War on Terrorism or War on the Roots of Terrorism?

More people, by far, die of chronic malnutritionhan than die in terrorist acts.

More people die of diarrhea from a lack of clean drinking water, by far, than die in terrorist acts.

More people die of AIDS complications, by far, than die in terrorist acts.

More people die in wars supposedly intended to root out terrorism, by far - than die in terrorist acts.

So how about a war on hunger? A war on poverty? A war on polluted water? A war on AIDS? A war on war itself? Let us not be distracted from the real killers!

The Afghan War is now the longest in U.S. history. It has cost billions of dollars and an uncountable number of lives -- servicepeople and innocents on the ground caught in crossfire. And all for -- what? Ostensibly to "get" one man, who has now been "gotten". Maybe the real reason behind the war is to control the oil and poppy fields. Who knows.

But, meanwhile, every day, every minute, someone is dying of malnutrition, someone else is dying of diarrhea, someone else is dying of AIDS complications. Every ninety seconds a mother somewhere in the world is dying in childbirth -- and we are worried about terrorism?

Granted, terrorism is a scourge. But there are greater scourges.
I've heard it said that the West needs to fight terrorism because it represents a potential threat of thousands of people dying sometime in the future. My answer is that thousands of people, at least, die every day of chronic malnutrition, diarrhea, AIDS complications, and so on. Not potential deaths, but real deaths.

However, sadly, these deaths do not make headlines in the West. White Americans and Europeans are but vaguely aware that there are poor people in Africa. Their news media are focused on the Northern Hemisphere, on the wealthy and, for the most part, predominantly white countries - the United States, Canada, western Europe, Japan, and perhaps Australia. Other countries are only in the news when there are major disasters or terrorist uprisings. Most white Americans and Europeans don't have any idea that millions die every year from these scourges.

Billions of dollars have been spent on the Afghan War (now the longest war in U.S. history), not to mention the wars in Iraq and other countries. Many human lives have been snuffed out in these wars -- American and allied servicepeople, and innocent locals caught in the crossfire. And finally the ostensible objective of the Afghan War, "getting" Osama, has been accomplished. But it has not ended terrorism -- Osama is now a martyr, and he will be championed and avenged.

Now imagine if those billions of dollars had been spent on eradicating chronic malnutrition, diarrhea, polluted drinking water, AIDS, and petty military dictators killing their own citizens as if they were swatting flies. These scourges could be gone from now if we had spent our billions on that!

Next, think what it is that is so appealing about terrorism. Terrorists gain converts who see how their fellow citizens are suffering and dying from all the scourges of extreme poverty, while people in the West get grossly bloated from overeating and throw tons of food away every day, while they exploit their third world countries for cheap labor and raw materials, dumping pollution in return.

Yes, thousands died in the terrorist attacks of September 11. But, while I mourn every one of those needless deaths, the fact remains that those thousands are but a minuscule proportion of the population of the United States.

Also dying needlessly are millions of people in the Third World. And these millions are, in fact, a significant proportion of the populations of their countries! We care about our own people who die needlessly. But, if we are truly devoted Christians or Jews or Muslims, then we care about all people who die needlessly. Let us take away the vast appeal that terrorism wields by conquering these far greater enemies!

If we eliminate chronic malnutrition, diarrhea, AIDS, etc., terrorism will have no appeal -- we eliminate terrorism too! If we continue to fight fire with fire, to try to destroy the symptom, terrorism, instead of the root cause, malnutrition/diarrhea/AIDS, etc., we will only continue the appeal that terrorism holds for those whose lives are desperate.