WHAT are the lawmakers waiting? Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong, chairman of the House Committee on Justice, explained that the delay in passing the anti-terrorism bill is attributable to the difficulty of mustering a quorum because the opposition allegedly succeeded in stopping attempts to begin deliberation on this anti-terrorism bill. Yet Congress has only three remaining session days left. Being the committee chairman, Datumanong can’t help being concerned about the House problem of absentee members, with the House leadership resorting to "phone brigades" to get a quorum. How will people look at our lawmakers like that?
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About terrorism, I will share here the book on terrorism by Alan M. Dershowitz, a professor who taught nearly ten thousand students in thirty-eight years at Harvard Law School. The book is titled: "Why Terrorism Works: ‘Understanding the threat, and responding to the challenge’" copyrighted in 2002 by US R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., Inc. The excerpts here are drawn from chapters of the book, namely: 1. Deterring Terrorism. 2. The internationalization of Terrorism: How Our European Allies Made September 11 Inevitable. 3. How an Amoral Society Could Fight Terrorism. 4. Should the Ticking Bomb Terrorist Be Tortured? A Case Study in How a Democracy Should Make Tragic Choices. 5. Striking the Right Balance. And 6. Conclusion: Are We Overracting?
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As what the root causes of terrorism are, the author stated that the current mantra of those opposed to a military response to terrorism is a plea to try to understand and eliminate the toot causes of terrorism. There are several reasons why this is exactly the wrong approach. The reason terrorism works — and will persist unless there are significant changes in the responses to itis precisely because its perpetrators believe that by murdering innocent civilians they will succeed in attracting the attention of the world to their perceived grievances and their demand that the world "understand them" and "eliminate their root causes." To submit to this demand is only to send the following counterproductive message to the aggrieved. Or the response would just use less violent methods.
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Going back to the anti-terrorism bill, we should know that the war against terrorism is a new phenomenon, which is not adequately addressed by current law. Traditional wars were fought by combatants in uniform, representing nations with return addresses and accountability. Even "civil" or "revolutionary" forms of warfare generally distinguished between combatants and civilians. The current terrorist wars are different. Terrorists are themselves "civilians," their targets are civilians, they hide among civilians, and they are supported and financed by civilians. They exploit the traditional international law of war, such as the Geneva Accords, to their advantages and places seeking civilian protection on the defensive. Let’s wait how the congress bill comes out.
