As Britain marked the second anniversary of the London suicide bombings on Saturday, the British people and the rest of the world have been reminded that the war against terrorism is far from being won, if it will ever be. The car bomb attacks that were foiled in London and Glasgow — as well as the countless others in the world that weren’t stopped in time — have only confirmed that as we remember the 52 victims of the London attacks we must also recognized that the threat of terrorism lingers. We should mourn all victims of these murderous acts, be they subway riders in London, train passengers in Mumbai, hotel guests in Amman, tourists in Bali or neighbors in Baghdad. Terrorism continues in so many places.
In Britain, counterterrorism agents have foiled several attacks since 7/7. A trans-Atlantic airliner plot last August in which a group planned to blow up as many as 10 airplanes was prevented by a string of arrests, and the most recent failed car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow. Terrorism has no deadline. That the new UK Security Minister Sir Alan West gave it one — that the battle against the threat posed by Islamist extremism could last 15 years — does not mean 2022 will be the cut-off date.
What we can say for sure is that, even if it doesn’t end then, terrorism changes lives and lifestyles. Although the UK has lowered its terror-threat level from “critical” to “severe”, the country remains at a very high level of vigilance. Prime Minister Gordon Brown laid flowers outside one of the train stations hit two years ago in the suicide bombings. He has also laid down the gauntlet. Nobody believes in sweeping curbs on individual liberties in a misguided attempt to appear tough on terrorism. It is through intelligence and police work that threats will be contained. At the same time, the fight will not be won by giving the authorities blanket powers to detain suspects. A draconian crackdown risks alienating the very communities whose cooperation everyone needs.
The danger of stereotyping Muslims is clear. Just as the fact that the London underground bombers were British-born Muslims should not reflect on the vast majority of law-abiding Muslims in Britain or anywhere else. Would terrorism have vanished if the US had not invaded Afghanistan and Iraq or if Palestinians had an independent home to live in? No one can say for sure, but the radicalism of such hot spots is surely an instigator and a breeder of terrorism. These “hot” regions provide the motive to breach the law and violate society’s norms.
Terrorists and those who support them firmly believe that it is the very societal norms in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan that have been violated to the hilt and so take it upon themselves to take extreme measures to combat extreme situations. They end lives, maim them, and change them. For whatever reasons they have, terrorists seek to destroy an entire way of life. At times they succeed, at others they don’t. But they always keep reminding us that they could.
