America when it acts in this regard.
America is criticized as a rogue cop or worse when it intervenes for
humanitarian purposes in world trouble spots like Kuwait, Somalia or
Kosovo and yet is also vilified when it fails to act as it did in
Rwanda or Bosnia. AMERICA IS THE SCAPEGOAT FOR ALL THE WORLDS
PROBLEMS.
The Australian Governments approach to this threat to national
security is appropriate, with the dispatch of a modest force of
aircraft and ships and over 1,550 ADF personnel to Afghanistan and the
Persian Gulf to aid in the war against the terrorist threat. These men
and women face real danger in their fight for our right to live, work
and pursue our happiness without the fear of terrorist attacks. Whilst
some Australians maybe concerned that this commitment has denuded
Australia of vital security forces, the Counter Terrorist units of the
ADF, including elements of the SASR, remain on alert in Australia as
do the CT response elements of the State, Territory and Federal
Police.
War is never desirable but at times it may be preferable to the
alternative. The war in Afghanistan is just and necessary. Terrorists
have killed thousands and will kill again if they are not stopped. If
the war has to be widened to prevent further terrorist atrocities then
that is what must occur. Australia, as a nation concerned by the
horrendous humanitarian and economic aftermath of the September 11
attacks and confronting its own terrorist threat must support the US
until the threat of terrorism, in its many forms, is substantially
reduced.
Someone once said of a previous generation of Australian servicemen:
-For our tommorrow they gave their today.- Let us hope it doesnt come
to that in this war against terrorism. Yet we must fully realise what
we are asking our young men and women to do. We are asking that they
leave their loved ones and deliberately place themselves in danger of
serious injury or even death so that we may live in peace. We must
remember that - and remember them - when we are sitting at home eating
our hot dinners and watching television. A nation must not ask so much
of its servicemen and women unless it is truely necessary. In this
case it would seem to be. We are faced with a very real threat and
must combat it or suffer under its evil reign. Having no knowledge of
what war is like, the majority of Australians will struggle to
comprehend what we have committed our servicemen and women to, but we
have to attempt to understand. To fail is to trivialise the risks and
demands so suddenly placed on the men and women of the ADF.
Above all else we must support the brave men and women of the ADF sent
overseas, far from their families, to fight in our name, both now and
when they return. We must ensure that the ADF is properly equipped and
funded, even if this means additional taxation. Current defence
spending in Australia is at a 60 year low, representing just 1.8% of
GDP. To not increase defence spending at this time would be to
jepardise vital re-equipment programs and may risk unnecessary
casualties. Australians must never repeat the injustices done to our
servicemen of the past, when misguided Australians spat on our Vietnam
Veterans for doing their duty to their mates, themselves and their
country. Australians can e-mail their messages of support to the
troops at: messagest...@defence.gov.au.
LEST WE FORGET