Amid increasing calls for war in the United States in response to last week's terrorist attacks, a local NGO has called on the superpower to take a level-headed approach, cautioning that the vicious circle of violence will reduce everyone and everything to smithereens.

"Organising an international coalition to hunt down terrorists and to destroy their sanctuaries is not a solution," said International Movement for a Just World president Dr Chandra Muzaffar in a letter addressed to US president George W Bush.

"The terrorist bases and their networks will re-emerge as long as the root causes of the phenomenon have not been addressed," Chandra added.

Last Saturday, Bush launched 'Operation Noble Eagle' and placed reservists and active-duty army personnel on high alert, effectively putting the superpower on a war footing.

The US pointed the finger at Osama bin Laden, an alleged terrorist who is now hiding in Afghanistan. Any possible military action, according to the US government, would be directed at Afghanistan for harbouring him.

However Saudi-born Osama has twice denied that he was in any way involved in the hijacking of two airliners which crashed into the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York, as well as the hijacking of another two, one which crashed into Pentagon - the US military nerve centre in Washington DC, and the other into a farm in Pennsylvania.

US allies and countries around the world have pledged their support for the war on terrorism, though some warned against hasty military strikes.

Crying need of the hour

Chandra, who is also Keadilan deputy president, urged the US to first understand the causes that give rise to terrorism before progressing to military action.

"The crying need of the hour is not cobbling together an international military alliance. It is understanding the causes and circumstances that facilitate the rise of terrorism," Chandra said.

US foreign policy in the Middle East over the past 50 years, Chandra said, was one of the main factors for the rise of terrorism against the US.

"Palestine, more than any other conflict, epitomises this sense of hopelessness and helplessness and because of the US' intimate relationship with Israel, Palestinians and Arabs are convinced that they cannot even expect a modicum of justice from your government," Chandra told Bush.

"Through much of the Middle East, a region which is of tremendous geo-economic and geo-political significance to the US, ordinary men and women, rightly or wrongly, perceive the US as their primary cause of their misery and their deprivation," Chandra said.

Chandra also reminded the US of its use of the atomic bomb during World War II and the setting up of repressive regimes in Indochina and Latin American countries in order to maintain its hegemony of the world.

Embrace truth

"When a hegemonic global power centralises power, wealth and knowledge in the hands of the minority, when there are few avenues to ensure accountability, the marginalisation and alienation among the many can lead to disastrous results.

""While there is so much sympathy for the bereaving people of the US, there is a great deal of antipathy towards an arrogant super power," Chandra said.

Chandra, a former academic, advised the US to review its foreign policy to be guided by principles of justice and not power.

"We pray that God will give you and your people the strength and the humility to discover the truth about America and how it has used the enormous power it commands.

"When you have embraced that truth, the tyranny of terror and the ugliness of violence will be vanquished," Chandra said.