The preemptive War on Terrorism has supposedly been waged to prevent destruction, but most of us know that it will only perpetuate the deadly cycle of hate and retaliation. The real intent behind the war has been explained in the classic novel 1984. In it, author George Orwell says that “war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is…to keep the structure of society intact.”1 The U.S. government has declared a permanent global war to impose on us the constant need for its leadership and military protection. To the administration of this country, war is a perfect means of achieving political omnipotence.

Creating a state of war is the first step a government must take to gain more power. Like George Orwell says, “the consequences of being at war, and therefore in danger, makes the handing-over of all power to a small caste seem the natural, unavoidable condition of survival.”2 During times of conflict, the government provides emotional stability to the general population with its façade of military defense. People are willing to give the government more control if that is the price to insuring their survival.

The second step to obtaining more power is to earn the support of the people. Americans will not support the U.S. government in going to war unless there is a respectable motive. Of course, there are no moral reasons which can justify the immorality of mass slaughter. Hence, the only way to rationalize war is by demonizing the enemy. People caught up in a frenzy of war hysteria may suddenly believe that our country is purely good and the enemy is purely evil. As Orwell suggests within 1984, wartime atrocities are despicable when committed by the enemy, but “when they are committed by one’s own side and not by the enemy, meritorious.”3 Therefore, when the enemy kills people, they’re evil murderers, but when we kill people, we’re defending our moral values. The war is then justified by our superiority.

Osama bin Ladin is probably the most commonly vilified enemy. Bin Ladin, the embodiment of terror, has been blamed for 9/11 and is to some the most evil man in the world. Because of this, many Americans support the government in bringing him to justice. But like Emanuel Goldstein, the “enemy of the people” from 1984,4 bin Ladin may never be found. He remains important only so long as he is an object of fear and loathing. The U.S. government uses him to inspire patriotic hatred, the same patriotic hatred that fuels our passion for the War on Terrorism.

The next step to attaining more power is to keep the support of the people, which means that the government must keep the people ignorant. The U.S. government has succeeded in this regard. All we know about the enemy terrorists is that they lurk in more than 60 countries, including the US.5 If the average American were actually taught the core motives of terrorists, he would realize that his enemies are human and just like him. “The sealed world in which he lives would be broken, and the fear, hatred, and self-righteousness on which his morale depends might evaporate.”6 Then the government’s power, which is built upon the ignorance of the people, would crumble.

An Orwellian government’s ultimate goal is to take away the people’s freedom so that it can exercise its unlimited power. With the War on Terrorism in place, the U.S. government has exploited the public’s fear of potential dangers. It have offered us security, but at the price of sacrificing our most fundamental liberties. Our government leaders have even encouraged Americans to spy on their neighbors, all in the name of national security.7 The Patriot Act, a direct assault on civil rights, has given the government the power to secretly arrest people and read their credit card records, e-mails, computer records, ATM records, medical records, and bank records.8

Forfeiting our freedom does not bring us real security, and especially not when our freedoms are being taken away to strengthen the power of the government.

The War on Terrorism engenders the very thing it purports to condemn. It stirs enmity and brutality while claiming to give us security. The real reason our leaders wage war is to acquire more power. Each day, the War on Terrorism continues to erode the principles of liberty and justice upon which this nation was built. Unless we end the war, 1984’s vision of a totalitarian government may soon become chillingly real.

1. George Orwell, 1984 (New York: New American Library, 1977) 164.

2. Orwell, 158.

3. Orwell, 16.

4. Orwell, 1.

5. Charles V. Peña, “Axis of Evil: Tilting at Windmills,” Cato,
posted 22 Feb. 2002, Cato Institute, accessed 13 Oct. 2004 <http://www.cato.org/dailys/02-22-02.html>.

6. Orwell, 162.

7. David Crary, “A touch call in the war on terror_how eager should Americans be to serve as tipsters,” SFGate, posted 16 Sep. 2002, Hearst Communications Inc, accessed 16 Sep. 2002 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/09/16/national1559EDT0622DTL>.

8. James Bovard, “Surveillance State,” The American Conservative, posted 19 May 2003, The American Conservative, accessed 13 Oct. 2004 <http://www.amconmag.com/05_19_03/cover.html>.

Works Cited

Bovard, James. “Surveillance State” The American Conservative. The American Conservative. Accessed 13 October 2004 <http://www.amconmag.com/05_19_03/cover.html>.

Crary, David. “A touch call in the war on terror_how eager should Americans be to serve as tipsters” SFGate. Hearst Communications Inc.
Accessed 16 September 2002 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/09/16/national1559EDT0622DTL>.

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: New American Library, 1977.

Peña, Charles V. “Axis of Evil: Tilting at Windmills” Cato. Cato Institute. Accessed 13 October 2004 <http://www.cato.org/dailys/02-22-02.html>.