LA Daily News

September 16, 2001


WE MUST UNITE TO END GLOBAL TERRORIST THREAT ATTACK ON AMERICA

by Congressman Brad Sherman

America bore witness to an unimaginable horror Tuesday. Immediately, we also observed the tremendous bravery of police and firefighters rushing to the aid of others and countless volunteers providing medical services, life-giving blood, labor and expertise to recovery efforts.

At least one thing has emerged from the rubble: Americans have proved our resolve against the deeply personal tragedy inflicted upon us by faceless murderers.

In certain foreign cities, there were those who danced in the street, believing that the terrorists proved their strength by killing thousands of American civilians. That is not strength, it is cowardice. America has the technology to kill millions of civilians, but our great strength is that we do everything possible to avoid killing civilians.

Terrorism, however, knows no humanity, and we must mobilize for a war against it. Not only against the criminals responsible for this horrific assault, but all terrorism.

However, even as our anger mounts, we must remember that this is not a war against Islam or Muslims. The United States' last three military campaigns were to protect Muslim people. We restored independence to the people of Kuwait and then fought in two further engagements in which we had no economic stake.

In the mid-1990s, we acted to stop the genocide of Bosnian Muslims. In 1999, we battled Serbia, a Christian country, to protect its Albanian-Muslim minority from ethnic cleansing.

The San Fernando Valley is one of the most diverse areas in the world. I am sure we will pull together -- Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and people of all faiths -- to provide comfort to the grieving, to assure security for our families and to support such anti-terrorist actions as necessary.

For years, we have tried economic sanctions to choke off terrorism. The United States urged our friends to curtail investment and aid to countries which support terrorism. Now, we must have the full support of our allies.

Those who claim to be friends of America can no longer do business as usual with countries that harbor terrorists. Nor can we allow European bank secrecy laws to stand in the way of our investigators.

We must wage war against all of the well-organized and well-financed terrorist groups who have dedicated themselves to killing Americans. We should seek United Nations approval for our actions, but we must be prepared to act alone.

If we destroy only one terrorist group, others will spring up in its place, so long as there is a host government willing to harbor mass murderers.

The Taliban government of Afghanistan has harbored Osama bin Laden for too long. He is probably responsible for the events of Tuesday and is clearly responsible for the attack on the USS Cole and the bombing of our embassies in East Africa.

As long as the Taliban government of Afghanistan harbors bin Laden, he will work every day to top the evil of Tuesday. And even if bin Laden himself were to pass from the scene, as long as the Taliban government is willing to host such large and well-organized terrorists, events like these will be repeated.

It is easy to blame our intelligence agencies for failing to stop the events of last week. But if Afghanistan harbors well-financed terrorist organizations, sitting in safety and protection and plotting horrendous crimes against America, then no matter how good our intelligence agencies are, some of those plots will be successful.

We must demand that the Taliban government of Afghanistan hand bin Laden and his henchmen over to us now, and stop harboring all terrorists. If they refuse, we must initiate hostilities. This is a conflict that we can win as we won in Kosovo, chiefly with air power and the help of local allies on the ground.

The Northern Alliance of Afghanistan shelled Kabul on Tuesday night, presumably in response to bin Laden's attack the night before on the Alliance leader, Gen. Massoud, who was left in a coma. The Northern Alliance remains intact, and if the Afghan government does not surrender bin Laden, the United States should see that the Northern Alliance becomes the best-armed rebel army in the world.

These forces have fought the Taliban to a standstill without American help. With our help, including providing arms and perhaps air cover, they could march on the ruling Afghani leaders in Kabul.

A war against the Taliban government of Afghanistan may involve American casualties, but how many thousands of casualties will we suffer if we allow a foreign government to harbor and support well-organized and well-financed terrorist groups who engage in mass murder?

Terrorism wins if we turn against each other in fear and let feelings of outrage erode our community bonds.

In a region as diverse as the San Fernando Valley, the rights and freedoms of our neighbors must be protected. We can wage a war abroad and implement enhanced safety and security at home without letting our racial and religious insecurities manifest into antagonism.

Americans of all creeds must defeat the reign of terror by embracing our rich cultural and religious heritage.

U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman represents the San Fernando Valley and serves on the International Relations Committee and its Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia.
 

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