9-11

Seven years, as one writer suggested recently, is long enough for the immediate shock and pain to wear off, but not long enough to recede into history.

It is a tragedy whose aftermath continues to gnaw at us. Some people believe that 9-11 was a conspiracy internal to the United States, used to create a hysteria that would provide the pretext for abridging our Constitutional liberties and paving the way for a police state. They base that belief on anomalies in the official explanation for the event (for example, the slow military response to the hijacked airliners).

Whether or not the conspiracy theories are true, it is evident that 9-11 has been used by the United States government to create a "war on terror" that is being used to support an unjustifiable war in Iraq (while only belatedly acknowledging our neglect of a totally justified war in Afghanistan), increase Federal surveillance over the American people, and using our collective fear as an excuse for ignoring the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

One question that I frequently receive as a secessionist is, how can I justify secession when terrorism is still a threat to America? After all, doesn't the terrorist rhetoric call for conversion of the entire world to Islam by force? Isn't al-Qaeda still well-funded and well-organized?

Yes, I have heard the terrorist rhetoric about forcing Islam on the world, and yes, evidence suggests that al-Qaeda is still well-funded and well-organized; and has successfully resisted attempts to smoke them out in the ungovernable tribal regions of Pakistan.

However, I have no doubt that terrorism is not a threat to a Republic of Ohio that peacefully pursues its own interests in the world. How can that be, you ask? Look at it, not fearfully, but rationally. Al-Qaeda's goal is to re-establish the Islamic Caliphate that existed until 1924. No country, no organization has unlimited resources. Those that are successful in achieving their goals must focus their time, their money, and their people toward achieving them. The United States found themselves in the crosshairs of al-Qaeda, because the American military presence in Saudi Arabia following Desert Storm was religiously offensive to them. With the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the United States government dedicated itself to frustrating the ambitions of al-Qaeda. Assuming that the conspiracy theories are false (and I am not taking a position either way), this is the reason 9-11 occurred. Removing Ohio's troops from the Middle East following independence would remove any motivation for al-Qaeda to commit terrorist acts against Ohio. The same could be said of any other state or country that did the same.

To some, this might sound cowardly; but I suggest that it takes great courage to admit that we poked around where we had no real business -- except that of protecting our sources of oil, which are peaking in production capacity, and from which we should be weaning ourselves. In other words, to admit that we were wrong to take this course of action, which can be justified only in terms of imperialism and aggression. I have no doubt that George Washington and most of the Founding Fathers would have sternly disapproved of this action; and am confident that a President as recent as Dwight Eisenhower would have felt the same way.

True national security comes from having a strong national defense that focuses only on defense, from effective border controls; and from a citizenry that, while ever vigilant to threats on their liberty, remains satisfied that their government consistently acts in their interest as opposed to the selfish interests of an élite, or those of a foreign power. Firm in this belief, I remain confident that the Republic of Ohio would have little to fear from Islamic terrorism; but might have to cast more a wary eye on a District of Coercion that uses pretexts like 9-11 to advance its own agenda.