I was horrified to hear, on the radio in the car on the way to work this morning, of another terrorist attack on US soil. Another callous attack on the civilian population, gathered this time to enjoy a sporting event, as part of an anniversary occasion.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families caught up in this shocking event...
With allegedly multiple devices involved, my gut reaction is this is a foreign organisation, and not a 'domestic' with a grudge...
At least the good news is they managed to deactivate other devices which hopefully means these can be analyzed and in some way traced to the perpetrators.
Then let the US bring their full weight to bear on these callous criminals.
My guess is this will probably turn out to be some Middle Eastern group... so will it mean another 'Desert Storm' eventually?
With North Korea agitating international tensions at the same time, it does make you wonder if WWIII is just around the corner... lets sincerely hope not...
It's worse too, for some reason, when it's somewhere you know. I was in Boston less than a year ago (lovely city). I was also affected by the attack on the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai a few years ago as that is where I always used to stay in the city.
ReplyDeleteI lost a friend in the Harrods bombing by the IRA which is why, I am afraid, I always get wound up by Americans (almost always) wanting to game the Easter Rising and such.
One of my relations spent many years in the security services and I remember them telling me that you could deal with Irish terrorists because they, ultimately, had an objective. Arab terrorists couldn't be fought because they just want to destroy. We don't know who it is yet but, as you say, maybe the recovered devices will give a clue.
Thanks for your reply, and insightful thoughts.
DeleteThe US was the destination of my first holiday abroad as a kid back in 1980. I enjoyed it so much and still have fond memories even now. I think because of that experience I have always had a fondness for the US, and hence my sympathy for them in these circumstances, as much as if it had had been an attack on my own country.
And there is still that sense to me, of the 'Western powers' being united, and an attack on one of them being an attack on all.
But at the end of the day, this is a deliberate attack on civilians, to destroy, kill , maim and cause terror, and that must be abhorred where ever it takes place.
When its some nutcase with a grudge, you are kind of resigned to there being little that can be done to anticipate or stop them.
But went its a deliberate act by an organisation, that really affects the morale fibre and evokes outrage.
What frustartes even more is the pointlessness of it... I don't recall any terrorists attacks in recent history that have been particularly effective in achieving the terrorists aims, they just seems to evoke a backlash, and stiffen resolve to an extent.
What did 9/11 'achieve' - it resulted in an invasion of Iraq and a regime change there, and forces in Afghanistan chasing terrorist organisations there, with the ultimate demise of Bin Laden... I wouldn't have thought that was his ultimate aim???
We often don't realise just how good we have it in NZ. Not much of this sort of thing happens at this end of the world. I certainly agree with you Scott, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families.
ReplyDeleteVery true Rodger, and I must confess, it was one, of many factors, that contributed to my family and I migrating to NZ...
DeleteThank you for your empathy.
The modus operandus felt like a domestic terrorist (comp. with commander Breivik of Scandinavia) - but they've released some images on a Swedish news-place on the web where they show some more "typical" warriors that fights with terror as their prime tactic. You suggested the same origin as this site I just mentioned... And the statistics speaks for that as well, sadly.
ReplyDeleteIt just angers and saddens me so much.
As mr Leagtus Hedlius said above, what do these thing accomplish? The only example where the evil worked was with the awful Madrid bombings, which in my country got a lot of tabloid attention but were left in the dust just a few days after... Something that needed to be talked about and really take its place in the debate and politics in my country was just left as something we needn't care about.
A few years later we got our own suicide bomber during the Christmas shopping in Stockholm. Luckily, the bomb-man was the only casualty - "technical errors" isn't always a bad thing...
As you said, Scott, our thoughts are with the victims and their families and my prayers goes to the little boy Martin and his family.
Thanks for your thought Llama, much appreciated.
DeleteThat's got to be the quickest 'resolution' in an incident like this that I can imagine. Thank goodnes we've got cameras poitning everywhere these days. I for one do not mind it. Only the guilty have anything to hide from survaillance.
ReplyDeleteSo we have one person captured that can be interrogated for answers as to why!?
The scary thing that comes from this tragic event, is that in these days of 'multi-culturalism'... are we not not making it even easier for dissaffected people to strike back at their host nations, due to cultural differences, now prevalent within that nation.
ReplyDeleteMy greatest fear is that, should WWIII occur, it will not necessarily be 'country against country' but culture against culture within countries, which by-passes all notion of security of national borders.
Are we headed for an eventual 'East vs West' on a culutral/religious level?
It honestly terrifies me comtemplate this, and I hope it won't come to fruition in my lifetime, but what about my kids...?
Interesting thoughts. As I always say: How high was a Japanese man held in the USA and vice versa during the war? And now we have a reversed situation: A war on a much smaller scale but instead people from the nation where most of the fighting occurs can freely move into their enemy's lands and become - for example - full-fledged Swedes within two, three years.
ReplyDeleteLook at Sweden and the UK today, as another example, and the war in Afghanistan (which Sweden has taken a small part in and is also retreating from) - we receive tens of thousands of refugees from this country each year, what if the same thing had happened during WW2 - tens of thousand Germans taking a boat to the UK... Would the majority have become good, law-abiding citizens instantly? And more importantly, how would the people liked their new neighbours?
Multiculturalism comes from political people that have their heads high up in pink clouds - they do not live in the real world but in a ideological fantasy. I would LOVE to share this view, but it just isn't possible, just as I would like to be an elf in Middle-Earth, I know it is not possible how much I want it.
Some good points there Llama...
DeleteSo the younger brother speaks, and suggestions now are that they acted alone with no outside involvement.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I rather surprised, but then it just goes to show what dangers lurk in the minds if these Islamic militants, where-ever they are based... if it's inside your country's borders - look out!
It really does make you wonder if fostering multi-culturalism is a safe thing to do?
And at least North Korea seems to have calmed down, so lets hope WWIII has been averted, for now at least!