November 2, 2004. John Kerry and George Bush are neck and neck in the race for the presidency. Bush maintains a 3-point lead over Kerry in the polls -- barely more than the margin of error.
On television, frenzied pundits argue. "This race is in the hands of undecided voters."
A few hours into the news cycle, a new tape of Osama Bin Laden surfaces. One short grainy passage is translated and seared into the American conscious -- thanks to repeated airings on CNN:
"We have an army of suicide bombers ready to strike in the United States. Polling places will be our primary target."
How do voters respond? Broward County aside, the United States has a decent record of maintaining the integrity of our election system (well, you also have to overlook decades of discrimination). This simply isn't the case in many other parts of the world where, too often, elections and terrorism go hand in hand.
Just yesterday, threats were issued by the Tamil Tigers corresponding to upcoming elections in Sri Lanka -- a country plagued with thousands of violent incidents nearly every election. These conditions petrify voters. Sri Lankan Ahamed Marzook told OneWorld.net "...nobody will dare to attend election rallies. For us, what is more important is life. We don't want to risk it to send power hungry politicians to Parliament."
The ultimate goal of any terrorist is to change government policy. By scaring voters away from the polls, by taking hostages, killing candidates, or just making threats, they often make an impact. We often forget this fact because we're confounded by the lives lost and the hole ripped in our sense of security after an act of terrorism. To many Americans, the world of terrorism is black and white. You're with us or you're against us -- no further questions need to be asked.
But questions do need to be asked. There is motive for every action. Underneath all of the carnage, the terrorist has attempted to deliver a message. A ruthlessly simple statement:
"Do not support Israel."
"Grant rights to indigenous people."
"Get out of Saudi Arabia."
"Do not secularize the government."
As a diplomatic tool, terrorism is blunt and bloody, but often the effectiveness of the tool is overwhelmed by the spectacle. Shortly after September 11th, Osama Bin Laden released a tape explaining that the attack was an effort to drive the U.S. military out of Saudi Arabia. Clearly his message failed.
The war on terrorism is sold to the U.S. public as a war designed to save lives. The Department of Homeland Security encourages us to "Be Ready." Everyone else wants us to be vigilant. Tens of thousands of government personnel are working to protect us from terrorists every day, even though far fewer people are killed by terrorists every year than by their own countrymen.
If the terrorist's ultimate goal is to change government policy, then the war against terrorism is an effort to protect government policy from the influences of terrorism. In other words, if you want to successfully fight terrorism, you should never be afraid to go the polls.
