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Tragedy in Russia Conservatives like to tout their belief that the best way to fight the war on terror is by killing as many terrorists as we can. Any attempt to understand the social forces that create extremism is weakness. Any suggestion that perhaps our own foreign policy is contributing to the rise of terrorism is treason. We are told that we must create a tough, united front and demonstrate how steadfast we are in this war. This attitude closely matches the approach that Vladimir Putin and the Russian Army have been taking to the insurgency in Chechnya. [1] Today's headlines show, as the standoff at the school in Beslan, Russia has ended in violence and death, it is not an approach without risk. Risks which our government refuses to acknowledge in any but the vaguest sense. Yet through their actions they are inviting terrorists to do in one of our schools what the Chechen rebels have just done in Russia. News reports are still unclear, but preliminary estimates are at least 120 dead, presumably including many children. I had a discussion with someone who was strongly supportive of Bush's actions after 9/11. They were telling me all of the reasons why Bush's approach was the correct one. When they had finished I posed a scenario to which no one I know has had a satisfactory answer. I asked about the possibility that the reason for 9/11 is that there are legitimate grievances out there in the world, and that the people holding those grievances feel completely powerless. They have no voice which they can raise loud enough to get the United States to listen to them. What if doing something like 9/11 is the only way for these people to get our attention? In that scenario, isn't the approach of brushing them aside as homicidal maniacs and launching an all-out offensive challenging them to find another way to get us to listen? This provoked a thoughtful silence, and the response 'you may well be right.' That scenario is my 9/11 nightmare. Rather than engaging in serious discussion about what was so wrong with the world that it could breed such hatred and violence, we have simply sought to stomp out those who are, from our perspective, in the wrong. And clearly with some number of the people we are dealing with death seems like the only way to stop them. But what of those who were less zealous three years ago, who are being radicalised by our indifference and belligerence? What of those whose real grievance is not with us but with their repressive government at home which we support? I will differ with many others on the left with the acknowledgement that perhaps there are some groups of people and some scenarios in which the use of force is our only option. This does not, however, excuse the recklessness of the Bush administration in choosing the military as Plan A. And it condemns them strongly for not even trying to sort out what other approaches we must be pursuing. And it in no way excuses the blindness in which they have sought to dismiss all Islamic extremists as maniacs. Meanwhile, even as I write this, the death toll mounts in Russia. The latest headline now says 150 dead. Imagine that this were one of our schools, and our children dying. Would we seek solace in a belief that our president had done everything in his power to prevent the unpreventable? Or would we face the unpleasant facts and ask the tough questions about why our president chose to increase the risk to our families? Even if one concedes that the president is probably sincere in believing that he is doing the right thing, his stunningly simplistic worldview is clearly crippling his ability to act properly. And this is the most horrifying thing about his re-election stance: he is touting his strength and resoluteness, when they are in fact his weakness. Acting decisively but wrongly is doing more harm than would a nuanced approach which mixed diplomacy, engagement and, only when necessary, force. Rushing headlong into a burning building without first figuring out whether it is necessary to do so does not make you a hero, it makes you reckless. And good people may well die trying to undo the harm you have caused by not stopping to think. References: 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/03/international/europe/03CND-RUSS.html?hp