Death of a former symbol does not mean the end of the war on terror
A response to the killing of Osama Bin Laden
Thirty-five hundred days passed since the induction of a symbol before we killed him in a cave. Since the introduction of this sign, the meaning of the “terror” has changed forever. The compounding evidence of lives lost in a struggle which was instigated by a single country upon a wealth of factions and a multiplicity of identities, both innocents and antagonists, this contingent symbol has been elevated to a level of authority. The implied permission given to the direction of “justice” in arms, for the retribution of the fall of steel and flesh, the creation of ideology, has come to face the fall of this ideology’s icon. But terror has never been more alive.
Through the invocation of the “evil” of all warriors against freedom and against the Western hand, the symbol made of a man gave credence for attack and for the production of two wars, without the commitment of serious end besides the death of a sign. The American presence has been disconnected: one front has been to instill accord for the wars on American soil, the other has been to devote funds and belief to the cause of, “the war on terror.” Terror became a symbol to be captured and removed, a figure to give revenge for the death of 2,752 victims. A Congress undertook war to remove the force, the spring of Terror’s allies and Terror himself: the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The struggle continued to another border which was supposedly supplying terror. Since the eleventh day of the ninth month of the year of our lord, 2009, close to million human beings have died for the symbol of a symbol (1). The attack on hatred, sometimes called the “war on terror” has been nothing more than an emotional response to an attack on American soil. So then, since the establishment of Terror, terror has taken a new signifier-signified relationship: the face of terror is the fight against an enemy which has been called religious and which has been called extremist, but which has, more than anything else, been the birth of a symbol whose name was the symbol of Terror. The establishment of this symbol gives credence to a show power and might, but has power and might killed Terror? has it removed terror from the world?
Yes and no. Power and might called to a thing called justice: “I’ve directed the full resources for our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them (2).” The Bush administration was corroborated in its assumption of action by the need to commit recourse for lives lost. Justice was the occasion and justice was the grab of reason. The struggle seemed simple. Two organizations were the meaning of terror and a man was the meaning of Terror. A month from the inception of Terror, the struggle was complicated by the finding that terror could not be swept under the concepts, the signifieds which corresponded to human beings. Terror was still a man, but terror was dealt to any human masquerading under the guise of resistance to the presence of anti-terrorist imperialism. The death count climbed and it seemed that a September 16, 2001 quote rang true: “This crusade, this war on terrorism [was] going to take a while (3).” Thus, the inevitable climb toward justice and the fight became elongated.” The struggle in Iraq continued, but even the 2006 hanging of a leader for crimes against humanity failed to remove the terror struggle there. Elections were corrupted. Blood continued to spill and lives were lost in climbing numbers. Power and might continued to make real the turning of terror from the treat of a group to that of an ideology. Escalation occurred and a president won reelection. A new president took charge and made promises for change. The struggle continued.
The struggle continues. Even with “the face of evil” dead, even with Terror among the victims of a seemingly indefatigable war, fought by Americans, “the most dangerous people on the face of the earth (4),” even with “the face of Modern terrorism dead5,” terror remains. Crowds are gathering in the streets of American cities, outside the citadel of the President, and outside the reality of a struggle which has endured despite the growing funeral pyres of the dead. The United States government has killed Terror after nearly ten years, but a struggle of ten years has failed to move the American foot in the east any closer to calling terror dead. The death of a symbol is being celebrated in the streets, as the voices and text-messages of a generation echo the cry of their defining moment: the inception of Terror as a symbol, the birth of terror as signified by the flight of three planes. Even with the cry that, “we will be relentless in the defense of our citizens…justice has been done (5),” there is no end in sight to a struggle whose forces have killed Terror. Terror may be dead, but the ideology of terror lives on. Around the middle east, justice is being taken by protests, but justice fails to see that lives lost are loves lost and that ideology cannot be killed. “This feels like an accomplishment,” said one anchor of the death of Terror (6). But what can we say to the purpose of a vigilance against an undying terror?
1. Afghanistan and Iraq war casualties. http://icasualties.org/OEF/ByYear.aspx. http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx.
2. Bush, George W. 9/11 Address. “Text of Bush’s address.” CNN. “http://articles.cnn.com/2001-09-11/us/bush.speech.text_1_attacks-deadly-terrorist-acts-despicable-acts?_s=PM:US.”
3. Bush, George W. Remarks by the President upon arrival. The White House. http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010916-2.html.
4. Live feed from MSNBC. May 1, 2011.
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