This fiscal year, the International Institute for Strategic Studies expects that the United States will contribute to over 52 percent of all military spending worldwide. Hence, if military spending is a measure of power, the United States could not be overtaken even if every country in the world declared war on it. The fact that even a military this powerful has been unable to solve the predicament of terrorism makes it increasingly hard to deny that the use of force is not addressing the root of the problem. This fact lingers in spite of the opinion of A.J. Fluehr ("Bush's forceful plan will end world terror" Tues., Oct. 19). Regardless of this fact, both presidential candidates claim that to win the war on terrorism, it is essential to spend more than the $1,200 per capita we already dedicate to war. Sen. John Kerry plans to increase the active duty army by 8.1 percent. In itself, this would increase defense spending by an amount exceeding Canada's defense budget. Under President Bush, our military spending (not including Iraq) has increased by 100 billion dollars-an amount greater than the defense spending of Russia and the United Kingdom combined. What nobody talks about is that while military force tries to tear every leaf off of the terror tree, we will never win the war on terror if the roots remain. To get to the roots we need to invest in something far more noble (and inexpensive) than bombs. We need to invest in human dignity.