The perpetrators of the 9/11 attack originated from Asia and were trained in the United States itself. If that was bad, then this could be worse. A strong possibility of something similar to the Twin Towers catastrophe is brewing in the air in spite of all the crackdown that the Bush administration have made on the terrorist network in the last six years. And this time, Europe could be the provider of the attackers.
US President George W Bush employed thousands of army personnel to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan and forced the al-Qaeda leader and lynchpin of the 9/11 attacks Osama bin Laden to go into hiding in the obscure and remote mountainous area of Afghanistan. In the first couple of years, it did look that America’s hard line approach towards terrorism was exhibiting a good deal of positive results but the disaster in Iraq contrived with the decimation in popularity of the US President throughout the world to inspire the al-Qaeda network once again.
Osama bin Laden’s video message on the occasion of sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks appear to be a mere sign. Scratch the surface and you would come with up with a sinister plot beneath. American intelligence reports now suggest that al-Qaeda could be recruiting Europeans to carry out the next big attack in the United States.
Director of national intelligence Mike McConnell voiced his concern about the whole issue in his speech delivered to the Senate Judiciary Committee. He warned that the fact that most Europeans do not need to apply for a visa to travel to the States could present the terrorist network a fine hole in international migration policies.
This slackness in international law could just have opened a window of opportunity for bin Laden and his malicious intentions. He fears that the explosives that are frequent in the tribal regions of Pakistan could be exported to Europe from where Europeans indoctrinated and trained in the ideology of al-Qaeda would easily import them into the States.
The warning is that the next 9/11 attack could be as early as this year and this has once more let panic slip into the US Congress. The debate on whether the government should be allowed to spy on the American citizens has been rekindled. Before its summer recess, the Congress approved the Protect America Act, which allows the government to intercept, without a warrant, phone calls and e-mails from people outside the United States who are contacting individuals inside the country. Critics underline the Act’s power to take away the people’s privacy by giving the government full control while those in favour of this Act highlight its growing importance of fighting against international terrorism.
Security measures in the United States might have been tightened in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the world will never be the same again. But the apprehension rippled across the nation by the video message of the most wanted man on earth Osama bin Laden and the latest report suggesting that more terror attacks are being hatched, demonstrating the vulnerability of the most powerful country in the world.
Image Source: SMH
Source: CNN
