Between the Witch and the Eagle
by Heather Wokusch

I was sightseeing in the Scottish Highlands when news of the World Trade Center broke. I'd visited the spot where Janet Horne, the last "witch" in Scotland, was burned to death, and I had just returned from Dunrobin Castle and its extraordinary eagle, Fig. Years ago, Fig had been found abused and near death, the feathers on one of his wings shattered and ripped apart. It was only after caregivers attached the feathers of other birds to Fig's shafts that he was able to fly again. It was a heartening story, and afterward I wondered if our process of dealing with this horrific terrorist attack will follow Fig's example or, far worse, Janet Horne's.

While headlines here in the United Kingdom reflect those in the States, and pictures of the teary-eyed queen at a memorial service make front page, beneath the sympathy is adamant insistence that, even though a significant percentage of the World Trade Center victims were British, the response must be preceded by an honest assessment of the attack's root causes. "They Can't See Why They Are Hated," a piece that ran in The Guardian on September 13, said that it is the "record of unabashed national egotism and arrogance that drives Anti-Americanism among swaths of the world's population," and that this must be understood "if such tragedies are not to be repeated." In the same edition, "Shoulder to Shoulder" questions Prime Minister Tony Blair's support for George Bush, noting that while Blair referred to the attacks as an assault "on the very notion of democracy," the terrorists "did not in fact target democracy; they targeted American power. There is a very important difference between the two."

Large demonstrations have taken place across London, focused on urging Tony Blair to pursue a peaceful solution to the crisis. Some protesters are worried about being dragged into an intractable war, and express concern that F-15s have suddenly returned to the Suffolk airbase, home of over 30 nuclear warheads. Others demand the United Kingdom use any international clout it has to supercede an assault on dubious targets in Afghanistan or Iraq before even more innocent lives are lost.

Which brings us to Janet Horne. The story has it that back in 1722, the tiny Scottish town of Dornoch was looking for a scapegoat. Times were hard, people were restless and the Catholic Church was eager to assert its authority. Janet Horne's two children had been born with minor birth defects, and even though both were healthy and productive adults, she was an easy target. Janet Horne was charged with having turned her daughter into a pony, and she was burned at the stake.

The violence and carnage of the terrorist attacks in the States are sickening and indefensible. Which means, though, that we shouldn't turn around and do the same thing to someone else. While it's much easier to pick a quick scapegoat than to examine the painful roots of a problem, now is the time for the United States to re-engage with the rest of the world — especially with those in countries its policies have harmed — not just on this issue but on others as well. It is time to re-establish support for international treaties regarding biological weapons, space wars and greenhouse gases, time to pay our UN dues. In the same way that Fig the blue eagle could only take flight with the support of other birds, justice for all will best be served by engaging diverse opinions, rather than the slaughter of more innocent victims.

E-mail Heather Wokusch at womanrant at hotmail dot com.