Counterterrorism for Kids

As I prepare to bid this internship adieu, I leave you with a disturbing image: the National Counterterrorism Center, a U.S. government agency, has a website designed specifically for children. Not only that, but it provides links to kids’ pages from other agencies, such as the FBI, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Administration. With the aid of the cartoon characters Little Lady Liberty and Beaker the Eagle, the Counterterrorism page explains–not in kid-friendly language, mind you–the mission and history of U.S. counterterrorism. Consider the following gem:

The story of NCTC began on January 28, 2003. During his State of the Union address to the country, President George W. Bush directed that the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) be created. All terrorist threat information analysis was to be merged into one center using the resources from many organizations. On May 1 of the same year TTIC was formally stood up and became the central hub for terrorist threat related information.

Instead of encouraging kids to “say something” if they “see something,” the only activity on the website is coloring in line drawings of Beaker and Lady Liberty. For this I am a bit relieved, but still, if the government is going to the trouble of providing propaganda for kids, shouldn’t they consult childhood educators and create it in language kids can understand?

To this end the FBI does a much better job, with age-appropriate links on its similarly cartoonish home page. However, the (illustrated) Special Agents all appear to be white–which I suppose they were in 1908, but as I was momentarily confused (and this is meant for K-5th graders who may not pause to read the text), the illustration seems misleading. Click over to the easily-accessible “adult” links, and the “Quick Facts” page features a photograph of a SWAT team marching through a leaf-strewn neighborhood in New Orleans while carrying large guns. The caption explains that the FBI SWAT team is helping local law enforcement following Hurricane Katrina. I am tongue-tied. The image is frightening and, provided the context, outrageous. Does this help our kids feel safe?

I encourage you to explore these pages on your own, but in sum, the Defense Intelligence Agency greets visitors with a male soldier in camo, standing at ease, next to links to “Missions” such as Hangman and Air Combat with a promise of “More to come!” Finally, the NSA page, titled “CryptoKids,” encourages “future codemakers and codebreakers” to make their own secret code. The gender-specific CryptoCat (a tiny, navel-baring kitten) and Decipher Dog (a much taller, burly pooch) are statements in themselves.

It would be interesting to look at statistics for how many visits these sites receive, and to find out whether any schools utilize the provided curriculum. Short of a complete overhaul, it would be nice if the government would at least update biased language; consider the following from the FBI page about bomb-sniffing dogs:

You ask, “What is a working dog?” “Is it a dog that does more than hang out at the house all day and bark at the mailman?” “Is it a dog that gets in the car like Mom and Dad and goes to the office?”

Whatever happened to women mail carriers, or all the kids from single-parent families, or with same-sex parents?  As with much in life–especially pertaining to government–I am not surprised, merely disappointed.

Ezra Nawi Sentenced

As reported earlier, a judge found Ezra Nawi guilty of assaulting two members of the Israeli border police during the 2007 demolition of a Palestinian house. Nawi, a human rights activist, was finally sentenced on October 21. According to www.supportezra.net, Nawi will serve one month in prison and must pay a fine of 750 shekels, plus 500 shekels in compensation to each police officer involved. Additionally, Nawi will serve a six-month suspended sentence if arrested again within the next three years for  “unlawful assembly” or for “interfering with a policeman carrying out his duty.”

David Schulman notes in the aforementioned BR article, “[Nawi] will not be the first imprisoned for defending the defenseless.” Today we salute not only our veterans but peace activists who work to make suffering and war unnecessary. Read more about the current state of Israel’s peace movement in “Peace Out” by Helena Cobban, from the July/August 2009 issue of Boston Review.

Ezra Nawi’s Sentencing Postponed

In BR’s web-only feature, The Trial of Ezra Nawi, David Schulman reports that peace activist Ezra Nawi was scheduled for sentencing on September 21. According to Nawi’s support site, the sentencing has been postponed. Nawi faces incarceration for an act of civil disobedience in 2007: resisting Israeli border police who were bulldozing a Palestinian home in Um al-Kheir. BR will stay abreast of Nawi’s sentencing and notify readers once it is rescheduled.

Meanwhile, Obama’s meeting on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reached no firm conclusion. Speaking to the UN, Obama insisted that peace negotiations should resume without preconditions–thereby sidestepping the Palestinian demand for a freeze on Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank. Obama impatiently pushes ahead, but might do well to consult another piece from the BR archive (one of my favorites): Joseph Levine’s History Matters, in which he dissects the historical claims and current status of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Contrary to the U.S.’s current easing up on Netanyahu, Levine asserts:

As the occupier and principal aggressor, Israel must demonstrate good faith by taking significant actions to meet Palestinian demands. If Israel does not enact such measures, then the world community, especially the United States and the United Nations—the external parties chiefly responsible for the terrible situation in the first place—must employ sanctions to ensure Israeli compliance.

Strong words, but I encourage you to read the rest of Levine’s argument and reflect as we wait for negotiations to commence.

Upstanding Citizens of United 93

Thinking back on eight years ago today, we invite you to delve into the BR archive and revisit Elaine Scarry’s “Citizenship in Emergency.” Scarry commemorates the superb citizenship demonstrated by passengers of United Flight 93, who rallied to our country’s defense in a way our leaders at the time proved incapable. In twenty-three minutes, United 93 passengers gathered information about events on the ground, deliberated a course of action, voted, and took action–all while communicating with loved ones and coming to terms with death.

While we reflect on the unprecedented tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, we are–all of us–responsible for our country’s defense, and for insuring that our systems of defense are enacted in the best way possible. With each anniversary, allow our remembrance to move us from mourning into action, strengthening our participatory democracy in honor of the egalitarian process utilized by the citizens of United 93.

For another in-depth look at defense and democracy, check out Elaine Scarry’s Who Defended the Country?, edited by our own Joshua Cohen and published by Beacon Press in 2003.