A bitter lesson from the 9/11 Rene F. Antiga Banilad, Mandaue City

Eight years have passed since that fateful day on September 11, 2011 when the World Trade Center twin towers in New York tumbled down after two planes commandeered by terrorists slammed into the giant structure causing its collapse.

Clouds of dust enveloped the building and its environs.  In its aftermath, more than 2,000 lives perished in that incident.  The shocking event that shook the world is now forever etched in the people’s mind as 9/11.

The 9/11 event was somewhat vindicated when its alleged mastermind, Osama bin Laden, was finally located and neutralized by the US Navy SEALS in Pakistan.  Many experts believed that with the death of its figurehead, al Qaeda will also die a natural death.  But inside sources from the Islamic fundamentalist world admitted that its cause has suffered temporary setback but it will soon bounce back to wage more jihads and cause more havoc.

The real brain behind al Qaeda’s terror attacks is still alive and has assumed the top position left behind by its fallen leader.  He is an Egyptian by the name of Ayman al-Zawahiri.  A wily tactician, his whereabouts are unknown and what is scary is the fact that he is shrewd and unforgiving.

So, if the western world thinks that justice to the victims of 9/11 is finally rendered with the death of bin Laden, it should not fall into the wrong notion that a flight of a sparrow signifies the coming of winter.  If the elite Navy SEALS who bagged him jumped like chimpanzees in jubilation for the mission accomplished, they should not let their guards down because terror begets terror and it strikes when it is least expected.  Consequently, vengeance is one of the trademarks of terrorists.

It is interesting to note that the most favorite target of terror attacks is the US.  No other country deserves the title although some satellite countries aligned with the US are also targeted simply because they are being used as staging areas in the US so-called war on terrorism.

Terror attacks perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalist jihadists had a deep-rooted reason and historical background.  US, a world superpower, supported countries with arms and money that are being used to kill Muslims.  To avenge the death of their Muslim brothers, mujahideens (holy warriors) use terror tactics against the perpetrators of the crime to instill fear and send chilling message that it doesn’t pay to offend the Muslim sensitivities.  The use of jihad is also justified as a religious duty when their beliefs are being suppressed.

There are hard lessons from the 9/11 attack.  No matter how powerful the country would be, no matter how sophisticated its weaponry and armament, nobody can stop a suicide bomber from inflicting more human casualties because there is yet no intelligent device invented to read a terrorist’s mind.

The US-led war on terrorism has only exacerbated the situation and created more terrorists than it was intended to eliminate them.  As long as the US continues to wage its war of aggression there will always be defiance and resistance from its intended victims.  The only concrete solution to the problem of terrorism is to put a stop to the US interventionist policy in purely internal matters of a troubled country.

It is a bitter lesson that the US had paid so dearly in 9/11