If there's one word I'd like to see removed from political discourse, it's "evil". I'm sick of hearing the e-word all the time, tired of reading it evrywhere. These days, it is most commonly used in reference to enemies of America - Saddam is evil, Bin Laden is evil etc etc
My problem is not that the use of the word is innacurate. The aforementioned gentlemen have done more than enough to merit the description "evil". No argument there. But I do have an issue with the way that some on the right use the term "evil" to describe America's enemies as if the word in itself was sufficient to explain their emnity.
Those who frequently speak of "evil ones" or "good versus evil" tend to be blackwhiters, people unwilling or unable to accept nuance. For these kind of people, the world is divided into a good "us" and an evil "them". There is no reason for them to try to explain why there are terrorist attacks against the US, it's just because some people are evil. End of story.
For the neo-cons and their fellow travelers using the word "evil" when talking about terrorism has become so common that it's almost an instinct. It was leading neo-con David Frum who coined the memorably ridiculous phrase "axis of evil" in an attempt to drum up support for Bush's aggression against countries which the US didn't like. Neo-cons seem to enjoy this kind of demonology. America, they assure us, is fighting evil in Iraq. Perhaps some day soon, evil will also be fought in Iran and North Korea.
When asked to explain why young men would hate America so much that they would die attacking it, whether in New York or Baghdad, Bushies often use the word "evil" as if that in itself were a sufficient explanation. Yes, of course Mohamad Atta and his like were evil, but is that as far as analysis goes? What made them do this evil thing? Do you even care?
When people on the left try to explain why America is the target of terrorism, they are met with a torrent of abuse from the right. It's as if the discussion of some subjects is considered verboten by the right. Even to raise these issues in the same breath as terrorism, even to hint at a connection, will earn you a volley of abuse.
US support for Arab despots? APPEASER!
US troops in Saudi? TERRORIST LOVER!
Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza? WIMP!
For many on the right, there can be only one explanation for 9-11 and all the other terrorist attacks. Evil. For these people, America has never behaved aggressively or dishonestly in the world. It has never expolited those weaker than itself. It has always been good, so those who fight it are evil. There is no need for further analysis.
But once you start to look at this position for a while, you see how limited it is. If evil is the only explanation for terrorism then why have the number of attacks increased in recent years? Why has membership of terrorist groups gone up? The only explanation is an increase in the level of evil. Perhaps more Muslim children are being born with some sort of "evil gene" than in the past. This is the only explanation which such a narrow mentality allows.
I'm sorry, but this just isn't good enough. It's 2004, not the Middle Ages. Using "evil" as an explanation, rather than merely a description, is pre-Enlightenment dogma. Centuries of intellectual struggle have bestowed on us the ability to deduce, to rationalise, to think. I want to think, to debate, to challenge. That's why I find "evil" as an explanation so inane. It tells us nothing about why terrorism occurs, or more importantly, how to stop it.
There are some on the right who don't want this debate. They don't want to think about why so many people hate America in particular and the West in general. Once you've accepted the evil explanation then, conveniently enough, there's no need to question America's actions either past or present. It suits conservatives to keep the discourse at a playground level of goodies and baddies.
In the short-term it may be psychologically gratifying to put your fingers in your ears, close your eyes and mutter "evil" under your breath. In the long-term though, it's counterproductive.
If Americans really want to win this war on terror, then they should stop shooting and start thinking. Prevention is better than cure. It's better to create a situation where a man doesn't feel the need to reach for an RPG rather than having to deal with him after he's decided to use it.
At the minute, America doesn't so much have a war on terror as a war on terrorists. The US kills what it would describe as "terrorists" in Fallujah but to what end? After all, America's enemies actively welcome martyrdom - it strengthens their appeal and increases the bitterness. When a US soldier kills an Iraqi insurgent, it's the insurgents who win, not the Americans.
I don't believe that the war on terror can ever be won. Terrorism is a technique, not an ideology. As long as someone is sufficiently politically aggrieved about somnething, there will be terrorism. But America can defeat Al-Qaida or at least weaken them to such a point that they're no longer a threat.
Not the Bush way though, with all the arrogance and aggression. Rather than under-cutting Al-Qaida's appeal, Bush's foreign policy plays right into their hands. Every dead Iraqi and dead Palestinian brings us closer to civilisational war on a terrifying scale. This is precisely what Bin Laden wants.
It's vital that America fundamentally re-orient its foreign policy. There needs to be a paradigm shift, from seeing the world as America's plaything, to viewing the world as our common home. There also needs to be specific foreign policy changes. If the US could somehow extricate itself from Iraq, could stop propping up the rogues gallery of hand-chopping torturers known as "Arab leaders", and could help to resolve the conflict in Palestine, relations between the US and Islam would improve greatly. Young men wouuld not feel the same impetus to join groups like Al-Qaida.
Of course, there would still be some who felt that Allah was telling them to strike down the infidels. But they would be so isolated that fellow Muslims would look at them and think: "they're evil."