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PART ISAN REVI EW
pl anned a nd a lmost perfectl y executed a ttac ks in New Yo rk a nd Was h–
ingto n , w hich were mea nt (litera ll y) to terro ri ze the Ame rica n pu b li c,
humili a te the U.S . gove rnment, expose the vuln era bility of Ameri ca's
fin ancia l infrastructure, a nd (pres uma bl y) ignite a g lo ba l ins urrecti on
aga in st America n po litica l, economi c, a nd cultura l " imperi a li sm. "
T he edito rs have no truck with euphemi sms. "Ameri ca is a t war,"
th ey decla re, pro perl y ass umin g th a t th eir reade rs a re a bl e to di stingui sh
betwee n different kinds o f wa r witho ut th e need for semanti c nitp ick–
ings
(pace
Michae l H owa rd , in the current iss ue o f
Foreign Affairs ).
Equ a ll y o n po int is the ir insistence th a t the wa r o n terro ri sm will now
a lso fo rce thi s country (a) to co nfro nt mo re meth odi ca ll y and energe ti –
ca ll y th e rela ted questi o n o f how best "to prevent a nd res po nd to th e
pro li fe ra tion o f weapo ns of mass destructi o n " ; (b ) to accept with
grea ter equ animity " the need fo r the coopera ti o n and suppo rt of pa rt–
ners a broad "; a nd (c ) " to reconside r wh ether the cl ose rela ti o ns it ma in –
ta in s with repress ive auth o ritarian regimes to ass ure reg io na l sta bility in
th e sho rt term trul y serve [U. S.! interests in th e lo ng term. "
SO HOW
D ID
THI S HAPPEN ? To begin w ith , Bri a n M . J enkin s (" Anatomy
o f a Terro ri st Attac k ") is co rrect to po int o ut th a t " th e terro ri sts' secre t
wea po n o n Septembe r
T I
was no t hi gh techn o logy but huma n
reso lve"- and , I wo uld add , fa na tica l dedi ca ti o n to a n ev il ca use, w hi ch
(pace
An a to l Li even, a nd Susa n Sontag ea rli er) is no t quite th e same
thing as bravery. What ca use ? The a lways eloquent Fo uad Ajami minces
no wo rds: " Xeno ph o bi a o f a murdero us kind ... dressed up in re li gio us
ga rb." To be sure- aga in to quote fr om Aj ami 's " Pax American a in th e
Middl e East "-the d eca des-o ld " Ame ri ca n imperi a lism in th e Arab–
Muslim wo rld [h ad] ha tched a mo nste r. " But was it a mo nster entire ly
o f America's own doing, wha teve r the pros a nd cons o f U.S . mi scalcu–
la ti o n
(if
that's what it was) in suppo rting the Sha hs a nd the Sad a ts a nd
the Mubara ks of thi s wo rld , in o ppos ing the Saddams a nd Q add a fi s, o r
in re fu sing to embrace enthu siasti ca ll y the Pa lestini a ns' ca use? No t
quite. " Lo ng befo re the second intifada," writes Ajami , " th ere was a
deadl y tra il o f anti -Ameri ca n terror. " Mo reove r, as Mi chae l Sco tt Dora n
sta tes in the ve ry next essay (" Somebody Else's C ivil Wa r"), " bin
Laden 's prima ry goa l Iwas ] furth ering the ca use o f Islami c revo luti o n
within the Islami c wo rld itse lf, " thro ugh a
jihad
th a t would do away
with the " polluted " and " ido la trous" Islam a ll egedl y practiced by far
too ma ny Muslims today. And so " th e devo ted members of a l Q aed a
di spla y a n un settling willingness to ma rtyr themselves beca use th ey fee l
tha t ... they are locked in a life-or-dea th strugg le with the fo rces o f
