The answer is simply no, but there is a but (there is always a but). Was the world safer in 1942 when the US joined WWII? No, but it was certainly safer when Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan where defeated in 1945.
A article published by a JFK School of Government researcher (link found via Instapundit) provides evidence that the Bush Doctrine may lead to safer days ahead. Associate Professor of Public Policy Alberto Abadie's research shows that the common belief that poverty is the root cause of terrorism may be incorrect. Instead lack of freedom causes terrrorism.
"In the past, we heard people refer to the strong link between terrorism and poverty, but in fact when you look at the data, it's not there. This is true not only for events of international terrorism, as previous studies have shown, but perhaps more surprisingly also for the overall level of terrorism, both of domestic and of foreign origin,"
Instead, Abadie detected a peculiar relationship between the levels of political freedom a nation affords and the severity of terrorism. Though terrorism declined among nations with high levels of political freedom, it was the intermediate nations that seemed most vulnerable.
Former PM Chretien's controversal comments on the root causes of terrorism may need to be revisited.
...But I've said that it is a division in the world that is building up. And I knew that it was the inspiration of it. For me, I think that the rest of the world is a bit too selfish, and that there is a lot of resentment.
I felt it when I dealt with the African file for the Summit of the G8. You know, the poor, relatively, get poorer all the time. And the rich are getting richer all the time. You know, now we see the abuse of the system with problems in the United States at this moment with the corporate world, you know. When you think that, you know, you have to let go somebody in the Cabinet because perhaps relatively very minor things…of guidelines. And there was billions of dollars that were basically stolen from the shareholders.
...And it is one of the problems. You know, you cannot exercise your powers to the point that of humiliation for the others. And that is what the Western world, not only the Americans, the Western world has to realize, because they are human beings too, and there are long-term consequences if you don't look hard at the reality in 10 or 20 or 30 years from now. And I do think that the Western world is going to be too rich in relation to the poor world. And necessarily, you know, we look upon us being arrogant, self-satisfying, greedy and with no limits. And the 11th of September is an occasion for me to realize that it's even more.
I am just about finished Ten Minutes from Normal by President Bush's communucations advisor Karen Hughes (if I got the title wrong you have my apologies Mrs. Hughes). In the book she speaks of a trip she attended in El Salvador (pg. 299)
...El Salvador is busy,
bustling; its transformation is inspiring. "The peace accords have been concluded and democracy is succeeding in El Salvador," President Flores proudly tells President Bush. It's hard to believe that just a decade ago, this country was embroiled in civil war.
"What can we do to help you?" President Bush asks.
"On trade, we need to walk at the pace of the fastest, and not at the pace of the slowest...The fact that you announced a trade agreement is changing Central America completely...there is a different mindset since January, when you announced it," Flores tells my boss. There it was again: another reminder of the vital importance of trade; we heard the same message from so many leaders, in so many places.
"A leader is a dealer in hope," President Flores told us he had said during his campaign, and in so many parts of the world, I had realized, trade is hope. It first struck me at a meeting of Central and South American nations a year before: Americans view trade as a commerce; the leaders of developing countires see it as a lifeline.
For all of The Right-Honourable Chretien's talk on the greed of the West it seems to me that when Senator Kerry talked about stopping the outsourcing of "American jobs" he was taking such a position of greed.
I feel for the citizens of third-world nations. I think there is more that we can do to help these nations. But if Professor Abadie is correct, fighting poverty will not lead to a decrease of terrorism, spreading freedom will. This is fundamentally what President Bush has been talking about. Maybe the long-term solution is to spread freedom (it is on the march isn't it? - we've been beat over the head with that line), education and trade.
We may not be safer today, but by spreading freedom, education and trade a safer world can be crafted.
