In an Associated Press article from Feb. 11, Gen. Tommy Franks, U.S. commander of the Afghan campaign, is quoted as saying, “This has been the most accurate war ever fought in the nation’s history.”

Does “accuracy” mean “hitting the targets aimed at?” Because for the most part, Osama bin Laden’s soldiers were accurate Sept. 11. They hit most of the targets they aimed at.

However, according to a New York Times tally, they killed 3,067 innocent people. According to an AP tally, the U.S. has killed 500 to 600 innocent people, and the tally is nowhere near complete. But in wars where the United States is the protagonist, civilian lives are collateral damage because in any war innocent people are killed.

In the Afghani village of Madoo, 15 houses were destroyed in a U.S. air raid. A young male member of the village Gul Nabi asked the New York Times, “Tell me why our homes were destroyed and 55 people — even little children — are dead.” He said there were no Taliban or al Queda fighters in the village. “There were only farmers who lived a good life and prayed to Allah for peace.”

U.S. commandos stormed a village 100 miles northeast of Kandahar Jan. 24. The charging soldiers awoke Muhammed Yumas, a former district government chief who lived in the village. He relived the experience for the Times.

“I told my men, ‘Don’t shoot; they’re our people, they’ll come to talk.’ We were amazed. Why would the Americans come to attack us?”

The fact that the United States may have received incorrect information from a local warlord out to eliminate his enemies or that they just plain screwed up doesn’t matter to these people; their friends and family were killed and their villages destroyed by the United States.

The United States cannot fight a war against terrorism when is terrorizes other countries as well. The United States cannot fight a war against terrorism when its actions only create more terrorists.

In October, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that American weaponry is 85-90 percent accurate. The 15-10 percent error only accelerates more anti-U.S. feeling in the already devastated country.

Gul Nabi could be the portrait of a terrorist of a young man. His village is struggling, but he endures praying to his god, probably thinking a new Afghani government would bring hope for his people. But the capitalist devil invaded, killed his people and took away any hope he grasped onto.

Bin Laden declared a religious war on the United States. He says those that practice the Islamic faith are Allah’s people and the United States is the enemy of Allah. With each civilian death, the United States merely reinforces its position as the enemy of Allah.

Bin Laden’s interpretation of Islam is perverted, but if the United States knows that, why does it continue a crusade that can only create more of this perverted dogma? This is a difficult war to fight.

But if the United States is a bastion of freedom and hopefully intelligence, why did we run to war with rifles blazing and cluster bombs whirling when we know this sort of “us versus them” attitude created by our enemy in the first place?

An editorial cartoon printed in the Star Tribune shows Uncle Sam lying on a therapist’s couch after Sept. 11. The therapist says something like, “After this I suppose you’ll have to grow up and stop thinking only about yourself. You’ll have to think of yourself as a member of the community.”

Terrorism can only be stopped through radical foreign policy changes. Acting tough and killing people that strike back at our bullying won’t do it. Nobody likes a bully, and normally, everyone cheers the downtrodden hero who finally strikes back.

Samuel Bakken ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism.