20 Years after 9/11, Wisdom for Eliminating Terrorism Breeding Grounds

Published in Ryukyu Shimpo
(Japan) on 11 September 2021
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Dorothy Phoenix. Edited by Gillian Palmer.
It has been 20 years since the 9/11 attacks that shocked the world.

Taking the opportunity presented by the attacks, the U.S. plunged into a total war against terrorism, taking a hard-line stance of willingness to even engage in preemptive strikes in order to protect itself.

But the fight against terrorism, which has gone on for 20 years, has become bogged down with no exit in sight. Terrorism cannot be eradicated with military power, because it creates a chain of violence. We should gather together humanitarian wisdom to eliminate the breeding grounds of terrorism, which are fostered by factors such as the expansion of poverty, increased disparity and ethnic and religious conflict, regardless of military intervention.

The Constitution of Japan demonstrates a determination to proactively work hard toward victory over "tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance." In accordance with Article 9, which stipulates that "Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force," we must strive to settle conflicts peacefully.

In response to the attacks, the U.S. attacked Afghanistan in retaliation, and then rushed into the Iraq War. Dismissing a diplomatic problem-solving approach, the U.S. took an "if you are not with us, you are against us" mentality, and the use of military force was justified to eliminate that was different or foreign.

After breaking down the Taliban's political power, the U.S. garrisoned troops in Afghanistan for 20 years, in order to protect the country from becoming a hotbed of terrorism. However, depending on military intervention to bring about nation building proved to be a failure. By the end of August, the U.S. military had completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending "the longest war in U.S. history." And now, the Taliban has established an interim government.

During those 20 years, U.S. forces in Okinawa also shouldered a significant role in carrying out worldwide counterterrorism operations, such as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition to the dispatch of troops, training exercises intensified and accidents became a repeated occurrence. Finally, in August 2004, a poorly-maintained large scale transport helicopter crashed at Okinawa International University.

Amid fears that Okinawa, which has a heavy concentration of U.S. military bases, was a potential target, Okinawa has suffered, with school trips being cancelled and tourism, a leading industry, being negatively impacted.

The presence of military bases is nothing more than a threat to the lives of prefectural citizens and a primary obstruction to the prefecture's economy. From Okinawa's point of view, it seems there are lessons to learn from the U.S. military's fight against terrorism.

The Japanese government supported the U.S. military attacks in Afghanistan; after the U.S. invaded Iraq, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force was deployed to the southern part of Samawah. In 2015, the government passed a national security law enabling the right to exercise collective self-defense, which is not allowed by the constitution, hastening the unification of the Japan Self-Defense Force with the U.S. military. Due to the U.S.-Japan military alliance, it has become difficult to claim that Japan still holds a neutral position in the international community.

After World War II, Japan aided governments and people in developing countries and conflict areas, which the local people supported precisely because it came from a neutral party, without military force. An example of someone who practiced this aid was the late Dr. Tetsu Nakamura, who headed the group Peace Japan Medical Services. Not stopping at providing medical care for poverty-stricken Afghan people, the group also dug agricultural irrigation channels to help revive greenery in the desert.

About 3,000 people were killed in the terror attacks 20 years ago. We hope to make it a day to vow for the realization of "proactive peace" to conquer "structural violence" such as famine, oppression and discrimination.


「9・11」から20年 テロの土壌なくす英知を

世界を震撼(しんかん)させた米中枢同時テロから20年を迎えた。

 テロを機に米国は、自国を守るために先制攻撃も辞さない強硬姿勢でテロとの全面戦争に突入した。
 しかし、20年続いたテロとの戦いは泥沼化し出口が見えない。武力ではテロを根絶できない。暴力の連鎖を生むからだ。武力によらず、貧困の増大と格差の拡大、民族や宗教対立などテロを生み助長する土壌をなくすことに人類の英知を集めるべきだ。
 日本国憲法は「専制と隷従、圧迫と偏狭、恐怖と欠乏」の克服に積極的に取り組む決意を示している。私たちは「武力を行使しない」(9条)方法で、平和的な紛争解決に努力しなければならない。
 米国は同時テロに対する報復措置としてアフガニスタンを攻撃、続いてイラク戦争に突入した。外交努力による問題解決が軽視され、「我々の味方でなければ敵」であり、異質なものを排除するため武力行使が正当化された。
 米国はアフガンでタリバン政権を崩壊させた後、テロの温床になることを防ぐため、20年間にわたり米軍を駐留させた。しかし、軍事力に頼る国造りは失敗した。8月末、アフガニスタンから完全撤退し「米史上最長の戦争」は終結した。そしてタリバンが暫定政権を発足させた。
 この20年間、在沖米軍もアフガニスタンやイラクなど世界的規模で展開し対テロ作戦の重要な部分を担った。派兵に伴い訓練が激化し、事故が多発した。そしてついに04年8月に整備不良の大型輸送ヘリコプターが沖縄国際大学に墜落した。
 米軍基地が集中する沖縄は「テロの標的」になると懸念され、修学旅行のキャンセルなどリーディング産業の観光に深刻な影響を及ぼした。
 基地の存在は県民の生命を脅かし県経済の阻害要因でしかない。これが沖縄にとって米国のテロとの戦いの教訓といえるだろう。
 日本政府は、米軍のアフガニスタン攻撃を支持し、米軍がイラクに侵攻した後には、南部サマワに陸上自衛隊を派遣した。15年には憲法上許されない集団的自衛権行使を可能にする安全保障関連法を成立させ、自衛隊と米軍の一体化を加速させた。「日米軍事同盟」強化によって、日本はもはや国際社会で中立的立場を主張することが難しくなっている。
 戦後、日本が発展途上国や紛争地で行った官民による支援は、中立の立場で軍事力を行使しないからこそ現地住民から支持された。その実践者がペシャワール会の故中村哲医師である。貧困にあえぐアフガニスタンの人々のために医療活動にとどまらず、井戸を掘り砂漠に緑を取り戻すため農業用水路を開いた。
 20年前の同時テロで約3千人が犠牲になった。飢餓や抑圧、差別など「構造的暴力」を克服する「積極的平和」の実践を誓う日としたい。
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