Imagine All the People
By James McQuiston

The United States are in chaos, in a bizarre style of the rapture so vividly described in Revelation. 4 planes have been hijacked, 4 different targets attacked. The only true villain that this world can muster aside from Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, has been pointed to as the guilty party. This is by far the biggest piece of terrorism the United States have had to deal with receiving. However, this is no where near as vile as the terrorism that the United States have perpetuated for years against Iraq. This includes going against the resolutions that the Geneva Convention passed on August 12th of 1949. In this resolution, it says that "It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove, or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies, and irrigation works." The government has been withholding valuable supplies that are essential to the desalination of Iraq?s water, which as Thomas J. Nagy points out in the September 2001 issue of The Progressive.
No terrorist action should be tolerated, regardless of what nation it comes from or what cause it stands for. Even the most militant and nationalistic person around should not consider retaliation as an option By launching any sort of strikes against Bin Laden, the Taliban, or Afghanistan, we are only setting the world stage for a third great war, the likes of which we have never seen. The United States has one viable, one sane option to seriously consider, and that would be the withdrawal of all aid ad funds from any operations in the Middle East. That?s right, if only we would keep out of other nation?s business. That is not to say we should adopt the ideal of isolationism again, but we should try to help the world out. The world has no need for the United States-as-policeman anymore, but a United States-as-humanitarian. Instead of sending guns to promote civil wars and the like, the States should send aid packages, send doctors, and give a helping hand to all of the nations of the world. War is a lucrative business, I know, but what could honestly better then one nation, and one world's peace?
To reiterate, I do not defend or condone any terrorist action, regardless of where or why it came to be. John Lennon, in his monumental song, "Imagine" said it better then any words I could come up with:

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...