Alt-F4: A look at the War on Terror through Nietzsche's Eyes

A look at the War on Terror through Nietzsche's Eyes

There will always be events and happenings that will inevitably be burned into our minds as memories of pain. 9/11 is no exception to that statement, and those of us that experienced it will never forget the feelings that arose after the terrorist attacks. Now we are engaged in a global effort to bring those responsible to justice. It seems we are playing our role as the noble, guardians of peace by bringing these evil people to justice. But can we be sure that our methods are morally correct? Only through comparisons with the ideas of what it means to be moral can we justify our activities. Is the Global War on Terrorism moral? According to the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, the American War on Terrorism is morally amiss.

The American War on Terror has developed quickly over a period of the last five years. The initiation of this global War on Terrorism is largely the result of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. These attacks, carried out by the international terrorist organization al-Qaeda, have propelled the United States and the world in an interesting direction. These attacks are widely believed to be in line with a 1998 fatwa issued by Osama bin Laden declaring war on the United States. The reasoning for these attacks, as stated in the 1998 fatwa, is to drive the US out of the Arabian Peninsula and remove its ties to Israel through economic damage and loss of life. The acts and goals of bin Laden and al-Qaeda are chilling and paint a bleak picture of a never ending war with Islamic fundamentalists. This fatwa is believed to have stemmed from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990s. At that time, bin Laden offered to raise an army to protect his home country from Iraqi invasion; the Saudi government discarded this offer in favor of accepting US support. Bin Laden is believed to have seen the American military support as an offensive action, leading to his fatwa in the late 1990s.
In response to this attack, President George W. Bush called for the Global War on Terrorism in order to apprehend bin Laden and al-Qaeda and remove the treat of international terrorism. Internationally, this rallying cry led to a multi-lateral invasion of Afghanistan, and later a US-led attack on Iraq. Domestically, the President Bush created a new cabinet level position, the Department of Homeland Security. In order to defend America from the threat of terrorism the US Congress also passed into law the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001” (USA PATRIOT Act). These acts are widely criticized for creating more bureaucracy as well as threatening American civil liberties.
Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda poses a dire threat to American lives in the world, putting us in an interesting position. On the surface, it would appear that our goal of ending terrorism and bringing known murders to justice is indeed a moral goal. But Friedrich Nietzsche would suggest otherwise. The War on Terror has two primary participants: al-Qaeda and the United States. On one hand we have a small minority of Islamic extremists who are acting out of a will to make their society better for themselves (removal of US intervention or complete destruction of the US and its allies). On the other hand is the United States, reacting in response to a terrorist attack by evildoers by imposing the ascetic ideal upon its people and the world in order to remove the threat of terror in order to make a world of rational thinkers who work in a manner like us. A criticism to my analysis at this point is that one could be said that no one truly knows the goals of al-Qaeda; however, this is irrelevant assuming that their goal is not to destroy us rather than to convert us to their fundamentalist Islamic ideals. Thus the ultimate goal of the terror may very well be reactive but such notion can not be certain at this point.
Let us suppose for a moment that the terrorists are, in fact, acting in a manner consistent with Nietzsche’s ideals of the nobility. Where then does that leave the United States? As it has been previously suggested, we are forever engaged in a need to control our behaviors, to accept the ascetic ideal, in order to prove that not only are we the good America, but also that our behavior is not in line with those that seek to do us harm. The United States has invented the USA PATRIOT Act in order to allow for greater ability to determine who is acting in a manner consistent with its enemy, with evil. It has created lists and databases of those who have done it harm. Their behaviors are detailed in order to search for others who may be a potential threat. Then no-fly lists and criminal databases are developed in order to ensure that we prevent them from harming us again. Speech is restricted in order not to cause panic, to ensure that no one is mistaken that they are present. Nietzsche would scoff at such a blatant acceptance of our notion of good and evil and our self-imposed ascetic ideal. In the eyes of Nietzsche, our course of action as laid out above is black and white: we are not acting in a morally acceptable manner. To the contrary, we are acting in a manner that destroys our own moral development, and forces us to act from a position of weakness.
It is my opinion that Nietzsche is only half correct. It is incorrect to assume that the terrorists are not reacting. While it may be true that their behavior in this small sub-set of history is not reactive it is more than likely that they wish to destroy America and Israel as evildoers whom they do not wish to be like. However, American behavior is damaging to our role as a moral nation. We are indeed still reacting from the terrorist attacks on 9/11. We have accepted the ascetic ideal en masse as we check and double check our culture and citizenry for behaviors that are like our previous oppressors. We most move out of this fear of our oppressors and begin again acting in the world. The notion of a global “War on Terror” is an extension of this ascetic ideal: a never ending war and fear from concept that we must never become. I agree that we must move beyond good and evil as Nietzsche as written. We must act without fear once again. While the fear of another attack by al-Qaeda is indeed a real fear, we poison ourselves with this fear forcing us deeper into reactionary asceticism.
Nietzsche’s writings allow us to analyze the situation and allow us to realize that the War on Terror is morally misguided. It is up to America to now wake up and return to a time of action; a time where our fears do not drive the ascetic ideal. We must not sacrifice or seek to control ourselves to eliminate terrorism; we must venture into the global community in order to enrich our society and the societies of other nations. We have a responsibility to strengthen humanity, and, whether realized or not, the terrorists seek to remove this ability in order to make the rest of the world confine to their ideal situation. At the very least, we must move to action; the al-Qaeda will then be forced to either react or allow us to move humanity forward.