Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
killed. The attack on the Pentagon seems to have been largely ignored,
almost forgotten. Why? Why do civilian deaths seem to shock us in a way
that military casualties do not?
The very idea of terror attacks on civilian targets creates a visceral
reaction in all of us. Those who died in the World Trade Center weren't
soldiers or instruments of U.S. foreign policy. They were ordinary folks
simply going to work to support their families. They kissed their spouses
good-bye that morning never imagining that this was the last time they
would ever come home to them. The media reported numerous stories of
people trapped on floors above the impact of the planes phoning home
on cell phones to the loved ones they knew they would not see again in
this world. These images were enough to terrorize average citizens into
changing jobs and moving away from crowded population centers. In the
aftermath of the attacks, rentals of office space in the Empire State Build-
ing, once again the highest building in New York City, began to drop pre-
cipitously as people began to view the stately building not as prime
commercial real estate but as the new prime target for the terrorists. As
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin observed, “the purpose of terrorism is to terrify.”
Certainly attacks against innocent men, women, and children do just that.
However, other, more practical reasons better explain why economic
targets are now so desirable to those seeking to destroy our way of life and
diminish American influence throughout the world. One is the fact that
the attacks on the World Trade Center resulted in consequences to the
American and world economies that exceeded even the most optimistic
expectations of Osama Bin Laden and his associates. They immediately
recognized that economic targets were not only easier to hit but also that
there was an unlimited supply of such targets that could be easily struck
with more far-reaching effects than attacks against embassies and military
bases.
Our system of government, with our constitutionally guaranteed free-
dom and liberty, is the enemy of radical fundamentalism. Fundament-
alists loathe democracy because it is the antithesis of the repressive
theocratic system they aspire to create. Radical Muslim extremists know
all too well that the fanaticism they seek to promote cannot flourish within
an open society where freedom of thought and expression is protected.
They are also aware that the most effective way to combat the spread of
Western-style democracies is to attack the foundations of economic pros-
perity that makes it so powerful. Damage the American economy and you
damage American ability to spread its ideals throughout the world. Bin
