The Awful Logic of Senseless Violence

Yesterday was a day of violence, a day of terror, a day of tragedy. For two weeks, Americans watched the conflict in the Middle East with a strange sense of detachment. It was removed, foreign. And then, a single terrible blast ripped apart our illusion of isolation and security. Just after midnight, local time, terrorists struck at the United States in a suicide attack. The USS Cole, among our most sophisticated ships of war, had stopped to refuel in the port of Aden, Yemen. Two men on a small vessel assisting the Cole into the dock drew themselves to attention, and detonated the explosives that they had on board.

President Clinton termed it "a despicable and cowardly act." One cannot look at the pictures of the six sailors known to have died in the attack, watch the footage of the dozens of wounded Americans covered in blood, or hear of the 11 men still missing and presumed dead without reaching the same conclusion. On every newscast, the jagged hole in the vessel's side gapes open in a silent, agonized scream. Admiral Vern Clark, the Naval Chief of Staff, termed it a "senseless act of terror."

If we are to prevent further bloodshed, further pain, and further violence, it is crucial that we understand why the Admiral could not have been more wrong. For the men who carry out such attacks, they are not only logical, but necessary. The exact identity of the attackers is still unknown, but at the moment, the investigation is reported to be focusing on Islamic fundamentalists.

The same awful logic binds them together, whether they be the suicide bombers of Hamas, the minions of Osama bin Laden, the kidnappers of Hezbollah, or the followers of Zein al-Abidine al-Mihdar, who swore revenge after he was executed almost precisely one year ago for kidnapping 16 people in Yemen. They do not follow the way of Islam. They have perverted that religion and twisted it to promise heavenly rapture to those who die attacking Westerners. The problem is that we in the West have tacitly encouraged them.

To these terrorists, Israel and the United States are bound together. For the past few years, as the United States has encouraged Israel to reach accord with her neighbors and with Palestinians, they have taken each concession as a betrayal of weakness. Every time Israel has drawn a line in the sand, there have been new outbreaks of violence, strengthening the resolve of the Israeli people to make peace, and leading to further concessions.

Terrorists have learned well the lesson of Lebanon, where Israel, under American pressure, withdrew her forces after two decades of attacks. They listened as America failed to veto a United Nations resolution condemning Israel, saying, among other things, that they feared provoking violence. They watch as America continues to protect the region from Saddam Hussein, continues to pour billions of dollars of foreign aid into countries where political leaders routinely condemn America, and incite violence. To them, the message is plain: terror succeeds.

That is why, for the past two weeks, Israel has been rocked by violence. The Palestinian people, frustrated by a lack of progress, turn to the terrorists as heroes, the only leaders capable of attaining results. They take to the streets, enraged, confident that if they die, they will ascend to heaven and that if they live, they will see Israel cave to terror.

The Arab nations unite behind Yasser Arafat, encouraging his intransigence, confident that though America may complain, she will not punish them for their obstruction of peace. Of course, the latest violence in the Middle East is far, far more complex than that. For each life lost so far, there is ample blame, enough to extend to every party in the conflict. But until the region is willing to renounce violence as an extension of diplomacy, the fighting will continue. Until Middle Eastern leaders respond to these clashes by condemning all parties, and focus not on the roots of the violence but upon its termination, the death toll will rise. And until the international community presents a united, uncompromising front to terrorists, we will continue to lower our flags to half-mast, and to bow our heads in silent tribute to the fallen.

If we are to learn a lesson from this tragedy, it is not that we ought to withdraw from the Middle East or distance ourselves from Israel. Rather, we should embrace Middle Eastern democracy more closely, condemn terror and violence more harshly, and respond more sharply to such attacks, whether they be verbal or physical. In the words of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, "[This] doesn't mean that we can crawl into an ostrich-like mode. We are eagles." And eagles we must be.