Counterterrorism efforts fracture families, lives
The war on terrorism has reached
an impasse.
The United States and its allies are moving closer to taking military action against Iraq. Some military experts say that a war with Iraq is only weeks away. Many innocent lives will be lost; many families will be destroyed. The sad reality is that one need not wait for bombs to drop on Baghdad to understand what impact the war will have on families.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government has waged war against thousands of families. Under the pretext of fighting terrorism, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has destroyed families by deporting males from Arab and African nations. According to The New York Times, approximately 3,000 individuals are waiting deportation. Some families, after waiting for weeks, have yet to be told the whereabouts of their sons and fathers.
The Bush administration asserts that the tightening of immigration policy is necessary to weed out terrorists. The problem is that only individuals of African and Arab descent are being squeezed.
Timothy McVeigh was neither African nor Arab, yet his terrorist actions were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans. Imagine having a family member taken away by the federal government. The federal government was never charged with waging war on families. Yet this is exactly what the federal government is currently executing under the guise of terrorism.
Javier Ayala
second-year graduate
education