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January 4, 2002/20 Tevet 5762, Vol. 54, No. 16
Don't take the bait
BARRY COHEN
Editor
As we continue to assess the Sept. 11 attacks, we gain understanding of how a group of terrorists meticulously executed a plan to turn airliners into weapons. What we do not yet know for certain is what we might have done differently to protect our nation from the dreadful attack.
Some blame lies with former President Bill Clinton for failing to allocate the resources to identify the threat Al Qaeda posed. Other blame lies with the CIA and the FBI for failing to coordinate their investigative efforts.
And then there is Osama bin Laden. He argues that the United States is solely responsible for the attacks, as punishment for imperialistic foreign policy; for its military presence in Saudi Arabia; for banning trade with Iraq; and for supporting Israel.
Among our responsibilities as citizens is critiquing how well our government serves and protects us.
We can factor out Osama bin Laden's brash accusations from our appraisal of our government's performance. His red-herring claims are one aspect in the propaganda war of misinformation.
Unfortunately, sometimes those who should know better take the bait.
The Dec. 27 KTAR radio talk show Real Life with David Leibowitz included an interview with Dr. Paul Eppinger, director of the Arizona Ecumenical Council. Eppinger talked like someone misled by bin Laden's claims.
"We need to fess up" about a number of foreign policy decisions, he told Leibowitz. He asserted the United States is the only nation to use atomic weapons on people. He criticized U.S. officials for walking out of the United Nations Racism Conference in Durban, South Africa, last summer. Of the Iraqi embargo, he said, "Thousands and thousands of children have died there from starvation and health issues."
Leibowitz asked, "Are you arguing bin Laden may have had a point in attacking America?" Eppinger answered, "precisely." While he did label bin Laden as "a criminal" and "a thug," he said, "We are not totally innocent. ... We are a country that has blood on its hands."
Eppinger has fallen into the trap of "blaming the victim" for the Sept. 11 attacks. In doing so, he shifts blame from both the perpetrators and from nations that cultivate terrorism.
Saudi Arabia has bankrolled bin Laden and Al Qaeda, notwithstanding that nation's repeated denials. Syria and Iran continue to fund, respectively, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Iraq's stonewalling of U.N. weapons inspectors keeps the embargo in place.
Across the Islamic world, one billion Muslims live in poverty. Government corruption is rampant. Religious fanaticism thrives.
While United States foreign policy falls short of perfection, in no way does even the worst of it support Eppinger's claim that we brought the violence on ourselves. He and other community leaders must learn to recognize misinformation and refuse to take the bait that we are responsible for what happened Sept. 11, however many times it is repeated.
Responsibility lies with those who systematically abuse the freedoms that make our nation great, those who fund them, and those who create and maintain the political and economic conditions that give rise to fanaticism.
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