With the news of anthrax cases popping up, and other reasons for fear in this country, I feel compelled to state my opinion on the terrorist attacks.

First of all, it came as no surprise to me that we were attacked on Sept. 11. Only the severity of the attack was shocking, not the fact that it occurred. Our Founding Fathers, wise men of reason, knew very well the repercussions of oppressive government.

They warned us, for very good reasons, about entangling alliances, but our government didn't listen. Instead of taking a neutral position, we have placed ourselves in many battles in which we have no business being involved.

We provide money that countries use to bomb other countries. We control air space and directly bomb certain countries. And then we wonder why someone would want to attack us. Incredible.

Not only do our government leaders not heed the advice of the founders of this country, they don't even follow the basic teachings that we convey to our children: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Two wrongs don't make a right.

These are very basic bits of advice that will keep anyone out of trouble - if one heeds them. It seems to me that our country thinks things only work in one direction. It is OK for us to bomb others, but if anyone attacks us, then they are in the wrong. Killing innocent Afghan civilians is no different than killing innocent people in the United States.

The death of an innocent civilian is murder - period. Just because we don't hear much about the deaths our government leaders are causing does not make them any less horrible to the families of the victims. We cannot forget, despite limited media coverage, that the actions of our government continue to kill innocent people.

We are now in the act of killing more innocent civilians, only a month after we denounced terrorists for doing the same. Although at first I thought we should retaliate against the terrorists, it is obvious we can't retaliate against them in a military fashion without killing more innocent civilians.

If we are truly leaders in the world, then it is up to us, as leaders, to start the peace process. It is time for us to start righting the wrong now, not creating more wrongs. Libertarians believe in a noninterventionist foreign policy for very good reasons.

Despite the fact that the world has changed greatly since the founding of our country, the reasons for this policy still hold true. They should be especially obvious now. If nothing else positive comes out of the tragic events of Sept. 11, they hopefully will get our citizens thinking about the backlash that can occur when we try to police the world and seriously consider changes in our foreign policy.

The bombings in Afghanistan are surely killing more innocent people and likely could result in more retaliatory attacks on innocent Americans. When do we come to our senses?

Julie Fox

Treasurer

Fox Valley Libertarian Party

West Dundee