Terrorism - A world gone mad?

Yet more madness as three suspected suicide bombings killed 57 people in Amman late on Wednesday and another took the lives of 35 people in a Baghdad restaurant on Thursday. This kind of attack has become the most deadly weapon of Islamist militants, killing many thousands of people, since September 11, 2001 when nearly 3,000 people died after hijackers crashed planes into U.S. targets.

But the greatest losers in this madness are innocent civilians. In Iraq, at least 30,000 civilians have died since the U.S. invasion in 2003, relatively few of them in suicide bombings. American, Britain and its allies have been reluctant to release details of how so many have died in places such as Fallujah where what happened is considered a war crime. But you can view the best estimates at the link below.

The other civilians hurt by this madness are ordinary moslems. Moslems who may or may not be devout, women who may or may not wear the hijab, or attend mosques. Ordinary human beings who have grown up in Islamic countries and are now vilified, stereotyped and denegrated in the media and on the street. No country is immune from this. In Australia there have been threats against even the most innocent - children at school. And it is up to everyone in the community, Moslem or not, to stand beside them and speak up for tolerance. Some of my Moslem friends are very religious, others will drink a beer or glass of wine from time to time - and yet all of them report being muttered at in public or being called names. This is a madness we all can help stop.


Civilian casualties in Iraq

Sabbah's Blog post on Fallujah

Yet, governments seem to be using the anti=Muslem feelings to increase the sense of danger in the so called "war on terror". In Australia the government security agencies are claiming they have stopped a major terrorist attack.

Australian police arrested an 18th man over alleged terrorism offences three days after detaining members of suspected terrorist cells in Sydney and Melbourne.

A 25-year-old man was charged with belonging to a terrorist group after he was detained late yesterday in Guilford, a southern Sydney suburb. The man will appear court today, along with eight other people arrested in Sydney on Nov. 8 and 9 in an operation that involved helicopters and four hundred police. They have been charged with stockpiling explosive chemicals and being members of a terrorist group.

Members of the Melbourne group downloaded an al-Qaeda document that called on Muslims to commit the ``heroic act of jihad'' against the West, the Australian newspaper reported today. Australia has supported the U.S.-led war on terrorism and has soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Prime Minister John Howard said offenders with dual citizenship may be deported if they are found guilty.

It is claimed one of the men said he wanted to become as suicide bomber.

Here is a chronology of some of the biggest suicide attacks around the world since 2001.

Sept 11, 2001 - Two hijacked planes destroy New York's World Trade Center twin towers and another plunges into the Pentagon in the worst such attacks. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania. A total of 2,973 people were killed.

March 27, 2002 - A suicide bomber blows himself up in Netanya's Park Hotel in Israel, killing 29 people.

May 12, 2003 - Suicide bombers attack housing compounds for expatriates in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, killing 35.

May 16, 2003 - Suicide bombers using cars or explosive belts set off at least five blasts in Morocco's biggest city Casablanca. Forty-five people were killed including 12 bombers.

Feb 1, 2004 - In northern Iraq, 117 people are killed when two suicide bombers blow themselves up in Arbil, at the offices of the two main Kurdish factions.

March 2, 2004 - In Iraq, 171 people are killed in twin attacks, involving suicide bombers in Baghdad and Kerbala.

Feb 28, 2005 - A suicide car bomb attack in Hilla, south of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, kills 125 people. It was post-war Iraq's worst single blast.

July 7, 2005 - Explosions rip through London's transport system, killing 52 people and the four suicide bombers.

July 23, 2005 - In Egypt three suicide bombers, two in cars, attack hotels and shopping areas in Sharm el-Sheikh killing 64.

Oct 1, 2005 - Three suicide bombers strike restaurants in Bali in Indonesia, killing 20.

Nov 9, 2005 - Bombers strike three luxury hotels in the Jordanian capital Amman. Iraq's al Qaeda group claimed responsibility for the attacks which killed at least 57.

At times I think the world has gone mad. Bombings in Jordan, England, Indonesia and Bali, massacres in Fallujah, ongoing heartbreak in Palestine, Iraq in a quagmire, and so-called "terror cells" in Australia. Now, however, I think that the world has been driven mad. The "war on terror" is an insanity that is causing more problems than it is solving. Countries around the world are reacting to terrorism by bringing in new laws; laws that clamp down on human rights and civil liberties, laws that do nothing to solve the issue of terrorism, and in fact create conditions for it to flourish. Instead of dealing with the causes of terrorism, countries are only facing up to the effects. A long time ago the US President called it "a crusade" - although he retracted, the slip was telling and we have all witnessed the vilification of Islam, an upsurge in abusive behaviour towards Moslems and an absolute blindness to the issues at the core of the problems.

Instead of distorting the truth in order to attack Iraq, instead of the use of torture and secret prisons, of ignoring international conventions and the UN, the West should have looked at oppressive governments who deny their citizens freedom, equality and a share of the wealth generated by their resources. Most of all they should talk to the disaffected. At the end of the day our problems will be solved by dialogue and understanding, not bombs, bullets, torture and hatred. Peace is possible. We can make it happen. Inshallah.

Our thoughts go out to the people of Aman, to Abdel Rahim Boualam and Abdel Karim el-Mouhafidi and their families and to all those who have suffered because of the war on terror and whose names will never be known.

LINK TO FALLUJAH VIDEO.

Dar Al Hayat has a good article on the Moroccan hostages in Iraq.

Morocco and al-Qaida - Dar Al Hayat comment



A sign of hope? Noam Chomsky has been named Prospect magazine's "world's greatest intellectual." The huge vote for Noam Chomsky as the world's leading "public intellectual" should be no surprise at all. Who could match him for sheer intellectual achievement and political courage? Chomsky is a Jewish-American linguistics professor who supports the Palestinian cause. Chomsky believes that every US president after World War II has committed war crimes. It is no wonder that intellectuals of the far right are not impressed with the award.

Prospect Article

Tags: Morocco, Fes, Jihad, Terrorism,

Fes today 4 - 17 degrees C.