America: We have a problem. Actually, I should say, “World: We have a problem.”

It is pretty obvious to most of us that one country cannot single-handedly stop the threat of terrorism in today’s world community. Most of us realize that willy-nilly attacks on terrorism which also result in the killing of thousands of innocent civilians is not the answer. The policies of George W. Bush have shown that we have actually created more terrorists than Osama Bin Laden could have ever hoped to.

Any solution must likely come from the uniting of all major countries of the world on two fronts, with two basic principles:

1. All terrorist acts must be outlawed and stopped by all nations.

            2. Serious negotiations must begin, with all sovereign nations taking part, aiming to try to find a path to peaceful and law-abiding coexistence. This would include the institution of procedures to uphold any and all agreements uniformly throughout the world.

These two missions, although complex and seemingly insurmountable, must be undertaken soon- lest we come to a state where the problem is completely unsolvable and utter chaos reigns.

There must be a dialogue, and it must begin soon. We all know the terrorists want the complete and utter destruction of the Western World, but what can the Western World do, or try to do, that would change things significantly and allow for some communication to begin.

What can the Superpowers do to unite predominantly Muslim countries together to work with the rest of the world to end terrorism?  It would be in every country’s best interests to begin a dialogue that would lead to serious negotiations- negotiations that would address the major issues that inspire and incite terrorism. For example, no one can deny that if there were a working solution to the Palestinian quagmire, the terrorists of today would have one less “cause” to decry. (This seemingly unsolvable solution occurred twice before, until Anwar Sadat and Itzak Rabin were assassinated over a decade apart- each by extremists of the far right.)

It is important to note here that many of the so-called terrorists of yesterday (whether they were from Israel, Ireland, Colonial America or South Africa) became legitimized after disputes were settled, nations were rebuilt and time healed the wounds and the hate.

There are several other challenging hurdles- the conflicting ideologies of religious-based governments vs. governments that mandate the separation of church and state, for example, severely limits the fluidity of objective dialogue.

But none of these or other terrorist-related issues can even start to be resolved until a dialogue is begun. And the dialogue cannot begin until a voice of sanity stands up and yells out, “Is this the only way? -Because it is not working. Let us try to find a way- for if we do not, the future is dark indeed.”

Most of us are normal citizens, and powerless to affect any major changes except through the voting booth. We can only hope that change happens sooner rather than later- because in time there may be no alternative left except to tighten security even more, and to eliminate human rights to the point where the Free World is free only in name.

-cl