Terrorism-Why do they hate? Day 1: They hate our freedom.
For series introduction, click here.
On 20 September 2001, in front of a joint session of Congress, President George W. Bush said,
Thus was put forth the idea that Al-Qaeda and their allies attacked the United States because of the freedom and rights held by its citizens.
Proponents: George W. Bush and various members of his administration, as well as some politicians, usually Republicans, but not exclusively.
Plausibility: Not high. Osama bin Laden has never (at least to my knowledge) ever said that he hates America because of its freedom. His reasons for attacking America generally revolve around previous American attacks on Muslim lands. Additionally, Muslims in general do not hate America’s freedoms, as discussed in this book.
Counter-Terrorism Policy Ramifications: Since the United States is not going to give up being “free” in order to stave off terrorist attacks, this line of thinking requires that the US endlessly be at war with those would commit terrorist acts.
And this is exactly what happened in the post 9-11 Bush administration. They called the war the “Global War on Terror” and the “Long War.” The war, according to this thinking, cannot be won by any other means than by killing all those who “hate our freedom.”
It is also a cynical view. It means that control of the situation is in the hands of the terrorists and the United States can do very little to affect their attitude and ambition. The US probably can’t make them hate freedom less, and it isn’t going to stop being free.
Further, it assumes, implicitly, that terrorists are irrational. Is isn’t, in our mind, rational to hate freedom, so therefore, terrorists must be irrational. If they are irrational, they can be dangerous, but they cannot have any legitimate grievance. It both overstates (they are irrational so they will do anything) and understates (they lack legitimacy) their danger to the United States.
My Opinion: A theme that will come through in this series is that we should listen to our enemies. Bin Laden doesn’t talk about hating our freedoms; he talks about the US occupying Muslim countries, killing Muslims, and stealing oil. Lastly, the “They hate our freedom” theory doesn’t pass a common sense (at least from an American perspective) test. Would a hatred of freedom motivate anyone to commit terrorism, especially suicide terrorism?
Conclusion: This line of thinking has been thoroughly discredited by academics, media members, and politicians. This link does a fairly good job of summarizing the dissent.
