September 11 - a lesson for whom?

Since 9-11 (2001), around the world and in particular in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, the rate of terrorist acts and feelings of insecurity have escalated every year.

Responding to the 9-11 (2001) terrorist attacks, US President George Bush and his allies promised the people of United States, and the world, to eliminate Osama bin Laden, his al-Qaida network and other linked organisations, and make the world free of terrorism and hatred. Unfortunately, in the last six years, exactly the opposite has happened. The world has seen more terrorism, hatred and divisions.

Osama Bin Laden is still alive and his network has expanded. In a recently released video - believed to be genuine - Osama looks healthy, satisfied and more dangerous than ever. Mulla Omar and his Taliban movement not only survived in Afghanistan, but could return again to take control in Afghanistan.

Saddam Hussein was found to be responsible of murdering Iraqi people, suspected of supporting al-Qaida and also suspected of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. Hence, Iraq was liberated from Saddam Hussein and he was hanged.

But exactly opposite of what was promised for Iraq has been delivered. Iraq is now the world’s most dangerous place to live. According to sources, more than 600,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the second Gulf War. The entire country is divided; there is sectarian violence and killings and fighting with the foreign forces. The United States has lost more than 3,000 army personnel and more than 20,000 have been wounded. Many polls show that the majority of people in the United States, the UK and Australia want their soldiers brought back home.

When the US President declared war on Osama bin Laden and Taliban in Afghanistan in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on the twin towers, the majority of people both in and outside the United States supported his mission. Even so it is worth looking at some background information:

• how many would have supported President George W. Bush if they were aware of the long history of both amity and enmity between Osama Bin Laden and the United States?
• among those who supported the attack on Afghanistan, how many would have remembered that Osama Bin Laden and Mulla Omer had been backed by the CIA, which provided them with funds and ammunition to fight against Russian foreign forces in the name of Jihad for more than 10 years?
• how many would have remembered, when praising President Bush’s agenda to defend citizens from Islamic fundamentalists, that those same Islamic fundamentalists were the people who were supported by the US in welcoming Muslim extremists from all over the Muslim world into Afghanistan and Northern frontier region of Pakistan (Pak-Afghan border) for the Talibanisation of Afghanistan?
• how many remember that the religious extremists seen in Afghanistan and Pakistan today are the same people who were supported by US in the past to establish their religious schools of thought in the towns and cities of Afghanistan and Pakistan?

History repeats itself. Those who fought against Russian forces with the support of the United States are now fighting against the United States and her allies.

The last six years of bloody operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have given us a new history of killings and mass murders in these countries, and more terrorism around the world.

President Bush promised to make this world a safer place to live but instead the citizens of United States and other foreigners are being captured and beheaded and videos of the slaughter are being shown openly on websites and on televisions. US agencies have no choice other than to advise people to leave the states where, often, these expatriates have been working peacefully for good for many decades.

Everyday, the world is witnessing a new form of terror and torture. From Afghanistan to Iraq, people are being killed. Now President George Bush and US allies cannot leave Iraq and Afghanistan because of unfinished business and the world looks on helplessly at the actions of the United States and her closest allies, in particular the UK and Australia.

Especially, on the 6th anniversary of 9-11 terrorist attacks, the people of United States, and its allies, need to consider what President Bush and his government have really achieved so far. This is the time when the people of United States should think about how the majority of the world sees them. This is the time, when the people of United States must analyse the US’s relationship with the rest of the world. Have they made more friends or enemies? They must assess how much, if anything, President Bush and his government have achieved since the 9-11 terrorist attacks.