Friday marked the 10th anniversary of the ghastly 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States. The reverberations of the rapid succession of events that followed on that fateful Tuesday morning can still be felt radiating across the world.
There has been in all this time an ongoing and passionate debate on whether the death of almost 3,000 innocent lives on that day coupled with countless thousands who died after, has really and truly changed the global geo-political landscape at all. This is a manifestly difficult question to answer, yet it would appear that some significant changes have indeed shaped and moulded a new worldview after all.
The invasion of Afghanistan and the war in Iraq are the chief by-products of 9/11. US foreign policy has shifted abruptly and dramatically in the last 10 years. The doctrine of pre-emptive strike resulted in the declaration of war on Afghanistan and facilitated the invasion of Iraq and the violent deposition of Saddam Hussein. All this would destabilize whole regions and cause the death of thousands of lives. These wars have disturbed many dormant hornet’s nests and proved catalysts for bloody and murderous civil wars between ethnic groups. A US military, which 10 years ago was more inclined to focus on external threats with planes, warships and air defences, has now transformed itself into a bulwark for homeland security. Its reach has grown internally but so has its international one.
Compared to a decade ago, the military is a much bigger leviathan that swallows an unsustainable $700 billion dollars annually to honour its ongoing engagements in Iraq and much more significantly in Afghanistan. The US military has spent trillions and has learnt that its old methods of army against army strategies are a relic of the Cold War. The new realities have proved that ‘military might’ alone will not achieve lasting peace. In these new theatres of war, diplomacy, intelligence and partnership have become essential elements in fostering an enduring order. Winning minds and hearts is unlikely to be achieved with fire and brimstone.
9/11 remains the gruesome swan song of the terrorist organisation al-Qaeda − an international terrorist group spearheaded by ex-mujahideen Osama bin Laden hell bent on destabilizing a fragile world order while instigating a fraudulent religious war between Christians and Muslims. Osama bin Laden became America’s number one enemy, initiating the largest manhunt in US history and one that has cost countless lives and hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars.
Bin Laden proved himself a master tactician but a short-sighted strategist. Radicalising Islam to such extremes has left its indelible marks. Rather than ridding the Arab world of the ‘infidel’, 9/11 and other cowardly attacks around the world like 7/7 in London (it is estimated more Muslims have died due to al-Qaeda operations than any other religious denomination), this terrorist organisation has forced America and its allies to have operations in Afghanistan, Iran, Bahrain, Somalia, Pakistan and Yemen. This is a much bigger and more significant presence in the area than that which existed in 2001.
More and more Muslims have disowned bin Laden’s strategy of abject hatred void of any significant and long lasting political ideology. His killing on 1 May of this year is being signalled as a definitive blow to al-Qaeda. Its last three Pakistani regional leaders followed bin Laden’s fate in recent times as they are continually hounded by American and Pakistani forces. This does not mean that al-Qaeda is finished. Yet it appears its’ funding and lines of communication have been severed albeit not completely.
American journalist Jeffrey Goldberg recently wrote a piece entitled “The Real Meaning of 9/11” and poignantly remarked that bin Laden’s ‘theology of restoration’ and ‘ a compulsive need to murdering one’s way to glory’ has skewed the image of real Islam and its fundamental beliefs. It has in turn transformed the West’s response to radical jihadism with some unacceptable behaviour with criminal acts such as those carried out at Abu Ghraib and the infamous CIA torture rooms. This has created a cycle of hatred that will take time to reverse! Yet it is clear that Osama bin Laden’s acts have alienated Arabs by the millions who ostentatiously reject the path he had carved for them.
In a way, bin Laden might have inadvertently spurred the ongoing Arab uprisings and the seeds of the Jasmine revolution. It is yet to be seen what the next chapter holds for relations between the West and the Arab world as events rapidly unfold around us. Certainly, there has been no other better time for each side to converge towards a sustainable and equitable peace shorn from interests of personal and special lobby groups that may yet derail this complex and fragile process. The success of this difficult convergence would assure that those innocent lives were not lost in vain 10 years ago.
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