Once again, would-be terrorists have put New York City in their cross hairs though this time a tragic disaster has been averted. With four people charged for planning the attacks, the plot to bomb John F. Kennedy Airport was chilling in its intentions. The aim was to destroy one of the world’s busiest airports, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through densely populated residential neighborhoods.
The plot never got past the planning stages but that should not divert concern. Nothing happened this time but does that mean the US, and indeed the world, is winning the war on terror? This new kind of war is being waged by a new breed of people, committed ideologues who are very often willing to use their own bodies as weapons. They are not only ready to sacrifice themselves without hesitation but to do so collectively in an organized, deliberate and methodical manner.
The indiscriminate killing of innocent men, women and children in an undeclared war with no rules indicates a depth of anger and despair that is beyond normal experience or comprehension. In acting out his anger against society, a terrorist is avenging himself for the raw deal he believes he, his society, country and region have received. He is redressing the balance: If his life is not worth saving, then neither is that of his enemies.
While the foiled JFK plot is another reminder that New York appears to remain the primary US target for terrorist attacks, it is the Middle East which remains the source of the problem. With the Palestinian problem at one of its lowest ebbs and the Iraqi problem roughly the same, the Middle East has become the problem that produces terrorism.
The discovery of the JFK plot is bound to have brought back the ghosts of 9/11 which was not a one-off incident but in fact represented a basic turning point in modern history. What happened on that apocalyptic day put terrorism in an entirely new light, promoting it from its previous status as a marginal phenomenon to one that could — and did — challenge the very foundations of world order. On that day terrorism emerged as a counterpart to that order, a force to be reckoned with in the global balance of power. The emergence of terrorism as an integral part of the new world order has unleashed an era of unprecedented world disorder that is inimical to stability, security and human progress in general.
In the design and execution of its battle plans on that fateful September day, international terrorism displayed imagination, daring and proficiency. Its use of commercial airliners as missiles to bring down seemingly impregnable skyscrapers was a shocking innovation. More important than what was actually achieved that day is the fact that we are likely to see similarly imaginative scenarios as unpredictable as the one on 9/11. We were about to witness one but thankfully we have been spared.
