9/11 Five years on
September 11th 2001 is a date that sticks in everyone’s minds. On that particular day I was whale watching in the Bay of Fundy off the coast of Canada with a group of friends. Several days earlier we had been in New York, and I had taken the opportunity to visit the World Trade Centre. The view from the top of the WTC was simply breathtaking, the size of the two towers were immense, and yet within less than a week of my visit both towers had been destroyed. When I first heard about the WTC being attacked and destroyed I simply could not believe it. Ironically whilst standing on the top of the WTC a week earlier, I thought about the attempt in 1993 by Al Qaeda to destroy the towers by setting off a car bomb in the underground carpark of one of the towers. I remember thinking to myself that even if someone attacked these buildings, they would never succeed in destroying them because of there sheer size - I wish I had been right.
The world changed for ever on 9/11, with war being declared on terrorism, which led swiftly to the invasion or Afghanistan and then Iraq. Unfortunately, the world today appears to be even less safe than five years ago, especially after the disastrous invasion of Iraq. I’m not sad that Saddam Hussein and his evil regime has been toppled from power, but the situation in Iraq appears if anything to be even more unstable, and the invasion has only served to create more extremists. The July 7th bombings in London, and the recently foiled plot to blow up transatlantic planes shows that the terrorist threat is as great today as it has ever been. Unfortunately I feel that the actions of the American and British governments in the Middle East has only served to make the problem of terrorism worse.
I don’t believe that the problem of terrorism can be solved through force alone, we need to consider why people feel drawn to terrorism. For example, the July 7th bombers were born and raised here in Britain, how can such young men be so easily radicalised, and be prepared to kill innocent men, women and children in the name of ‘God the merciful’?. Why is it that many young British muslims feel so alienated from society, and what can we do to address this? I don’t believe that there is an easy answer to these problems, but they are questions that we need to ask if we are to tackle this world wide problem.
I do hope that five years from now, when we commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the world will be a safer and more peaceful place to live.
The world changed for ever on 9/11, with war being declared on terrorism, which led swiftly to the invasion or Afghanistan and then Iraq. Unfortunately, the world today appears to be even less safe than five years ago, especially after the disastrous invasion of Iraq. I’m not sad that Saddam Hussein and his evil regime has been toppled from power, but the situation in Iraq appears if anything to be even more unstable, and the invasion has only served to create more extremists. The July 7th bombings in London, and the recently foiled plot to blow up transatlantic planes shows that the terrorist threat is as great today as it has ever been. Unfortunately I feel that the actions of the American and British governments in the Middle East has only served to make the problem of terrorism worse.
I don’t believe that the problem of terrorism can be solved through force alone, we need to consider why people feel drawn to terrorism. For example, the July 7th bombers were born and raised here in Britain, how can such young men be so easily radicalised, and be prepared to kill innocent men, women and children in the name of ‘God the merciful’?. Why is it that many young British muslims feel so alienated from society, and what can we do to address this? I don’t believe that there is an easy answer to these problems, but they are questions that we need to ask if we are to tackle this world wide problem.
I do hope that five years from now, when we commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the world will be a safer and more peaceful place to live.
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