The Coalition against the “War on Terror” in Light of International Politics, Law, and Protecting Human Welfare

Abstract

In the universal realms of international law, all the associated political,social, legal, and religious actors would seek to strive to live in a worldwhere there is justice, peace, tolerance, enhancement of human welfare,and friendly relations between states.1 Unfortunately, these universalideals are far from being achieved or adhered to in our contemporaryinternational society. The horrific attacks on the World Trade Center andthe Pentagon, which provided the catalyst for the global “war on terror”starting in Afghanistan, raises numerous questions in international lawand the global political realm. In all of its forms, terrorism is a diseasethat breeds fear and leads to the devastation and destruction of humanlives, societies, and nations. It is also a topic that many historians andlegalists try to avoid, at times, due to its promiscuity and subversivenature.In this short article, I argue that terrorism is not a new phenomenon assuch, but that it has been part of international society throughout the ages.However, since 9/11, it has experienced a sporadic injection and revitalizationthat has raised it from a nationalistic, racial, religious, or ideological phenomenonto one that has appeared on the global agenda with a symbolic significance.I question the motifs of the “war on terror,” due to its relativeunpredictability, on definitional grounds. Additionally, I challenge whetherthis is leading to an all-inclusive society based on uplifting human welfare,or whether it is creating a global discord of division, tension, antagonism,and resistance that may filter through the politics of the inter- and intrastatesystem and thus create tragedy, conflict, and destruction of globalproportions ...