Humanitarian Intervention vs War on Terror
Wag of the Finger
Kenneth Ballen of Terror Free Tomorrow
OP-Ed Title: Humanitarian aid: winning the terror war Quote: The US must support new and expanded humanitarian missions by the military. By demonstrating our common humanity and a benevolent side to American power, these missions have proved to be America's most successful weapon against extremism in the Muslim world.
December 20, 2006
Going along with the conversation about War on Terror as Orwellian and Bush's speech calling for a bigger military and the war as the calling of the new generation, I have been thinking about how 'mired' our country has gotten in this frame. The war on terror concept is as much a mental quagmire as Iraq has become physically.
In surfing the net for an alternative I discovered a site called Terror Free Tomorrow--- www.terrorfreetomorrow.org. I found out about this group by reading the op-ed linked and qouted above.
The article title is this: Humanitarian aid: winning the terror war
The speaker is talking about an entirely different strategy for thwarting terrorism, yet he reinforces the war frame. He is arguing for the effectiveness of using military-delivered humanitarian aid to distraut Muslim areas. Terror Free Tommorow is attempting to thwart terrorism on a very different front than Bush's War. Rather than attacking supporters of terrorism (with guns, bombs, and jabs like axis of evil) it draws on the progressive 'nuture' model of politics and policy.
This is truly a progressive strategy, and it might well prove to be a strategic initiative as well (which is discussed in Thinking Points on 102), for it furthers the value of progressives via and act of empathy and nuturing while it undermines the need for the conservative pre-emptive, unilateral war etc. This would then provide legitimacy for policies which attempt to prevent social problems via values of nuturing and social responsibility.
My primary critique of the op-ed and the site however are that they talk about 'weapons' and 'wars' against the extremists which reinforces the war frame, thereby hurting their own cause: humanitarian intervention.
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Humanitarian AID vs. INTERVENTION
We should promote HUMANITARIAN AID instead of HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTIONS which mean war abroad and thus have nothing humanitarian about them. Also we should completely avoid the term HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION because it reinforces the conservative AMERICAN EXEPTIONALISM frame: "The images of an unruly world, of anarchy and chaos, of failed modernity, recycle stereo-types of racial inferiority from earlier colonial discourses about races who are incapable of governing themselves […]” (Kaplan: Violent Belongings and the Question of Empire Today, p.5)
Best:
Dominik (Germany)
New! To clarify...
you are saying that Terror Free Tommorow's strategy is a good one, but their use of the language of war and weapons reinforces the military frame? I would agree with the idea that progressive values motivate us to provide humanitarian assistance, which can reduce support for terrorism. I also agree that references to aid as a "weapon" strengthen the "war on terror" frame.
I would add that the organization's website also uses language that reinforces the war frame, and its advisors include supporters of Bush's "War on Terror." That does not mean that it is not a progressive strategy, but rather that some of its supporters, such as John McCain, view it as an adjunct to essential military action. The organization does not present itself as a progressive or conservative effort and in no way criticizes U.S. military interventions that most progressives believe contribute to support for terrorism.
Regarding humanitarian assistance and the goodwill that it can yield, you might be interested in this 60 Minutes story about doctors from New York City who treated survivors of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/10/60minutes/main1036922.shtml
You can see the 60 Minutes story on the organization's website:
http://www.nycmedics.org
Thanks for sharing this interesting op-ed along with your analysis, DavidP.
Evan