The Algebra of Infinite Justice

Terrorism and American Foreign Policy

The United States of America has become the primary target of some heinous and abominable terrorist activities , in the recent times . The image that immediately comes to mind is of course those of the magnificent Twin Towers being hit by planes . After the preliminary shock , heart-numbing fear and violent reactions that such an incident must engender , the focus has quite naturally shifted to the `whys : Why terrorism ? Why America ? Why the WTC ? Why Afghanistan ? and so on and so forth . In answering these questions a few political

thinkers and analysts , both American and non-Americans have often pointed their fingers at America itself and the country 's aspirations for world domination . Such authors claim that while the American government will like to have everyone believe that the terrorists are simply the `bad guys ' perpetrating evil against America just for the heck of it , the truth is really much more complex than this . For instance , in her essay The Algebra of Infinite Justice , Arundhati Roy attempts to present the marginalized perspective of the world 's political scenario . The present international political scene is beyond doubt America-centric and this jaundiced vision of the world finds expression in statements like the one made by President Bush : If you 're not with us , you 're against us (qtd in Roy , 13 . Such binary vision of the world - i .e dividing the entire world into two halves , those for America and those against it - Roy proposes , is the root cause behind the rise of terrorism across the world . Roy supports her argument with a detailed analysis of the growth and development of terrorism since the 1970s . The attempt in the essay is presumably to present a neutral third-party assessment of the political developments of the last few decades However , as is true with most such , Roy 's extreme anti-American standpoint often becomes rather obvious in the essay . In her attempt to indict American politics and foreign policies , she even goes to the extent of justifying , defending and humanizing the opposition party , in this context , Osama Bin Laden and his group of radical terrorists . This is however , not to claim that the United States of America is any less guilty in giving birth to this bipolar world view not to ameliorate America 's role in digging its own grave in Afghanistan and Iraq , but to propose that that the worlds that presently set themselves against America and define their politics simply by the opposition of America in every respect , are equally responsible for the present state of things When Roy expresses his vitriolic anti-Americanism , instead of upholding a middle path , she is as guilty as the American government or the anti-American fundamentalists for promoting extremism . Firstly , this contends that though America might have been at fault in the first place , it does not warrant justifying and rationalizing terrorism as Roy attempts to do . Furthermore , the proposes that the problem of terrorism as well as America 's violent reaction to...