Three days after the third anniversary of 9/11, about 40 members of the Johns Hopkins community gathered in the Glass Pavilion to remember the event's victims and the atrocities that transpired.
The benediction, given by Rabbi Joe Manashe, director of the Johns Hopkins University Hillel, opened the evening. Not merely a memorial service, the event also included an educational discussion on the war against the nation's new enemy, terrorism.
Sponsored by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a non-profit, non-partisan organization devoted to fighting terrorism, and organized by two of its Fellows, Hopkins students Yonina Alexander '05 and Sarah David '07, the event began with a moment of silence. An hour of discussion by both Dr. Thomas Keaney, the Executive Director of the Foreign Policy Institute as the School of Advanced International Studies, and Dr. Steven David, the Director of the International Relations program followed.
"The issue of terrorism is one that poses the most significant threat to security today," said Alexander. She stressed the importance of "being educated on the problems of terror and the possible solutions."
David concurred: "It is imperative that we know about terrorism, as the threat of terrorism to us is our parent's communism and our grandparent's Nazi Germany; our generation has to be aware of the threat we are left to deal with."
According to FDD, terrorism is defined as "the deliberate use of violence against non-combatants in the name of a political cause or ideology. In this, the 21th century, that Islamic extremism and rogue states, the major ideological threat to democracies, must be defended against."
Dr. David lectured the audience on the root causes of terrorism, beginning by weighing the possible sources of terrorism. He said, "political repression, poverty, the power of religion, and American politics, are the four plausible sources of terrorism."
He noted that it is not Islam itself that is the cause of terrorism, as most Islamic people are not violent, such as those in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Dr. David suggested three possible modes of action and their limitations: deterrence, defense and preemption. Deterrence, a method implemented in the Cold War with the US and the Soviet Union, is not as feasible in this situation, as "the demands of the terrorists are so absurd, they don't have a return address, and they can't be threatened by death."
The mode of defense also has its inherent flaws, as "it is impossible to protect everyone, especially as no one is really safe with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction." No matter how many precautions are made -- the protection of ports, tunnels, bridges, and immigration restrictions -- "civil liberties are imposed upon and we can't merely assume that defense itself is going to help."
Preemption is similarly faulty in that it is "hard to be certain that you have good intelligence and the moral implication may be more trouble than it is worth in regards to killing without a trial and the like."
Dr. David concluded, "new realities are created by new threats."
Keaney is a former professor of military strategy at the National War College, as well as director of courses on military strategy. He was later an associate professor of history at the United States Air Force Academy. In the Vietnam War he served in the United States Air Force where he was a forward air controller and a B-52 squadron commander.
Keaney opened, "Terrorism is the arm and weapon of insurgency; it is the weapon of the weak, as they rely on morale to create change."
He noted that the major setback in our defensive war against terrorism was our lack of preparedness in combating an attack from within, as the massive amounts of funding channeled into the military went toward protection of possible threats from outside sources, such as China or Iraq.
He used the events of 9/11 as an example, when the U.S. Air Force had a plane take off from Virginia and head toward the Atlantic Ocean, as we were expecting a threat from the outside.
In fact, it is not technically the military's jurisdiction; problems within our boarders are usually left to the FBI; therefore, Keaney explained, "we are left in a new situation with a new problem." We are vulnerable and "spoiled, as most of the world is used to the fear of terrorism from within, and it may just be something we have to get used to."
Keaney concluded, addressing the situation in Iraq as a "lack of military planning for after takeover," and noted the detrimental affects that had on our sense of power in the region and on the lack of respect given us as a result.
Alexander and Sarah David's fellowship on counter-terrorism is a program "to provide students with a solid background in the field of international terrorism and the tools necessary to promote pro-democratic/anti-terrorist thought on campus."
Sarah David said, "We educate you so that you can educate others."
