Target: Humanity

he scenes of devastation were truly horrific. Huge swelling clouds of smoke, towering buildings collapsing, screams and sirens renting the air, as piercing as shrapnel. It could have been Kosovo, Beirut, or the West Bank. But in fact, it was New York City and Washington DC, the very heart of the fortress of democracy, now sought to be made even more impregnable by the Bush administration-proposed National Missile Defence. The loss in both material and human terms is collosal and will take months, if not years, to fully compute, let alone for even the world’s most powerful economy to absorb. Bushfire rumour is already spreading a smokescreen even thicker than the noxious fumes pouring out of the burning buildings. Even while near-hysterical commentators were trying to describe what has happened in Washington and New York, where respectively a hijacked plane crashed into a wing of the Pentagon and the twin pinnacles of the towering World Trade Centre were smashed into rubble by two further hijacked planes striking them, other reports came in of a car bomb exploding in the US capital and another plane crashing just outside the populous city of Pittsburgh.

Frantic attempts were made to evacuate other public buildings throughout the US and, indeed, as far away as the Canary Wharf area of London, where that city’s tallest commercial building was ordered cleared of all people. At the time of going to press, it was still unclear as to who was responsible for what is already being called the biggest and most concerted terrorist attack in history -- indeed, it could be described as an assault not just on the US or the west, but on the very concept of civilisation itself. Already, the political and economic aftershocks of the attack are being felt in all corners of the globe. Meanwhile, speculation is running rife about the perpetrators of this chilling strike. The names of Osama bin Laden and his organisation have already been repeatedly mentioned. It has also been pointed out that it could be more than just coincidence that barely a few hours before the strike on America, Ahmad Shah Masoud, the most credible opponent of the Taliban in embattled Afghanistan, faced an assassination attempt.

While it would be only too easy, and perhaps inevitable, to blame terrorist groups inspired by so-called ‘Islamic fundamentalism’, it should also be borne in mind that with overweaning power comes an equally formidable range of enmity. It would not be entirely in the realm of thriller fiction -- though in fact, one of Tom Clancy’s bestsellers does mention the US President being killed after a plane crashes into the White House -- if these attacks did not have clandestine drug connections, besides the obvious political and terrorist angles. The US today is the largest recipient of mainly cocaine, but also heroin, from diverse areas, stretching from South America to the so-called Golden Crescent in Pakistan and Afghanistan. India, amongst many others, has repeatedly pointed out the growing lethal combination of narcotics and terrorist activities, both of which are an equal menace to the civilised international community.

Even as it recovers from the massive body blow it has received, the US’ political and defence establishments must work in closer concert with their counterparts elsewhere, which are also exposed to these threats. The strikes in the US call to mind the Mumbai blasts some years ago, when several commercially important buildings were bombed with an almost military precision. At that time, the finger of suspicion had pointed unerringly at those who sought both politically and economically to subvert the growing importance of India in the international realm. Such dangers still exist for all democratic communities — be it India, the US, or anywhere in the world. Because as we have already said, what has been grievously wounded today is not just one nation, but the very heart of humanity itself.