Eight years ago, on 11 September 2001, people watched their television screens around the world, transfixed in horror as two passenger jets slammed into the World Trade Centre in New York.
Eight years later, the pain and the sheer shock of what happened is still with us. Each and every person who watched the footage of the al Qaeda attack still has lingering memories of the devastation wrought on New York.
Who can forget the NYC firemen who died in the building? Who can forget the businessman who saw blazing fires licking at his office and then decided to throw himself from his window, still clutching his briefcase?
Who can forget the dazed look on people’s faces, caked with dust and dirt as they attempted to comprehend the magnitude of what had happened? It was shocking. The immediate response was to hunt down al Qaeda in Afghanistan and topple the Taliban.
Eight years later, troops are still there and they are getting killed at a higher ratio than ever before.
It seems that while modern warfare allows armies to pinpoint their attacks, the collateral damage (innocent civilians being killed by bombs and missiles), does not render much of a ‘hearts and minds’ campaign. Oddly enough, the Taliban seem to be gaining in strength as adversity increases. It’s more or less an echo of the Russian campaign which was slowly and brutally brought to a grinding halt by the Mujaheddin.
The next step was equally foolish. The UK and the US governments decided that Iraq was harbouring weapons of mass destruction. A lightning military campaign saw Saddam Hussein ousted. The result? Civil war brewing under the surface with Sunnis and Shiite Muslims killing each other in the blood soaked streets of Baghdad.
Mr Blair and Mr W. Bush got off easily. They have served their terms and stepped down. But how has their reaction to the attacks affected us today? The truth is probably that the extremists have further hardened their resolve.
Terrorists are still hatching plots and they have succeeded in wreaking further havoc in Europe. The bus explosions in London and the metro explosions in Spain are clear examples. But have people already forgot the plans to blow up planes as they took of from Heathrow? Have they forgotten the attempt to car bomb British airports? Have they forgotten about the plan to poison Rome’s water supply? Oh yes, we forget so easily and we are so easy in our lifestyles (despite our constant complaining).
We have already witnessed the worry that comes with home-grown terror – primarily in the UK, where Muslims and in particular Pakistani’s are being tempted by videos of Jihad and terror training camps. One can only wonder what horror could be wrought on the European peoples if these home-grown groups were to join forces with traditional terror groups in Europe. Anti-establishment sentiment is already being felt by most of the governments in Europe and people are increasingly getting frustrated with the EU. God forbid our social order system were to crumble as it would give the perfect opportunity for strikes against European people and our institutions.
President Barack Obama was swept to power on the wave of change he promised and he pledged to revise US foreign policy. We have no doubt that the President and Europe’s leaders want change and are striving for it. But is it too little and far, far, far too late?