AUSTRALIA’S decision to send troops to support the United States offensive against terrorists based in Afghanistan has brought a mixed reaction from young Catholics.
The Catholic Leader spoke to six Year 10 students at Aquinas College, Southport last week to gauge their responses to the bombing of Afghanistan following last month’s terrorist attack on America.
Joshua Symons, John Lin, Ben Stokes and Fiona Counsel were all critical of America’s retaliation that had already led to civilian casualties.
JOSHUA: “I think that America is going a bit too far in that the two countries should sit down and talk about it logically, because they don’t have any hard evidence at the moment.”
JOHN: “They (the Americans) suspect that it was Osama bin Laden, but they still do not have evidence against him and I think the US is very wrong by just sending air strikes … On the last week of the attack they bombed a village and 200 civilians. They are terrorists if you really think about it, killing civilians, and I don’t think it is right.”
BEN: “I think America is going about it the wrong way in retaliating … It’s not against the Afghanistan people, it’s against the terrorists and bombing everything isn’t the right way of going about it.”
FIONA: “People say let’s just blow up their country because they’ve done that to us, and in some ways that’s just a form of anger and retaliation … it’s just another form of terrorist action back on Afghanistan.”
On the other hand, Natasha De Amicis and Lisa O’Brien were more supportive of the US action.
NATASHA: “They (the US) need to have some form of retaliation, but I believe it should be against terrorists not against civilians, normal Muslims or normal Arabs. It’s not against them, it’s nothing personal, it’s about having a war against the people who have done wrong.”
LISA: “They (the terrorists) killed like 5000 innocent civilians in the US and I reckon that the people who did that must have no respect for human life.
“If they had something against the Americans, fair enough. If they wanted to wipe out the buildings they could have done it when nobody was in them, but obviously they did it on purpose. They wanted to kill innocent people and they wanted to start a war, so I reckon it’s fair that now it’s sort of coming back on them.”
The students were more inclined to support Australia’s involvement as necessary from an alliance point of view but unnecessary from a military point of view.
JOSHUA: “Australia can’t just sit back and expect help later on, but on the other hand, I also think John Howard’s just doing it for the people of Australia because there’s an election coming up and he’s just trying to make his position look good.”
JOHN: “Why does the US need Australia to fight when Australia can only offer 1550 troops and 150 SAS? America itself has 35,000 troops and the UK has 20,000 inside. That should be enough.
“By the time the bombings finish, half of Afghanistan will be gone, so what’s the point of bringing Australia into the picture when their help is not actually needed.”
BEN: “It is the whole world or the majority of the world against just a group of terrorists. They may be able to bomb some buildings but there is no large amount of them, and I think in the end it should all work out.”
NATASHA: “Every action has a reaction and this is the reaction. The whole world coming together is actually a good thing because we are uniting to fight for justice.”
The students were keen to call for more discernment of religions and for people to look for the obvious holes in the literal interpretation of religions when they called for war or bloodshed.
LISA: “I’ve heard a lot of people say if there is a God why is he letting this happen? Why isn’t he protecting us if everything is in God’s hands. He put people on earth and there have been religions created to try and follow our faith and not kill people and respect each other.”
FIONA: “I know they attacked us first, but hate always begets hate. It’s just a known fact that always happens.”
JOHN: “If you think about World War I and World War II, it’s almost time for another war. It always happens, it’s part of the life cycle of the world and if it happens, it happens. If I have to die I have to die, there is nothing I can do about it but just live life every day and enjoy life.”
BEN: “In a war it’s a fact of life there is usually civilian deaths and it’s not a nice thing.”
JOSHUA: “Everyone says Afghanistan has to draw a line somewhere against terrorist attacks, but on the other hand America also has to draw a line. How long are they going to continue to bomb and kill innocent civilians? I think it’s becoming a war of politics between several countries and that’s what a lot of people are interpreting it as.”
NATASHA: “I hope that we can take this as a learning experience. Some people say if there is a God why is he letting this happen? I think every now and then he gives us something that we have to do ourselves so that we can learn from it. So this is a lesson to learn from.”
