U.S. military policy abroad should strengthen core values

By Ossman Darwiche/ Assistant Opinion Director

Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the people of the United States have been under constant attack from individuals who call themselves “believers.” And rest assured, they are believers, but their fanatical interpretations of their religion have veered so far off course that it has damaged their moral compass.

What is a believer? How do you define this kind of mentality? It can be said that in a way, we are all believers because each of us believes in something no matter how different. But a true believer is a powerful agent, whether for good or for evil. They are the unrelenting force that will stop at nothing until they achieve their desired goals.  The bigger question yet remains, what do you believe? And how much are you willing to give, how far are you willing to go to see the fruit of those beliefs flourish?

The question is a double-edged sword, because let’s face it, one can believe in evil just as one can believe in good. But good and evil are age old concepts that some say are relative, not concrete.

I say no! While it is true that violent extremists may believe what they are doing to be “good,” it does not make it such in the eyes of the collective conscience of humanity. I say “good” means the preservation of life in all its forms, and “evil” is the menace which threatens to destroy life as we know it. The problem with our Western society is that we have become so open minded that we have forgotten to shut our mental gates to dangerous people and ideas which contradict everything we value as a society.

Open mindedness is a good thing, but life is all about balance. Too much of anything is indeed a bad thing. But as outrageous as this mentality may be, it is one which has proven very hard to kill, because much like the hydra of Greek mythology, if you cut off one head two more will grow in its place. No matter the superiority of our technology or military, a “believer” will find away to hit us hard.

And that is the reason why I believe we are inevitably losing the fight in this “War on Terror,” unless we take immediate action to stop it. We can continue spending billions of taxpayer dollars to support our military and defense infrastructure to keep fighting this war “till kingdom come,” or we can check and reform our own values and beliefs here on the home front, I’m talking about a new cultural revolution. By strengthening our own beliefs here in the West, we will effectively counter the current decay of American society, spark a cultural revival which I dare say has the potential to spread around the world!

And why not? We speak so much of coexistence on our campuses, and yet nothing is done to encourage those values in our greater global arena. When we finally learn to do this, we might be surprised to see the course of this war turned in our favor, when freedom, democracy and coexistence is spread throughout the world. As controversial as my views may be, I still believe that the only war worth fighting is one that enforces democracy from sea to shining sea, because doing so does not oppress other people, on the contrary – we give the world the freedom to choose their destiny.

And once beautiful people from every country of every faith and culture are raised on solid human education promoting coexistence and the advancement of science, medicine and technology, perhaps in two generations, maybe three, we will see a more united global community. I’m not saying it will be a utopian society; I’m saying that the ultimate strategy to winning this external war is by first winning the war within us all. To fight believers, we must ourselves become believers.

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of Panther Press Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.