Terrorism should be fought intelligently

In the week after the United States experienced the worst terrorist act in history it is difficult to write about anything else. The images of those airplanes exploding into huge walls of fire after hitting the World Trade Center’s twin towers, the attack on the Pentagon by another aircraft shortly afterwards and the terror on the faces of ordinary people in New York and Washington are hard to forget.

Those who staged the ghoulish attack were not only against America but also against human kind and their own religion, Islam that without exception condemns terrorism and the random killing of innocent civilians.

The world needs to fight terrorism and it is in order for America and its allies to pool resources to fight international terrorism singly and collectively. However unlike normal situations, the war that America has declared is against a widely unknown enemy consisting of individuals residing in different states. It therefore needs to exercise restraint in the way it seeks out perpetrators of terrorism.

While people condemn the horrendous terrorist attacks on the US, what amazed many was how a country believed to be the intelligence capital of the world had absolutely no inkling on the impending disaster. Why did the air traffic control fail to act when those suicidal pilots diverted the planes from the expected paths? How come four planes were almost simultaneously hijacked with the hijackers smuggling in knives and small weapons? While lax security measures can be corrected the truth is that in a war against individuals ready to die, it is rather impossible to stop future similar occurrences, unless all aircraft are grounded. Suicidal volunteers of anger and hatred with nothing more than a modicum of piloting skills and weapons as deadly as table knives caused chaos on Black Tuesday proving that all the military might of the US was unequal to the fanatical determination of a bunch of terrorists. Indulging in firepower to demonstrate muscle while seeking revenge may appease citizens but could well backfire. Last week’s act of terrorism is probably also a result of such a show of strength in the past.

Yet terrorism must be crushed wherever it rears its head, but how do you crush a faceless enemy with a full-fledged war on one country? What about the other terrorists living in other countries including Europe and America itself? Terrorism is not divisible and the fight against terrorists should not only be limited to Osama bin Laden. There are terrorists of different religions identified in different parts of the world by different democracies and in different situations. 

Can security at home be obtained by making life more insecure for people elsewhere? US airstrikes will invariably lead to the killing of innocent civilians and provide more fuel to the already incendiary mindset of those who have been victims of US policies. Far from stopping terrorist outrages, US airstrikes could make future occurrences even more likely. In the aftermath of last week’s horror, heart should not rule the head. The heart could convince one to adopt an apocalyptic retaliation but hundreds of dead Afghans will not right the wrongs of Manhattan, rather it might spark further tit-for-tat atrocities.

Of course Herculean efforts must be made to bring to justice those responsible but the pursuit of justice should be the essence of the strategy, building on the unprecedented sympathy that America has received after last week’s tragedy from around the world. It is interesting that NATO Secretary General, Lord George Robertson and other leaders in Brussels have thought of activating Article 5 of the NATO Charter that regards an attack on one member an attack on NATO. A larger coalition, including Islamic states would do away with piecemeal responses against terrorists to a more considered, co-ordinated action. Dropping Cruise missiles blindly in search of Osama bin Laden or destroying an innocuous pharmaceutical factory in Sudan may demonstrate power but at the end of the day this only provokes more retaliation. Invoking Article 5 of the NATO Charter may well resume a consultative approach to wipe out terrorists.

The sight of the planes banging into the two towers of the World Trade Centre in New York in full view of TV cameras makes one bleed with anger as do other similar instances like the innocent and frightened Palestine boy who was shot in the arms of his father who tried to protect him by seeking protection behind a garbage bin. The list of such callous crimes in human history, disguised or undisguised, is endless and surely terrorism should be fought, but fairly and sagaciously!