Perspective: WSU Experts Offer Insights Into Attack
By Robert Frank for WSU Today
September 21, 2001
(Excerpted from a longer article)
Thomas Preston
The September 11 attack is going to have a major impact on domestic policies and lifestyles, at least for the near term, said Thomas Preston, associate professor of international relations in the political science department. Dr. Preston pointed to a tremendous tightening of security for air travel and events with large attendance, access to specific businesses and utilities, and the day-to-day operations of many industries.
"It always struck me as odd that we didn’t have greater airport security in the United States," he said. "I hope the increased security is something that will continue. In many foreign countries, airport security is much more stringent."
One of the biggest U.S. "casualties" in the attack has clearly been the loss of our "sense of invulnerability," he said. In the past, "it (terrorism) was always something that would happen overseas and not here.
"Compared to many publics, particularly those in Europe, Americans tends to be very uninformed, both domestically and internationally," Dr. Preston said. "They didn’t really believe that international issues affected them. And many don’t understand what would motivate this kind of hatred and these feelings toward the United States."
This event, combined with others in the recent past, seemed to be causing people to realize that this belief is not true anymore and that "international issues are relevant to their lives."U.S. citizens have enjoyed tremendous freedoms and conveniences for many years. The policy changes that will result in the wake of the attack, however, will probably decrease those freedoms, Dr. Preston said. "Those kinds of conveniences increase your vulnerability to attacks like this. But there will always be a certain degree of vulnerability in the United States because we live in a democracy. We don’t live in a police state."
"This whole thing requires a fundamental rethinking of how we view ourselves, our nation and the world," Dr. Preston said. "To say we shouldn’t worry about their civilian casualties because they didn’t worry about ours would be foolish. That would create a radical reaction from that part of the world against us and serve only to destabilize many of our moderate Arab allies. I support going after bin Laden and his group, but we need to control the impulse to blindly strike out. We need to do it as carefully as we can."
Dr. Preston approved of the U.S. policy to hold other countries accountable when they knowingly provide shelter to terrorists. However, he noted, this creates a future dilemma.
"That means the public needs to be willing to support military action against these nations and risk military casualties," he said. "The public is generally okay with firing cruise missiles from a distance, but there traditionally has been little support beyond this, especially if it meant substantial casualties.
"We’re now looking at more than 5,000 dead in New York. That will mobilize people’s support to take some action, but the public doesn’t really understand how difficult this will be to fight a war in the mountains of Afghanistan."
He pointed to the recent past when the Russians faced off against the rebels in Afghanistan. The Soviet army was there for about 10 years with more than 100,000 troops at nearly any given time, and it completely failed to defeat the same groups (like the Taliban) that we may now have to contend with. This is a tremendous challenge for the White House, Dr. Preston said.
"We need realistic expectations of what we can accomplish, how long it will take and how much it will cost. It is not going to be quick or easy, unless these people hand over bin Laden and his followers. But even then, there will be other groups."
Although a solution is difficult, the attempt must be made, Dr. Preston said.
For many in the Middle East, the United States is perceived as being interconnected with Israel. To many Arab countries and their publics, striking at the United States is the same as striking at Israel.
By the same token, the governments of Pakistan, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iran can be perceived as aligning with the United States if they cooperate, which can result in intense domestic opposition, retaliation from other Arab countries, and may have consequences for the United States with regard to oil and security.
"You cannot separate these problems from one another," Dr. Preston said. "If you pull on one thread, it’s all interconnected. There is not an easy solution. No matter what we do, there will be fallout."
Lecture Details
Download Dr. Preston's powerpoint presentation (36 MB)
More About Dr. Preston
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The President and His Inner Circle
Perspective: WSU Experts Offer Insights Into Attack
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