Today, we reflect on the tenth anniversary of a direct attack on the United States by fanatical followers of Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda. We should never forget the grim reality of the savagery that extinguished nearly three thousand lives and injured more than six thousand men, women and children. An act of hatred and single minded violence aimed at the United States and claiming victims from more than 90 countries around the globe. It was not just the United States that was attacked but all pluralistic democratic countries around the world.
The objective of this carnage was the establishment of a global Islamic Caliphate that would impose a rigorous theocratic dictatorship under a harsh interpretation of Sharia Law. Al Qaeda seeks to achieve its objectives with a total disregard for the value of human life and a single minded willingness to obliterate all that might stand in its way.
The attack on New York and Washington D.C. on 9/11 was preceded by a continuing series of attacks carried out by Al Qaeda and other militant Islamic organizations. It included an earlier attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, bombing U.S. Embassies in Dar el Salaam and Nairobi, with hundreds of innocent civilians slaughtered and thousands wounded. It was followed by bombings across Europe as airport terminal buildings, trains, busses and subway systems were attacked as well as targets in Southeast Asia and India.
After the destruction of the World Trade Center twin towers the response of the United States and its allies was swift and unrelenting with an invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq and special military operations elsewhere in the Middle East and South East Asia all aimed at disrupting Al Qaeda’s leadership and organizational structure.
At the same time enhanced security and surveillance measures were introduce to prevent terrorist attacks and as the struggle has morphed into new threats new counter measure techniques were developed. As a result our lives have changed forever with the advent of a new form of warfare waged by a dedicated group of Islamists with no fixed place of abode but with one objective to destroy America’s way of life and its democratic system of government, its culture of tolerance and a respect for the value of human life and dignity. They would replace it with an austere and ruthless totalitarian theocracy that celebrates death; relegates women to the status of second class citizens and denies them an education and equal legal status with men.
While America is at the head of the food chain for these Islamic zealots, we in Barbados and the rest of the Caribbean should be under no illusion that we are not on the menu as well. The assault on Bali should have clarified that for us. We should not believe that because of our small size we will have escaped their notice.
Though the success in the United States is measured by the lack of a major assault on the American homeland since the destruction of the Twin Towers, there have been many close calls such as the planned simultaneous in flight destruction of ten airliners over the Atlantic that was foiled by British law enforcement units.
The war, and war it is, has been a drawn out affair and fatigue seems to have set in as troops are being withdrawn from the battle fields of Iraq and Afghanistan. There is a growing reluctance to define the enemy that precipitated the war and convoluted euphemisms are being employed to avoid describing the true nature of the enemy that would destroy us and our way of life.
If we are to win and ultimately succeed in preserving the freedoms and the rule of law that we enjoy we must clearly understand the enemy and its agenda. It is time to call a spade the proverbial shovel and resist this new form of aggression with grit and determination. If we resile from identifying the enemy that attacks us, the path to victory becomes more difficult.
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