If a goal is worthy then any means taken to attain it are justifiable Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take In developing and supporting your

To justify an action is to make it seem just or fair. It implies that the action is done to right a wrong. It is akin to the biblical philosophy, an eye for an eye. On the other hand, two wrongs don’t make a right. Are any goals so lofty that one can justify taking any action to reach them? Is it okay to take these actions in the name of God or in the spirit of patriotism? Events of the past decade may make one believe that reprisals are justifiable.

Atrocities of such magnitude have been committed by groups or individuals around the world throughout history, that one might agree that any means used to eliminate these perpetrators is justified. In 2001, extremists Muslims used the piloting skills they had learned in a flight school in the United States to fly two passenger planes into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon, and another aimed at the White House that went crashing into a field in Pennsylvania. These events caused the war on terrorism to be a focal point of US foreign policy. It became the goal of the United States military to hunt down and kill or capture the leaders of terrorist cells around the world. Chief among those targets was Osama bin Laden. In May 2011, an elite group of Seals burst into his home and killed him. The US government presented this as an incredible accomplishment – which it was – that was worth the efforts needed to reach it. However, this is not necessarily true.

To reach this end, the United States invaded Iraq, believing that Saddam Hussein’s regime had caches of WMDs, Weapons of Mass Destruction. That turned out to be false, but, nonetheless, the military hunted down and captured Hussein, after which he was tried and executed. During this span of time, other suspected terrorists were rounded up and detained at Guantanamo Bay, a US military institution in Cuba. There, these terrorists were systematically tortured to make them reveal information about the whereabouts of terrorist cells and, likely, bin Laden himself. Among the techniques used to extract information was water boarding, a particularly inhumane process that causes its victims to feel like they are drowning. And then, there’s Abu Ghraib, a prison in Iraq, where US military personnel tortured and degraded the inmates held there. Considering the acts perpetrated by these terrorists on American soil, the actions taken by the United States appear justifiable. The flame of patriotism burned brightly and was reflected in the eyes of ordinary citizens and those called to battle. Across the country, acts of terrorism were perpetrated by those ordinary citizens against other citizens of Middle Eastern origin. Young men whose ancestors came here from countries like Syria and Lebanon generations ago were detained and strip searched at border crossings between the US and Canada. People in airports across the country looked askance at fellow passengers who looked or dressed differently. Members of the military who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder in numbers greater than seen before in our military history.

If the goal is to eradicate terrorism, isn’t any action in the cause justifiable? Whenever humans are reduced to treating other human beings inhumanely, we must pause and consider the consequences of attaining this supposedly lofty goal. We must question whether any goal is worth the ultimate price one pays, especially when the actions taken are degrading or debasing to other groups of people, and the price is a loss of human dignity for the perpetrators and the victims.