By Kenta Sugawara

　 The president of the United States, George W. Bush, delivered his State of the Union message to convey the American government's policy in its war against terrorism. He insisted that America is at war with terrorism. The most important feature of his policy against terrorism is the decision to obliterate it by budgetting for a campaign to promote American security. Bush declared the accomplishment of world peace as his aim in order keep up the military campaign, as in the policy against the Taliban and al-Qa'eda, by outlawing terrorists in countries throughout the world. However, it is impossible for the American government to establish world peace and security without the cooperation of other advanced nations.

The American government is currently in a mood of triumph over the terrorists after achieving the collapse of the Taliban regime. The nation which achieves victory in a war can generally claim to have "the right" on its side, but though the American government thinks that it is "in the right," if we think about the poverty of the Afghan people and the victims of mistaken aerial bombings by the American army, the concept of "the right" may never set easily in our minds.

In addition, it is impossible for the American government to entirely destroy the al-Qa'eda, led by Osama Bin Laden, and capture him because the al-Qa'eda spreads out its network not only throughout the Muslim nations, but in western nations as well. Not all Muslims are supporters of al-Qa'eda, but there is no doubt that the American campaign will create a greater divide between Christian nations and Muslim nations. Collisions between nations will cause new flames of terrorism to be transmitted to future generations from parents to their children.

The provisional Afghan government, which is policed by the U.K. government, is presently keeping the peace in Afghanistan, while human rights organisations, such as Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and International Committee of the Red Cross the (ICRC), are conducting operations for the relief of poverty amongst the Afghan people.

The NGOs and ICRC are criticizing the American campaign for imposing inhumane restrictions on Taliban and al-Qa'eda soldiers at the prison camp in the Republic of Cuba. The American Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, has stated that the Taliban and al-Qa'eda soldiers are not prisoners but illegal combatants who are not eligible to be held as prisoners-of-war. If the American government were to allow these soldiers to be termed prisoners-of-war, it could not investigate them without giving their names and ranks in accordance with International Law. If the American government regards Taliban and al-Qa'eda soldiers as criminals, it needs to hire lawyers to defend them. The American government is ignoring International Law to suit its own convenience. In that case, it cannot be denied that the American government is heading a selfish nation which controls other nations by threatening them with powerful American armaments.

An armed conflict between a nation or nations and terrorist groups will create a new kind of war when we think about the example of the prisoners captured by the American army and held in the special camp as illegal combatants.

In his message, the president of the United State made no statement concerning the issue of alleviating poverty, the question of refugees, or the north-south problem that is the cause of terrorism. The U.S. should understand how influential their position is, and should not threaten other countries with a military campaign, but should help them pursue democracy and human rights as well as help them improve their economic condition. If the U.S. and other advanced nations were to encourage tyrannical governments to apply those ideas, this would be the most important step towards eradicating terrorism and establishing world peace.