Quite correctly, every time President Clinton sent our troops overseas to engage in fighting or peacekeeping missions, the Republican leadership pointedly asked the question, “What is the out strategy?” Even though those same Republican leaders would probably call me un-American for asking the question now, I think it is still a very legitimate question. What is our out strategy for this war on terrorism?

Ironically President Bush is slowly turning this country into a police state in the name of preserving freedom. Many find this acceptable in order to fight the very real terrorist threat that we now face. I do not. Every freedom that we are asked to give up is a win for the terrorists.

As history has shown, this country has always given up personal freedoms in time of war. But those freedoms were always returned at the end of the war. President Bush has not articulated anything but an eagerness to expand this war, while never defining how to end it.

This citizen/veteran does not find that an acceptable approach. Anyone who remotely understands why there is terrorism also understands that you cannot bomb it out of existence. The way to end terrorism is through economic and social reforms. Where the people of the Middle East are most militant, they are also repressed by dictatorships (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Iran or Iraq) or repressed by non-representative governments (e.g. Israel; it is interesting to note that under Palestinian rule Jews and Muslims lived side by side in peace).

What can America do to fix this situation? If we took half the money we are spending on prosecuting the war and put it into a Marshall Plan for the Middle East, we could help those countries grow an economy that would be much more stable and prosperous for the people. Economic help as opposed to military attacks would also reduce militant attitudes. Every time we bomb the wrong house we create more terrorists; war is a self-perpetuating proposition.

I am not suggesting that we just throw money into the Middle East and hope for the best, I am proposing doing the same thing that was arranged for Western Europe after World War II. We should give the various governments credits that can only be spent in the U.S., not cash. Not only would this prevent large-scale graft, it would also be a boost for our economy and thus create jobs both here and abroad.

Once people are working they have a lot less time and inclination to create havoc. The Marshal Plan helped to create a very stable democratic Western Europe; a similarly insightful plan can do the same for the Middle East.

Arlington