America Urged to Measure Its Response

The Week That Was…

America Urged to Measure Its Response

by Earl Bousquet

A week ago today, while St. Lucians were occupied with domestic issues such as crime and justice, agriculture and tourism, education and sports, while the media discussed the interesting developments in the “Alliance” and while the government continued to warn of the need for taking the global recession seriously, a band of heartless terrorists took control of four American airliners to register the greatest attack on the USA since World War II. Without warning, they overcame pilots and crew and slammed three of the hijacked planes into two of the most important symbols of American financial and military might, costing American thousands of lives and leaving the world with everlasting memories of the most costly price in human lives in a political war that that will change America forever -- and the world with it.

            The world was hit like a thunderbolt. A terrible tragedy had taken place in America, where one of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre had been attacked. News soon came that the second had also been attacked -- and likewise The Pentagon.

America was in panic; the world was in a state of shock. Was it World War III? Who was behind the attack? Even as the world listened, there was news of a fourth tragedy: another airline had crashed in Pennsylvania after, and, like the others, it too had veered off the course of its original domestic flight. Thousands were trapped in the blazing New York buildings, according to the reports. There were thousands too at the Pentagon. And hundreds were dead in the four crashed planes.

The news got worse by the minute: the world’s two tallest buildings had also collapsed, with tens of thousands inside and around them. Firemen and police were trapped inside the twin towers, as well as innocent staff at several businesses with offices in the majestic skyliners.

In the week that has followed, the world’s eyes and ears were on America as minds boggled over just who could have been responsible. As expected, the American media soon began blaming “terrorists.” And soon enough, “Arabs” and “Muslims” were accused. And by the end of the day, Saudi-born Osama bin Laden was fingered.

The world cried with America in the hours and days that followed the worst terrorist attack on America at home. Sympathies poured in from every corner of the globe as America’s friends and foes went head over heels and stumbled over each other to register their sympathy and offer support. Traditional enemies and those that don’t normally agree with America on everything politically swept the past aside as the world united in its support for a global alliance against terrorism. Iran, the PLO, Syria, Russia – all declared they were willing to help America count the costs and pursue those responsible.

But just as the world stood with America, so did it call on Washington to take its time before responding. Inasmuch as Osama bin Laden was declared by America to be a suspect, there was not much support from around the world for the idea of going after him – at least not without firm evidence that he was involved. Arabs were held in America, detained in Germany and other European countries, including Britain. But US intelligence was just as baffled as everyone else. Neither the FBI nor the CIA had a clue. None saw it coming.

The best advice from America’s allies around the world was to wait and measure its response. Everyone wanted justice, but few felt it was necessary to unleash a blind response. Washington warned there would be no distinction between terrorists and those who sheltered or harboured them. But few of the USA’s allies, if any, felt it was necessary to make an entire country – Afghanistan – pay for the mortal sins of one man.

President Bush said he wanted bin Laden “dead or alive”, but even he too knew that was easier said than done. The targeted enemy was invisible, elusive and evasive – a veritable Scarlet Pimpernel of the Middle East with a vast international network that covered over 34 countries. Going after bin Laden, America was warned, would not be an easy undertaking. He’d been wanted for six years and – if America be believed – he had struck American interests several times since then, from embassies to war ships, in the Middle east and Africa. His camp in Afghanistan was bombed with long-range missiles, but to no avail.

Britons were worried that Tony Blair sounded like he was prepared to commit British troops to the fight – a frightening eventuality for many who still hadn’t overcome the loss of British lives in Iraq and in the Balkans. The Russians, who had lost tens of thousands in the war in Chechnya, were not about to commit more sons to possible death in another Jihad (Holy War). Moreover, going after bin Laden or the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan would not be as easy as pounding Iraq from the safety of long-range distance. This would require committing tens of thousands of ground troops in a country with hostile terrain. The risks to innocent Afghans was also monumental, in a country that still lived in the Middle Ages.

Besides, there was warning of a serious potential backlash against America if the Arab world was drawn once again into a war that would divide the moderate and radical regimes of the Middle East. The Taliban rulers in Afghanistan faced a Catch 22 situation: their support for and protection of bin Laden versus the real threat of being bombed into nothingness by America – with the help of Muslim and Arab/Middle Eastern friends and enemies alike. Pakistan was also caught in a similar jam between wanting to help and facing the possibility of war from without and within, from attacks by the Taliban to insurgence by bin Laden’s supporters inside. Even Israel was warning that Washington needed to think hard and long before reacting militarily – that while it continued its own dirty war against Palestine and the PLO.

            A week after the attacks on America, Americans continue to grieve, but are also sobering-up to the fact that while revenge may be sweet, this time around it won’t be that easy. Those continuing the searching for lives and limbs in the mountain of rubble in Lower Manhattan have begun to run out of hope. Hundreds are known dead, but thousands are still missing -- with only remote possibility of being found alive.

America this week began burying its dead while going back to work. Wall Street is back and the New York Stock Exchange reopened, but at the amazing loss of 800 point on the first day of trading after the longest closure since the Great Depression. Airlines are also counting the costs and laying off tens of thousands of workers, while the world’s biggest stocks and trading companies (whose records went up in the inferno that has lasted a week) have also begun counting the endless costs. Insurance companies are bracing for claims that will last for years and eventually cost more than they may have to pay. America’s economic depression, already bad before the attack, is now heading for the deepest pits as consumers throughout the world brace for the backlash.

America can be accused of having compromised security for convenience. Those behind the attacks have reminded Washington, in the worst way, that Fortress America is not impregnable. But the human cost has been too much to bear. Nothing can justify such a terrible action against innocent people. The lives lost in New York and the many more affected around the world add to too much of a cost to humanity.

President Bush has described it as everything from “the first war of the 21^st century” to “the Third World War.” But eight out of every ten Americans have also told him to take his time and measure America’s response. Wise counsel indeed, from a people jolted from their slumber by the best example of a worst nightmare coming true. That’s because the war against terrorism, like the war against crime and that other war against drugs, is a long-term engagement that will outlast George Bush -- and all of the Presidents and Prime Ministers on whose help America is counting to help make the world a safer place for Americans.

A week after the attack on America, it’s not clear yet that Washington is listening to the rest of the world. There’s still talk of war and retaliation. That’s quite understandable in the circumstances. But America will never be the same again. And it is for us all to brace for the backlash, even while we try to learn from the many lessons and take our own steps to adjust to the new reality brought about by the attacks on America.

Our Governments in St. Lucia and the rest of the Caribbean have done the most they could to help America, offering sympathies and condolences, pledging support for taking steps to ensure global safety and asking our peoples to pay silent tribute to those who have paid with their lives. We now have to gird our loins and band our waists to meet the challenges and pay the costs that will come by way of the economic repercussions and the several political and security considerations that will have to be made as those charting the course for our world replace their quest for global trade with the new quest to ensure global military security.

The past week has shown, once again, that we in this part of the world have no choice but to always be prepared to adjust to the ever-changing fortunes brought about by today’s global realities.

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