Letter: Instead of war, work to create change in world

"Told you so" isn't satisfying at all when it's this scary.

Though I do believe America has done some things wrong, our Iraq policy is more about choice than morals. It is a choice to decide to rely on personal domination of those who would attack us instead of working tirelessly to develop peace processes. Let me draw a parallel. In one line of thinking, the only way to protect myself on the road is to drive a larger car. Everyone else is getting SUVs and it seems no longer as safe to have a safe, reasonably-sized car based on one's needs. When needs for self-protection have no limit, one becomes ready to sacrifice resources, the environment and previously guaranteed rights for safety. Those who don't buy larger vehicles become less safe; the same larger cars that protect us threaten others. But we want everyone else driving smaller cars and violence may arise if they don't, as they, like us, want personal security. Some defenses against violence make violence more likely.

Instead of forcibly and preventatively defending ourselves, we could instead choose to address the culture of violence itself in ways that don't contribute to it. U.S. policy-wise, we might look to our own policies to see how they help create the culture the dangerous people come from (e.g., why America consumes 60 percent of the world's resources with 6 percent of its population). We might work to create change in the community with education programs, fair trade practices and equal, effective and cooperative international institutions. Extreme self-protection helps to create a more dangerous community, thereby necessitating more self-protection. If this sounds like the frightening stalemates and out of control militarism of the Cold War, I don't think it's a coincidence.

We do have a choice in policy and there are options, but not when you operate within a culture of violence and demand total safety at the expense of others.