The bombing of Afghanistan has gone on for a month now. Each day during his Pentagon press briefing, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld reports on the military’s success, detailing the targets that were destroyed and the direction the war is going.
Although Rumsfeld has become a favorite among reporters, each day the national media report on the inordinately large number of Afghani casualties, namely women and children.
Which are we to believe? Is our government systematically killing Taliban officials with surgical strikes of “smart” bombs, or is the military carpet-bombing everything in sight, regardless of identity? The situation is not cut and dry; it would be naive to wholeheartedly believe either case. Civilians have been killed in Afghanistan along with Taliban soldiers, and this is a great tragedy. But the fact is, we are engaged in a war, and death is what war is all about. Whether you are I agree, innocent people will always be killed in war. War is undoubtedly the clearest example of a failure in human rationality, but when it is thrust upon a nation (as it has been on the United States), there is no other recourse.
Without delving into the quagmire of causality, the United States was attacked, pure and simple. The punishment which has been meted out thus far has been severe, and rightly so. Our military is using the heaviest artillery within its arsenal to destroy the enemy. This week, Secretary Rumsfeld announced the use of a 15,000-pound bomb known as the “daisy cutter,” which incinerates everything within a 600-yard radius upon detonation. We have sent special forces teams in to train the Northern Alliance troops in order to begin a ground war and the utter decimation of the Taliban regime. Day and night the Afghani skies are filled with American jets, while the Afghani ground is filled with American bombs.
Throughout all of this, people are dying. By now, thousands of people have been killed by our military. Many civilians have probably given their lives for a government they did not believe in. More innocent people will die before this conflict comes to an end.
Are these good things? No, absolutely not. A person is not rational if they advocate war when peace is to be had. Sometimes peace proves to be an elusive goal. In our current situation I believe it is necessary to work for the complete eradication of our target– not for the sake of more useless destruction, but because I truly believe our cause is just.
The war has begun, and it would be a serious disservice to all of the innocent people killed on Sept. 11 here in the United States, as well as the citizens of Afghanistan who have been killed since, to end the battle prematurely. The task must be completed, or all of the death will have been in vain. This war could last months, and some suggest it will last for years to come. Whether you believe in the war or not, you can hope for a peaceful resolution to this awful situation. Throughout the rest of the war we can expect to see the Pentagon continue to issue positive statements as to why we are fighting an overseas battle. Secretary Rumsfeld will use his charm and wit to take our minds off of the carnage in Afghanistan.
Hopefully the press will also continue to ask the tough questions without totally buying the military’s explanations, because war should be hard as hell to justify.
