War and Foreign Policy

The events of September 11, and the response to them by the Bush administration, make Elizabeth Anscombe’s classic essays newly pertinent. Her essays present the most influential account 

The terrorist attack in September did immense damage to life and property, damage which the federal government has compounded with its wartime response, which has come at the expense of the freedom of the American people. The very merit of freedom itself has been called into question. If the terrorists desired to do maximum damage, they would have hoped for just such a response.

The poor security of U.S. airlines is a predictable outcome of government regulations and subsidies. Only through complete privatization of the industry will consumers be able to fly cheaply and safely.

In the weeks since September 11, the Federal Reserve has zoomed the money supply at an astounding rate--an amazing fact when you consider that the economy has actually shrunk during this time. The demand for dollars has gone up due to higher savings, but not enough to permanently sop up all that extra cash sloshing around the world today, thanks to an incredibly irresponsible policy.

Each time America has become politically involved in the Middle East, the results have been the same: U.S. demonization of a single man grows a once-shadowy or despised crank into a popular hero of the Arab masses--the Arabic or Islamic David that dares to stand up and confront the U.S. oil dominion over the Arab world.

Presidents assume near dictatorial powers during wars, and FDR was able to manipulate World War II to provide moral legitimacy to his domestic agenda. With the war, Roosevelt could boast of eliminating unemployment at home while fighting evil abroad. Not a bad deal.

The pessimistic scenario is not only that American businessmen, students, and tourists will forever fear to travel in any nation with a Muslim community. It could also mean disinvestment overseas, the further impoverishment of the developing world, a lasting world depression, a world split into major warring blocks, and police-state policies at home.

If the military was all it took to wipe out terrorists, writes Robert Blackstock, Israel would have long ago shut down the PLO, and Britain would have already made Northern Ireland a vacation mecca.

Either the U.S. should reclaim its traditional policy of free trade and peace and thereby end its international military interventions, or it should wage unrelenting war against any group or government that resents and predictably responds to U.S. policy.

Professor Berns has written a book capable of great harm. Not content with the world's major faiths, he proposes to establish a "civil religion" in the guise of patriotism.