Already, many have dubbed Tuesday’s tragedy “an act of war.” To the terrorist factions of the Middle East, however, the war has been going on for many years. The only difference is that the United States has finally decided to “officially” join the fray, something we’ve been doing covertly for decades.

However, a critical question that has been asked since Tuesday is, “Why? Why do terrorists target the United States?” Many claim these attacks were motivated because of a hatred of our culture of liberty and capitalism.

This is patently false, and here is why – if Islamic militants hate our “culture of liberty” and the forces of the free market, why stop with the United States? Why have the most recent, significant acts of terror all been against major U.S. targets – the U.S. Embassies, the USS Cole, and the World Trade Center? Why haven’t terrorists moved against other institutions such as countries of the European Union or the United Nations?

The answer lies in the fact that the terrorists despise not who we are but what we do. How would you feel if you were one of the 1.5 million Iraqis whose children starved because of U.S. sanctions that have yet to remove Saddam from power?

How would you feel if your national election was declared a “fraud” by the U.S. because you picked the “wrong candidate?” (This has happened before – namely with the Shah of Iran). And how would you view such a nation that seems to impose its will everywhere, from Bosnia to South America, all in the name of “freedom” but employing tactics unfit for dictators?

Beyond the scope of the U.S. drawing the ire of would-be terrorists, the U.S. has further created its own problem by training the very people that now attack us. In the case of bin Laden, he was recruited and trained by the U.S. as part of the “Mujahideen,” a group of resistance fighters recruited by the U.S. in Afghanistan when the Soviets were invading. The only problem is when the Soviets were repelled from their borders, a militant Islamic wing of the Mujahideen broke off to form the now-ruling faction, our “friends” the Taliban, whose activities include rolling back the clock a century on civil rights and destroying ancient artwork because of their “unholy” nature, among other things.

A war with bin Laden would make us exactly what he’s playing us for – suckers.

The minute troops are sent into Afghanistan, bin Laden will effectively spin this as a war of Islam versus the West, exactly the war he’s been selling to drum up support for his cause all along. A war against Islam means a war not only with Afghanistan, but with most of the Middle East – one that would cost millions of lives and take years, but more importantly one that doesn’t need to happen.

The U.S. is not at war with Islam by any stretch of the imagination, but starting a war with the Taliban and bin Laden would easily be viewed as such.

The only effective way to end terrorism is to stop giving the impression of any such war on Islam. This means America needs to stop interfering in the affairs of sovereign nations. The United States needs to welcome the flow of goods and ideas to and from the Islamic world.

Ending terrorism does not require violence, but rather an end to it. It requires showing the people of the Middle East that we are in fact above deplorable acts of violence and tyranny, that we in fact mean no harm to their sovereign ways of life.

Does this mean that we shouldn’t act against the individual terrorist groups involved? By no means. They should be quickly brought to justice. But if we are serious about such a “war on terrorism” and the security of U.S. citizens both here and abroad, perhaps it is in our interests to reconsider the policies which motivate this kind of terror to begin with.

Some may disagree with me on this point of reversing our interventionist trends, arguing that without our presence that the world would quite literally, “go to hell in a handbasket.” To this I say, – fight your own wars, but don’t put our lives on the line for the sake of your “righteous” cause.

Many are quite eager to send the young men and women sworn to protect our lives and our liberty for the sake of disputes which do not even remotely involve the United States, engendering hatred not toward individuals but toward America as a whole and thus endangering the lives of all U.S. citizens.

After all, we view state-sponsored terrorism as an act of a country, rather than an individual. Why should we expect that U.S. military and legislative actions should be viewed any differently? If these same people truly care about the lives of U.S. citizens, then perhaps they should consider donating their own resources to these causes.

Or, better yet, joining these causes on their own, sparing the lives of Americans who want nothing more than to simply carry out their lives in peace.

Steve Skutnik is a senior in physics from Palm Harbor, Fla.